In recent years, the popularity of E-Sports has increased astronomically.

People now flock to tournaments in their hundreds, just to get a glimpse of their favourite team in action, and the number of people actually taking part has also risen.

As with anything where competitors are competing to win something. If it becomes popular enough, bookmakers will provide a betting market for it. The rise in popularity of ESports has seen more bookmakers taking bets, more markets available, and more ESports covered.

ESports – The Basics

Electronic Sports are usually video games played over electronic devices, with teams of people competing against each other in multi-player leagues or tournaments.

Most ESports games involve real time strategy, Online Battle Arena (Multi-Player), and First Person Shooter.

ESports which we have found betting markets for recently include:

• Counter Strike: Global Offensive
• League of Legends
• DOTA
• Overwatch
• Starcraft
• Fortnite

ESports tournaments are streamed live online and there are even TV channels available via some subscription services which show live or repeated ESports action, with commentary and analysis from experts in the games being played.

ESports Betting Markets

As Esports are an event usually contested between two teams, the main betting market is the standard match winner market.

This market is where the bookmaker gives set odds on each team to win, and the bettor wagers on which team they think will come out on top.

For example, a match may have Team A priced as 8/13 favourites up against Team B who are priced at 6/5. This means that a £100 bet on Team A would return a total of £161.54 (profit of £61.54), if successful. A winning bet of £100 on Team B would return a total of £220, which is a profit of £120.

There are also outright tournament winner markets available, as well as special markets related to each game.

For example, a League of Legends contest may have markets available such as:

• Team with most kills
• Team to draw first blood
• Team to destroy the next tower
• Both teams to slay a baron – yes/no
• Both teams to slay a dragon – yes/no

To some people, none of that will make sense. But it will to those who understand Esports and, more specifically, League of Legends.

How to Bet on ESports

Obviously, betting on ESports isn’t for everyone. It is a niche market where you would need to have some sort of understanding and knowledge in order to want to bet on it.

Here are a few tips to those of you who want to have a punt on ESports.

Understand the Game(s)

Most people, at least the more sensible of people, would not bet their hard-earned money on a sport they know nothing about. So, why would you bet on ESports if you have no knowledge or interest of it.

You must fully research the games that are being played, in order to have a full understanding of what is happening. In fact, the best course of action would be to play the games you are looking to bet on. That way, you will fully immerse yourself into it and completely understand what is going on.

You must also fully understand how a tournament or league format works, and how a winner is found, so you don’t get hit with any nasty surprises further down the road.

Everyone knows that they must only ever bet on what they have knowledge of and ESports are no exception to that rule.

Research the Teams and Players

The truth is, most bettors will back an ESports team due to their popularity, a friend or family connection, or simply because they like the sound of the teams name. They do not carry out full research.

What this can do is increase the popularity of a team, mean more people are betting on them, and in turn the bookmakers are offering shorter odds. This is all without actually knowing if they are indeed the best team or not.

In order to take advantage of this, and find when the outsider will have a better chance of winning, you must carry out detailed research into the teams and each player within that team. ESports statistics are available on a number of platforms and will provide you with all the information you need to make better and more informed betting decisions.

Find the Best Odds

In order for you to make the most out of betting on ESports, it’s vital that you always bet at the best odds available. There may only be a slight difference between the odds at two different bookmakers, but constantly betting at the shorter odds will make a difference in the long run.

For this reason, it is recommended that you have accounts with several online bookmakers and compare prices ahead of placing an informed bet. It is something we would recommend with any sport. And, it becomes even more important to ESports bettors if they do not know how to identify value or if they’re always backing the short priced favourites.

Every March, US College Basketball takes centre stage as the NCAA Division 1 champions are crowned after an action-packed nineteen-day tournament in which sixty-seven matches take place. Hence the name March Madness.

With more global television coverage, and a rise in popularity of the tournament, it has become another tournament that bettors all over the world chance their arm on to try and make a tidy profit.

March Madness – A Brief Overview

Branded as NCAA March Madness, the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1 Men’s Basketball tournament features sixty-four college teams from the top level of the NCAA competing to be crowned national champions.

The tournament starts with thirty-two conference champions earning automatic qualification, and another thirty-six teams selected by a committee. This takes place on Selection Sunday, where seeds and brackets are also announced.

Split into four regions, the teams are seeded one to sixteen and this determines the matches which will take place and the bracket each team will be placed in.

The tournament starts with a first four tournament, in which the lowest ranked four selected teams take on the four lowest ranked automatic qualifiers. This whittles the field down to the sixty four teams who advance to round one.

