To get off to a good start in sports betting you need to know the basics of the betting world. Having this in mind, we present you the concise and summarized sports betting guide where you will find the most important and essential information to start betting online.
In the following paragraphs you will find sports betting tips and the main topics you need to know before you start betting on sports. In this sports betting short guide, we also provide you with practical information on the most popular sports so that you can learn how to place sports bets with the help of our sports betting tutorial. We are going to continue with the first important step of starting to bet on sports, which is learning how to choose a bookmaker.
How to choose a bookmaker
To choose a bookmaker, you should consider some important aspects to ensure that the website you choose is safe and secure for online betting.
The first thing to look at is the license that the chosen betting platform has. This license must be valid so that you have a guarantee that your personal data and the deposited money is safe.
Also check out the payment methods that are available on the betting site. Bookmakers should offer a wide selection of popular and reliable payment methods, such as credit cards, PayPal, Skrill or Neteller, different cryptocurrencies, etc.
Another aspect to consider is the customer support. Safe online betting sites usually offer 24/7 customer support in different languages. You can also check their offered different promotions, risk free bets, and welcome bonuses.
What are the odds?
One of the most important things to know about bookmakers is the odds. These are the main instruments of the bookmaker and reflect the probabilities of the possible results of the bets occurring in sporting events.
Odds work like this: the higher the odds, the less likely an outcome you are betting on will occur. Therefore bookmakers determine lower odds for events that have better odds to occur. There are two main odds formats: decimal and fractional odds. There is also a third type of odds – American odds that are not used in European betting markets.
Decimal odds are the most used in the European market as they are the easiest to calculate possible winnings. Fractional odds are more widely used in the UK. An example of decimal quota is for example 1.7 which is equivalent to the fractional quota of 7/10. As for the American odds, these are expressed with positive or negative numbers.
Rollover and wagering requirements
Each bookmaker promotion has terms and conditions that include wagering requirements. The rollover is part of the wagering requirements of each operator and shows the number of bets that the user must make in order to release the bonus money and the money from the winnings generated with this bonus. In the betting requirements there are other important points, apart from the rollover, such as the minimum odds that we explain below.
In order to withdraw the generated balance with the help of a bonus, the user must first fulfill the conditions of the offer. Minimum odds are part of the wagering requirements in every promotional offer from sportsbooks. The rollover must be completed through bets greater than the minimum odds determined by the bookmaker. This means that it is possible to bet at odds lower than the minimum odds specified in the offer, but bets at lower odds will not count towards rollover.
In general the minimum odds start from 1.50, but in some bookmakers they can be lower or higher. The minimum odds are used by the bookmaker to prevent users from clearing the bonus by betting with very low odds that are the least favorable for the house. By determining minimum odds for rollover, the betting operator is guaranteeing a higher profit since the bettor must bet at higher odds that entail greater risk for him.