Sports Betting Glossary
- Accountant: Slang for bookmaker, or bookie.
- Accumulator (see also Parlay): A multiple bet. A kind of 'let-it-ride' bet. Making simultaneous selections on two or more games with the intent of pressing the winnings of the first win on the bet of the following game selected, and so on. All the selections made must win for you to win the accumulator.
- Across the board: A term generally used in horse racing when betting on a horse to win, place and show.
- Agent: Someone who places customers into a book for a commission.
- Alpo: The underdog
- Back Door Cover: Occurs when a team that has no real chance of winning the game outright scores meaningless points to cover the spread.
- Backed: A 'backed' team is one on which lots of bets have been placed.
- Bad Beat: A game you thought you had won, and then lose.
- Banker: Highly expected to win.
- Beef: A dispute with your bookie about the accuracy of a wager.
- Book: Betting sports book.
- Bookie: Short for bookmaker. The person or shop who accepts bets.
- Bookmaker: Person who accepts bets on the result of an event based on their provision of odds to the customer.
- Buck: $100
- Chalk: The favored team or horse.
- Chalkeater: A bettor who only bets on favorites.
- Circled Game: A game where the maximum bet is limited.
- Cover: To beat the spread by the required number of points, or a point spread win.
- Dime bet: A $1000 wager.
- Dividend: The agreed payout or return on any bet.
- Dog: Underdog
- Dollar Bet: A $100 wager.
- Draw: Where competitors in an event finish evenly. Where there is a draw and this is not offered as a betting option, the return will be divided by the number of joint winners. Note that some sports have processes such as extra-time or play-offs to determine an event winner that is included as part of the bet where others are not. This may affect some bets and you should always be sure how an event would be decided in this instance.
- Drift: Moving point spreads are said to have drifted, or be 'On the Drift'.
- Even Money: A 1:1 odds bet. A $1 stake would return $2 dividend ($1 win plus $1 staked).
- Exotic: Any wager other than a straight bet or parlay.
- Exposure: The maximum amount of money a sports book stands to lose on a game.
- Favorite: The team or individual the sports books rate most likely to win that contest or event. Typically it has the most money bet on it.
- Form: Generally refers to the tabloid containing data used in betting on race horses.
- Handicapper: A person who studies a number of factors such as weather, injuries, and statistics to predict the outcome of a game.
- Handle: Total amount of money wagered.
- Hook: The half point in point spreads. For example: 5. 5 is 5 and a hook.
- Juice: The bookmaker's commission, also known as vigorish or vig.
- Layoff: Money bet by a sports book with another bookmaker to reduce its exposure.
- Lines: Odds offered to the player.
- Long Odds: Generally greater than 10:1.
- Middle: Betting both sides of a game at different lines with the hope of winning both wagers. Example: If a bettor played Dallas (-4) and New York (+6), and Dallas won 35-30, the bettor would win both bets, or "catch the middle".
- Money Line: The amount that must be wagered to win $100, or the amount won for a $100 wager.
- Mush: A bettor who is bad luck when they are around.
- Nickel: A $500 wager.
- Off the board: A game on which bookmakers are not accepting wagers. Games generally "go off the board" due to injuries to key players.
- Overlay: A situation in which the odds on a game favor the bettor, rather than the book.
- Over/Under: A bet on whether the total points or goals scored by the two teams will be over or under a specified number.
- Parlay: (Also, Accumulator) A multiple bet. A kind of 'let-it-ride' bet. Making simultaneous selections on two or more games with the intent of pressing the winnings of the first win on the bet of the following game selected, and so on. All the selections made must win for you to win the parlay.
- Picks: Betting selections, usually by an expert.
- Point Spread: (Also, Handicap) The points allocated to the 'underdog' to level the odds with the 'favorite'.
- Puppy: Underdog
- Push: A game that is tied when the point spread is factored in.
- Runner: Someone who places bets on behalf of someone else.
- Scamdicapper: A bragger who gives outlandish promises about past winning percentages and artificially inflates your expectations.
- Shorten: The opposite of 'Lengthen'. Referred to odds getting shorter, that is, less attractive to the bettor.
- Single: A bet on a single game or event also known as a straight-up bet.
- Sportsbook: The person, casino or website who accepts bets.
- Spread: Point Spread.
- Square: Someone new to betting; novice or rookie.
- Steam: When a betting line starts to move quite rapidly, usually caused by many bettors betting on it.
- Straight Bet: A single wager, as opposed to a parlay.
- Sucker Bet: Parlays, teasers, or exotics. (Basically, any bets bookmakers offer to entice squares to bet more money.)
- Tapped out: Broke from gambling.
- Teaser: A bet on two or more teams where the bettor can add or subtract points from the spread to make their bets stronger. All results must match the selections to win the teaser.
- Total: The combined number of points or goals scored by the two teams.
- Two and Three Balls Betting: A golfing bet that involves predicting which player from either a group of two or three will shoot the lowest score over 18 holes.
- Underlay: A situation in which the odds on a game favor the book, rather than the bettor.
- Vigorish or Vig.: The commission paid to the bookmaker.
- Wager: A bet
- Win Only: Betting on a competitor to win an event, also known as 'Straight Out' or 'Money Line' betting.
- Wise Guy: A knowledgeable handicapper or bettor.
Last Updated - December 18, 2007