On the first weekend of the tournament, the first and second rounds take place. The first round sees the number one seed take on the number sixteen seed in each region, two plays fifteen, three plays fourteen and so on.

After the first four days of action, the field is down to what is known as the sweet sixteen. These are the sixteen teams, four in each region, who will compete in the regional semi-finals. The sweet sixteen round takes place on the Thursday and Friday of the following week, with the Elite Eight (Regional Finals) taking place on the Saturday and Sunday.

The four regional champions then move on to the Final Four tournament, where the national semi-finals take place on the Saturday and the regional final taking place on the Monday.

Throughout the final rounds, teams are not re-seeded and the draw for the Final Four is based on the overall rankings of the four number one seeds from each region.

How to Bet on March Madness

As you can expect, with any sporting competition which features a lot of games, betting activity has increased over the years. Here are a few tips to help you have a better chance of making a profit on March Madness, especially for those who are new to the sport.

Research

As always, and with any sporting event, research is an important part of any betting strategy. It gives you an insight into things such as recent form, it helps you find value in your bets, and helps you to decide which bets are worth having and which should be ignored.
We recommend you study late season conference form for each team, make notes of any injuries to key players, how good a teams defence is, and historical information about the tournament itself.

Bet on the Twelfth Seeds in Early Rounds

There is a common theme when it comes to the first two days of action that the number twelve seeds are the most likely lower ranked teams to cause a shock.

Statistics show that more than a third of number twelve seeds have been victorious in the first round over the years, with at least one twelfth seed beating a fifth seed outright every year.

So, it is recommended to bet on the twelfth seeds on the first two days. Obviously, not all four will win but it may pay to look at them in the points spread market. With the low value of twelfth seeds in the first round, the points spread should be quite wide and gives bettors the chance of making a profit even if the fifth seed does end up winning.

The Top Seeds (Usually) Always Win in Round One

Historically, every number one seed makes it through the first round unscathed. That was until Virginia became the first number one seed to lose to a number sixteen seed in 2018.

However, one number seed losing to a sixteenth seed in all these years isn’t enough to make anyone think that a new trend is about to begin.

We are not saying you should bet on every number one seed, because not only is there a small chance of them losing but there probably isn’t any value in backing them in the first round or two. What we are saying is to not bet on the sixteenth seed. It will probably, most definitely, leave you out of pocket.

There are Always Upsets in Round One

We have mentioned the benefit of betting on the twelfth seed during the first two days of action, but it may also pay to look at other lower seeded teams who may produce a shock of their own.

March Madness is an extremely unpredictable tournament, with no real historical trends to base your betting strategy on in early rounds. Upset victories in round one are just part of how unpredictable the tournament can be.

Except for generally ignoring the sixteenth seeds, we recommend extra research into the lower seeds to see which teams are most likely to cause a shock and give you a winning bet.

If you bet using a betting exchange, you may have noticed that your total winnings are less than you should have won when calculated using the odds of your selection when placing the bet.

However, it’s important for everyone to understand that betting exchanges charge commission.

Here, in our guide to betting commission at the betting exchange, we will explain what commission is and how to calculate it to ensure you are getting the correct value on your bets.

How is Betting Commission Calculated?

Anyone who has studied betting odds and how they are worked out will know that bookmakers add a margin when creating betting odds, to ensure they make a profit.

This means that instead of setting odds using a fair market of 100%, where it would be even money for both selections in an event with two participants, they will add a margin to this and calculate the odds at say 105%.

Betting exchanges are different because they do not calculate the odds with a margin. Instead, they take a commission from the bets you place. This means the odds on offer do not represent how much you will actually win.

For example, lets say you placed a £100 bet on a 2/1 shot and it won. You would expect to receive a payout of £300, £200 profit and your £100 stake money back offers bookmakers. But, you placed the bet with a betting exchange that charges 5% commission. So instead of making £200 profit, you will actually only make £190 profit because 5% has been deducted.

Meaning your total winnings changes from £300 to £290.

It doesn’t sound a lot on one bet. But, if you are continuously being deducted 5%, the value of your bets will soon drop and the amount of commission paid will rise. Also, the above example is just calculating the commission on profit.

Using calculations for an exchange who only charge commission on profit, we can give you another example and show you how commission is calculated.

We will use a bet with a £100 stake placed on a selection priced at odds of 1.85.

To work out the actual payout and profit from this bet, we must calculate how much the payout would be using the given odds, then minus the stake to find the profit from this.

