Vegas Experts Betting Glossary:
Angles: refer to trends/systems regarding teams and how often they cover the point spread in particular situation. Typically, trends refer to a particular team while systems refer to the league as a whole.
ATS: abbreviation for “Against The Spread.” This refers to a team’s record factoring in the pointspread.
Back Door Cover: a late scored by the underdog resulting in them covering the game.
Bad Beat: refers to a tough betting loss that usually occurs late in the game often by an irregular play or officiating decision.
Book: a person or off-shore website that accepts wagers. Also called “bookmaker,” which is not to be confused with one of our three recommended sportsbooks.
Chalk: this is a slang term for the team that is a favored, or “laying points” in a game.
Circled Game: Sometimes you will find a game that has been “circled” on the betting board. This means there is only limited betting on the game , most likely due to a possible injury or weather.
Cover: when a team wins against the pointspread
Dime: synonym for $1,000. You will often hear bettors refer to themselves as “Dime Players”
Dog: the underdog or team getting points.
Early Money: bets that are made soon as the betting lines are released.
Even Money: a bet where you win as much as you risk
Exotic: non-traditional types of bets; such as round-robins, or teasers
Fade: wagering AGAINST a particular team or situation
First Half Bet: bets decided by the halftime score
Favorite: the team that is expected to win a particular wagering event.
Handicap: analyzing a game or event for gambling purposes
Handicapper: a person who analyzes sporting events for gambling purposes. The Vegas Experts are sports handicappers
Handle: the amount of money received by a book on a particular event
Juice: the commission paid to bookmakers. Also called the “vig” or “vigorish.” On a $110 bet, the winning bettors collect only $100. The extra $10 is the juice.
Laying Points: refers to betting on a favorite, who will be “laying” points.
Letdown: Occurs when one team comes off a surprising or importnat victory and is prone to a poorer performance in its next game.
Linesmaker: (oddsmaker) refers to the person(s) who set the wagering lines for a particular sporting event.
Longshot: an unlikely betting outcome
Look Ahead: a betting situation where a favorite has a important game up next and may take the underdog too lightly
Middle: placing wagers on opposite teams with different, beneficial point spreads. For example, if you bet on Team A +7 with one bookmaker and then Team B -5 with another book, and Team B wins by six points, you would have successfully “middle” the line.
Money Line: a bet where you are only predicting the straight up winner. If choosing the favorite, the risk/reward is very poor, but if choosing the underdog, the risk/reward is very high, yet unlikely. Money line wagers are also the norm in MLB baseball betting and NHL Hockey betting where there is no pointspread.
Odds: (lines) the point spread or money line on any given game.
Oddsmaker: see linesmaker
Off The Board: a game where no action is being taken. This is a temporary condition, usually due to injuries, suspensions or weather.
Opening Line: the initial odds being offered
Online Sportsbook: Vegas Experts currently has three recommended Sportsbooks: Bodog, BetUS and BookMaker.
Over: when two teams combined to score more than the total set by the oddsmakers
Over/Under: Also called the total. For almost every game you can wager on whether the final score will go “Over” or “Under” a set number. It does not matter which team wins or covers.
Parlay: A combination of multiple wagers that must all win for a bettor to win his wager.
Pick: A game where neither team is favored. The pointspread in these games is zero.
Pointspread: the line used for gambling purposes. The team perceived to be superior will be favored while the team perceived to be inferior will be the underdog. A pointspread is set at a given number to draw even money on both sides of the wager.
Prop Bets: bets that typically have little to do with the actual outcome of the game and tend to be specific to a single player or team. Prop bets are very popular during the Super Bowl. An example of a prop bet would be “Which player will score the first touchdown in Super Bowl XLIII?”
Puck Line: a hockey-only bet in which the bettor can either take the favorite -1.5 goals or take the underdog +1.5 goals.
Pup or Puppy: refers to the underdog
Push: When a bet does not win or lose due to the final outcome of the game exactly matching the pointspread or total.
Revenge: a popular (and sometimes overrated) handicapping tool. Refers to when a team lost the previous meeting with its upcoming opponent. “Double revenge” means a team has lost two straight to its next opponent.
Reverse Bet: two seperate if bets using the same two teams. A gambler placing a two-team reverse for $100 can win $400 if both games win, but will lose $120 if one game loses and $220 if both games lose.
Runline: a baseball-only bet in which the bettor can either take the favorite -1.5 runs or take the underdog +1.5 runs.
Smart Money: the money wagered by those perceived to be sharp or expert bettors.
Sportsbook: a place that takes bets on sporting events
Square: a non-expert bettor who typically loses money over a given period of time and falls for obvious trap bets.
Steam: when a large amount of money is wagered on the same side or total causing the pointspread to move suddenly or by a large margin.
Straight Up: the actual outcome of the game, without the pointspread.
Teaser: a bet that consists of two or more teams and all of the teams have to cover the point spread for the bettor to win. Unlike a parlay, a bettor can use an alternate pointspread either adding or subtracting points from the actual line
Total: See Over/Under
Trends: how teams perform in specific betting situations. An example would be the New England Patriots are 8-0 ATS as a favorite.
Under: opposite of “Over.” term used when a game’s final score falls below the expected total
Underdog: the team expected to lose a particular sporting event
Upset: when the underdog beats the favorite straight up.
Vigorish: or “vig”. See “juice. “
