Sports betting has come a long way over the years.
The gambling industry is now worth over £14bn annually in the UK, with most of that being sporting bets. Most active punters probably understand all the different types of bets available on online betting platforms. But for people who have been on the sidelines, it may all seem rather confusing.
Let’s look at the newer types of sports bets and see what’s out there and how it came about.
Fixed odds bets are the most traditional type of bet. A bet is placed on the result of a sports event, but the payoff is skewed to account for the most likely outcome. The term “fixed odds” means that the payoff is set when the bet is made, even if the odds change after that.
The internet has allowed for more dynamic forms of sports betting to evolve. This has happened both because online platforms can reach more customers and because the technology allows the operator to keep track of high volumes of complex bets.
In-play betting, also known as “live betting”, is the same as fixed odds betting, but takes place after an event has started. These bets can also be closed out during the event. The odds will obviously change as the score changes, and a bet can be closed out when the odds have moved in the bettors’ favour.
Spread Betting
Spread betting allows bettors to bet on the winner and on the magnitude of the win. That means a punter can be paid for every goal scored in a football match or every run scored in a cricket match. Spread bets will usually be placed around an expected score. So if a football team is widely expected to win 2-0, a bettor will either bet on the over or the under. If they bet £10 on the over and the score is 4-0, they win £20. But if the score is 1-0, the lose £10, and if its 0-4 they lose £60.
Spread betting has also taken off in financial markets because the mechanics are very similar to buying and selling a share. Financial spread betting platforms, IG for instance, allow traders to go long or short of a share, commodity, or index, for a fixed amount per point. If they are long of a security, they will make that fixed amount for each point the security price rises, and lose that amount for each point the security falls.
Fantasy sports has opened up a whole new world for sports betting enthusiasts. Fantasy sports sites like Premier Punt and others allow players to select a team of players and then win points for their team based on how each player performs. Participants can enter their fantasy team in tournaments with cash prizes, and they can even bet on other fantasy teams created by other participants.
While spread betting moved from sports to financial markets, Exchange Betting effectively did the opposite. Exchange betting is offered by sites such as Betfair, who act only as the middle man without actually taking any risk. Both sides of each bet are taken by clients, who interact with one another just like traders in the stock market do.
E-sports betting is the newest craze and allows players to bet on professional video gaming. Professional gamers battle it out in video games like Call of Duty and Counter Strike, while gamblers bet on their favourite pro-gamers.
These are just a few of the options available to those wanting to take a punt on their favourite sport. It’s unlikely that the evolution of online gaming will stop here either. New technologies like virtual reality and artificial intelligence are sure to have more of an impact on sports betting in the future too. We can expect to see more complex and creative betting options popping up and the alternatives will be limited only by the imagination of sports betting enthusiasts.