We then calculate the amount of commission to be paid, and can then take that away from the original profit to get an actual profit.

• Stake x Odds = Winnings
• Winnings – Stake = Profit
• (Profit / 100) x Commission Percentage = Amount of Commission

So, using the odds and stake given above, we get:

• 100 x 1.85 = 185
• 185 – 100 = 85
• (85 / 100) x 5 = 4.25

So, as you can see, the total commission on this bet would be £4.25. To work out your actual profit, you must take the original profit of 85 and minus the 4.25.

• 85 – 4.25 = 80.75

Your actual profit from this bet would be £80.75 instead of the £85 the betting odds indicated it would be, meaning your total payout is £180.75 instead of £185.

These calculations can be used with any size stake, at any odds, and using whatever percentage the betting exchange charges.

Calculating True Betting Odds

You may look at the odds available on a betting exchange and believe you are getting better odds than those being given at the online bookmaker you usually use. But, you must first work out the true odds on offer at the exchange before deciding if they are indeed better value.

Using the odds and the actual profit shown in the example above, we can translate that into true odds on offer at the exchange.

So, having worked out our actual winnings we can then turn this into betting odds by:

• 180.75 / 100 = 1.8075

If we place a bet on a selection priced at 1.85, we are actually getting true odds of 1.8075.

Obviously, the amount of commission paid will increase on bets placed at longer odds and that is where you will find that sticking with a traditional bookmaker offers more value.

For instance, placing a bet at odds of 8/1 or 9.00 would usually return £900 from a £100 stake. This is a profit of £800. But, taking a 5% commission away gives you an actual profit of £760 and an actual payout of £860. Meaning your true odds are 8.6 instead of 9.00.

Winning streaks in sports betting can be great and extremely profitable but they can also be hard to understand and some people will struggle to know what to do when in the midst of one.

Here, we will give you a few tips on what to do and what not to do when you are on a hot streak in betting.

How to Understand Winning Streaks

Winning streaks happen. The same way that sports teams may win several matches in a row, or a football player may hit a purple patch and score in several games in a row, we may go on a streak of several winning bets in a row.

To show you how likely a streak is, lets use a simple coin toss. There is a 50% chance of the coin landing on heads and a 50% chance it lands on tails. If we toss a coin fifty times, you would expect twenty-five heads and twenty-five tails.

In fact, in our experiment, the coin landed:

• THTTHHTTTTHTTHTHTHTTTHHTTTHTTHTHHHTHTHHHHHHHTTTHTH

This was twenty-six tails and twenty-four heads, so almost 50/50. But with regards streaks, the most consecutive tails was four whilst the most consecutive heads was seven. Lets change the “T” and “H” for “W” and “L”, to make it look like a sequence of bet outcomes.

• WLWWLLWWWWLWWLWLWLWWWLLWWWLWWLWLLLWLWLLLLLLLWWWLWL

We can see from this that you may have won more bets than you lost, but the longest winning streak was just four. The longest losing streak was seven. This tells us to never take a winning streak for granted.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve just had your sixth winning bet in a row come up, you’ve made a tidy profit from your last few bets, you feel on top of the world, and you’re already planning your next bet with the frame of mind that you are unbeatable.

You need to take a step back and understand something.

• Winning streaks do not last forever. Your luck will run out or a dead cert favourite will get beat. A coin cannot land on the same side every toss. You will eventually lose.

Once you understand that, you can prevent yourself becoming over-confident and can continue betting in the same way you did before.

What to do When on a Winning Streak

In order to prevent over-confidence and/or recklessness setting in, you need to maintain a business-like approach to sports betting and take heed of our tips to better control yourself during a winning streak.

Do not Raise your Stake

If you are using a proper bankroll management system, staking a certain percentage of your overall total for every bet, your stake may automatically go up. But, always stick to the same percentage and never think that because you are on a hot streak you can take advantage by betting 10% instead of 3%.

If that bet is the bet where your winning streak comes to an end, the chances are that you have blown all the profit you made during the streak on one reckless bet.

Stay within your limitations, always adhere to the rules of proper money management, and enjoy making whatever profit you can.

Remain Analytical

A key point to take on board is to remain analytical when betting. Don’t start thinking that because you’re on a lucky winning streak you can bet on anything and it will come in.

Make sure you study statistics, measure the risk and reward, and only bet if you feel the selection as a high chance of making you a profit. Don’t start betting on 33/1 outsiders in a horse race because you think you’re unbeatable.

