One of the popular kinds of wagering is sports betting that is available for both online and offline gamblers. Sports betting is an activity of wagering on the results of any sports event. Today sports betting activities are legal in the states of Nevada, Montana, Oregon and Delaware that is the latest state to allow sports betting. The attitude to making and accepting sports wagers is different from nation to nation and in most European countries sports betting is highly regulated by the authorities. 

In fact sports betting can be regarded as a hobby which is quite beneficial for the sports teams or leagues and draws attention to different events. This is an excellent form of gambling for the real sports fans who want to feel the rush and probably make a good income. To tell the truth, the odds of the bettors are very low that is why the main point that matters in sports betting is rush.

Types of Sports Bets

There are two basic types of sports bets - the so-called straight-up or money line bets, and point spread wagers. All the bets are made on such sports events as baseball, football or hockey matches as well as on the individuals. In case of the straight-up or money line bets the odds are set by the prices of the bets and are based on the "win" or "lose" outcome. In the point spread wagers the payouts are determined by the accuracy of the bet. A spread is in fact a range of the sports event outcomes, and the gambler makes a bet whether the result will be below or above this range. American bookmakers usually accept moneylines however in such games as American football and basketball both types of bets are provided. Another popular type of sports bets is predicting the total score in the sports event. Such bet is also called the "totals".

Bookmaking

Sports betting is organized by bookmakers who may be both individuals or companies. In most areas where sports betting is allowed the sports fans make bets through the legal bookmakers. In the countries where wagering on sports events is officially forbidden the gamblers come to the illicit bookmakers that are known as the "bookies". Every bookmaker gets good profit by taking the commission or "vigorish" of each bet amount. Today it is very easy to make sports bets over the Internet due to the great number of online bookmakers.