Calculate When Streak Will End

It is important to understand your streak will come to an end, but also to know when you have passed the time it should already have ended.

We always recommend keeping a betting journal, with a list of all winning and losing bets including odds etc. Well, if you do this it will be simple to work out how long your streak should last for.

By recording the prices of all your winning selections, you will be able to work out an average price. You can then look at the percentage of probability this price represents.

For example, lets say the average price for all of your winners was 4/9 (1.44 decimal). This price represents an implied probability of 69.2%. So, you should win roughly 69 of 100 bets, or 6.9 bets for every 10.

If you have already won six bets in a row, probability tells us there’s a chance you may win one more bet in your next four. It could be the seventh to continue your streak. But, what that also tells us is you should expect to lose sooner rather than later.

Remain Calm When Streak Ends

Perhaps the single most important thing to do when on a winning streak is to remain calm and level-headed when it eventually comes to an end. You may be slightly annoyed that you didn’t pick your eighth winner in a row, but you should be happy you had the seven before instead of dwelling on the one you lost.

Nobody, even the top professional sports bettors, can win every single bet they place. There are far too many variables for that to be the case.

When you lose, you must dust yourself off and continue betting in a sensible, business-like manner with an analytical and statistical approach.

Continue studying stats, form, head to head, etc. and stick to your bankroll management system. This way, you ensure that your potential of long term profit remains the same.

You also need to understand that, there’s just as much chance of a losing streak as there is a winning one.

Since the first time someone placed a bet on a football match, people have been trying to work out a foolproof way of predicting the outcome of football matches in an attempt to bag their fortune.

Unfortunately, there are no guarantees when it comes to football betting tips. There are far too many variables, shock results, teams resting players ahead of more important matches, influence of weather, and other factors that mean it’s impossible to correctly predict the outcome of every match.

However, we do have a few tips to give you at least some hope of being able to better predict the outcome of football matches on a regular basis.

Predicting Football Match Results

The most popular bet when it comes to football matches is the match result. This is the market where a punter bets on whether the outcome will be a home win, away win, or a draw.

To work out the percentages of each possible result, we must take into consideration recent form and other statistics to work out the most likely outcome.

The easiest way to do this is to look at the last ten or fifteen matches for both teams, only including home form for the home team and away form for the away team. This is because one team may be far superior at home than they are away and including home form for a team who struggles on the road will give you a false probability of them winning an away match.

So, lets take a match where the recent form for the last ten matches is:

• Team A – W 5 D 1 L 4
• Team B – W 2 D 2 L 6

We add the home wins to the away losses, away wins to home losses, and draws together. We then divide this number by the total number of matches, in this case twenty, and then multiply by 100 to get a percentage. This percentage is the probability of a particular outcome.

So:

• 5 + 6 = 11
• 2 + 4 = 6
• 1 + 2 = 3

This then becomes:

• (11 / 20) x 100 = 55%
• (6 / 20) x 100 = 30%
• (3 / 20) x 100 = 15%

As you can see, going on recent form gives us a 55% chance the home team will win. The least likely outcome is the draw at 15%, and there’s a 30% chance the away team will pick up the win.

If you are still unsure after calculating the percentage of probability, you can either choose to not bet on the match or you can use the teams last five matches to see if it gives you a clearer difference between potential outcomes.
The percentages above may be enough for some people to confidently predict a home win, whilst others may choose to only bet on teams with a probability of over say 60%. Remember, this is just a guide and the variables in football could easily end with the match result being different.

Predicting Football Scores

Other than the match result market, many people hope to win big by correctly predicting the final score of a football match. This is even more difficult than correctly predicting an outcome of a match, but people have several methods they use.

One of those methods being to work out a teams average goals scored and trying to convert that into a scoreline.

To do this, we must study statistics for each teams recent matches in the same way we did for the match result probability.

So, lets say Team A (home) has scored 25 goals in their last ten home matches and conceded just 8. Team B (away) has scored 11 and conceded 12.

To work out an average, we must add the home teams goals scored to the away teams goals conceded, and vice versa. We then divide this number by 20 to get an average.

• 25 + 12 = 37 which is then 37 / 20 = 1.85
• 11 + 8 = 19 which is then 19 / 20 = 0.95

This doesn’t really help that much because a football match cannot finish 1.85 – 0.95. But, you can use this information to make an educated guess. By rounding up or down to the nearest number, we would predict a 2-1 win for the home team.

Using this method can also be good for markets such as over/under a certain number of goals. By adding the average number of goals for each team, it will give you a number that may allow you to win on the over/under market.

In this case, the total is 2.8. So it gives us an indication that there will be over 2.5 goals in the match. You could even hedge your bets a little and have a bet on the over 1.5 goals market, which seems a banker given the average goals for each team.

Football Prediction Formula

A more complex, but probably better way of predicting the score of a match is to use a method known as the Poisson Distribution.

For this, you have to look at past match statistics and calculate goals scored and conceded for each team in order to get an average. You can then go into most spreadsheet applications, including Microsoft Excel or similar, and use the following equation:

=POISSON(x, mean, cumulative)

Using our example above, with the home team having an average of 1.85 and the away team having an average of 0.95, we can work out a percentage for each team scoring a certain number of goals.

To work out the percentage of the away team scoring one goal, we use the formula:
=POISSON(1, 0.95, FALSE)

We use FALSE in the cumulative section in order for the probability of an event has a value equal to X.

The result is 0.3674, giving us a 36.74% chance of the away team scoring one goal.

You can then use this formula to get a percentage for the away team to score from 0 goals (38.67%), up to say 4 (1.31%).

Again, this is not a foolproof way of predicting football scores but it does give you the chance to use your head and decide if a bet is worth taking on. If a team is given a particularly high percentage for a certain number of goals, it may be worth betting on that team scoring that number.

This can also help with over/under betting markets and the match result market.

How to Predict Football Matches

Remember, the above methods can help punters get a statistical look at the potential outcome and scoreline of a football match in order to help them make a more informed prediction. It isn’t foolproof and there are no certain methods for predicting football matches.

As well as using the above methods to make a prediction, you also need to take into account variables such as:

• Team selection – A team may be missing star players through injury, suspension, or they are being rested for a more important match in a few days time. Pay attention to team selection because teams will perform differently without key players.
• Importance of match – As mentioned, a team may rest key players for certain matches if there is a more important match coming up. Not only that, but the teams approach to the match may be different if they have their eyes on another prize.
• Weather – It sounds strange but weather can play a big part in football. A team who like to play one-touch football on the ground, may come unstuck on a wet, windy Tuesday night with the pitch being soggy and uneven. Adverse weather conditions may give the underdog an advantage, especially if they like to play route one football and punt the ball upfield to their tall striker.

All of these things, as well as other factors such as off-field problems, can play a part in negating the probability percentages you have worked out through using our methods. In cases such as these, it is recommended to steer clear of betting on that particular match and save your money for matches you are more certain of being able to correctly predict.

There is no such thing as a sure thing when it comes to sports betting.

In the past, short priced favourites in a horse race have been pipped to the post by a 16/1 outsider, a Premier League football team has been knocked out of the cup by a team from two divisions below, and the heavyweight boxing champion of the world has suffered a humbling and humiliating defeat against an unknown contender.

All of these occurrences show that nothing is certain in the world of sports betting and that everything can be altered by randomness.

But, just how much impact does randomness have on the world of sports betting? Why do we fail to understand it? And how can we use it to our advantage?

The Impact of Randomness on Sports Betting

A punter who has several winning bets in a row will always put it down to knowledge, skill, and their approach to betting. Whereas, a punter who studies stats but still loses will say they’re “unlucky”. But, both of these people have randomness to either thank or berate.

Unfortunately, we can all be as analytical and statistics driven as we like but it doesn’t guarantee a winning bet.

For example, a casual punter who only bets on football matches on a Saturday afternoon may spend days picking their selections for an accumulator. They may bet just favourites, who are at home, against teams on a bad run of form and in a lower league position.

It would seem that statistics and implied probability make these bets almost certain to come in. But, that person may have won once in their last ten bets. The reason is randomness.

Chances are, those bets had one selection that let them down. One team who were held to an unlikely draw, conceded a last minute equaliser, had players sent off, had their star player taken off injured, gave away a controversial penalty. Variables and random acts that had an impact on the outcome of a match.

Failing to Understand Randomness

The main reason people fail to recognise or understand the presence of randomness is because we are programmed to follow patterns. Our brains tell us that everything happens in a particular order or to a particular pattern.

In terms of life in general, we look for pattern to recognise an outcome. For example, dark clouds in the sky tell us that rain is probably imminent and we should get the washing in off the line.

So, we tend to look for patterns in everything. This includes sports betting. We study form, league position, statistics, head to head records, and any other piece of information we believe will give us an advantage over the bookmaker.

When we win, it’s because our system worked. If we lose, it’s because we were unlucky. Or, we could have lost because of a certain top we were wearing, or because we backed a certain team who always let us down, or because of some other weird superstition.
Instead of believing that a simple random act has cost us our bet this time, we look for a pattern. We even create superstitions in an attempt to find reason, where no reason actually exists.

Randomness is a part of life and has an impact on everything we do. The sooner people understand that, the better.

Using Randomness to Our Advantage

If we are clever about it, we can use randomness to our advantage when it comes to sports betting.

Lets say there are ten sporting events being played in one day, all with just two participants in each. So, sports like snooker or tennis. We know that, due to randomness, at least one of the favourites will not win their match. If all the favourites are short-priced, even odds-on, and all the outsiders are at long odds, we could possibly make a decent profit by backing the outsiders.

Of course, randomness may mean all the favourites that particular day win. But, backing outsiders could prove profitable in the long run.

If we know that a certain number of outsiders will win at some point, we know that backing them will give us some sort of return in the long run. This is by no means an actual science, and it probably isn’t a sustainable betting model. But, it does allow us to take advantage of randomness at some stage.

Remember, we will always recommend an analytical approach to sports betting regardless of the impact randomness can have.

But, understanding that winning or losing is usually down to a random act can help us better understand why we do not win every bet we place or sometimes go on extremely long losing streaks.

It can also help us to maintain a business-like approach to sports betting, using a proper money-management system, and not allowing our emotions to impact our betting. Random things happen, and it helps us if we can recognise this.

Major League Baseball provides sports bettors with an overwhelming amount of chances to make a profit. With 2,500 matches played in a regular season, the potential to find a winning formula is great.

But, some people wouldn’t even know where to start when it come to betting on MLB. Most people, especially those from countries where Baseball isn’t a popular sport, may struggle to even understand what is going on in a match let alone how to make a profit from it.

Here, our guide to betting on MLB will aim to make it easier for beginners and provide a few tips for those who already like a flutter on Major League Baseball.

Major League Baseball – An Introduction

Founded in 1903, Major League Baseball is the oldest of the four main professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada.

A total of thirty teams start a regular season, split into two. Fifteen teams play in the National League and the other fifteen play in the American League. The NL and AL existed before the MLB, but merged together in 1903 to create the foundations of what Major League Baseball is today.

Each of the two leagues is split into three for a regular season, with five teams in each of the East, West, and Central divisions in their league.

All teams play 162 games each during a regular season, which usually runs from April until October. Each team will have a schedule consisting of two, three or four match series against the other teams. They play nineteen games against the other four teams in their division, six or seven games against the other then teams from their league, a series of matches against a division from the other league, and extra matches against an interleague rival.

At the end of a regular season, five teams from each league will receive a play off spot. This is achieved by a team either winning their division or by earning a wild card.

The two wild card teams from each league first compete against each other in a wild card game, a one-off match to determine which team joins the three divisional winners in the divisional series matches.

The play-offs then move on to the divisional series, with two best-of-five series in each league. The winners of these then move on to the championship series, a best-of-seven series between the top two teams in each league.

The winners of the championship series, known as the pennant winners, then move on to the World Series. This is a best-of-seven series between the two league champions to determine an overall MLB winner for that season.

Betting on MLB

The main betting markets available for the MLB are similar or the same to those available for the other major sporting leagues in the US and Canada.

Moneyline Betting Market

The Moneyline betting market is the same as a match result in other sports. The punter is betting on who will win the game, with the bookmaker providing set odds for each team to do so.

Totals Betting Market

The totals market in Major League Baseball is akin to an Over/Under market in other sports. The bookmaker gives set odds on either Over or Under a specified number of runs will be scored, and the punter bets on the outcome they think most likely to happen.

This market can sometimes be offered one of two ways, dependant on the bookmaker. It may either be an Over/Under market on a total number of runs to be scored overall in a match or it may give you the opportunity to bet Over/Under each team to score a certain number of runs.

Runline Betting Market

The runline betting market is a handicap market, similar to that of a points spread in other American sporting leagues.

This market will offer either a plus or minus a certain number of runs, and that team starts with that handicap for the purposes of this betting market. So, a team starting on -1.5 would have to win by two runs to win the bet. Whereas a team starting on +1.5 could lose the match overall but still win the bet if they only lost by one point.

The runline +/- number is variable, dependant on bookmaker, and the odds will reflect this and could be extremely low for some games.

Futures Betting Markets

These markets are for those bettors who like to bet on future outcomes and hope for a big pay-off at the end of the season. Futures markets available include:

• World Series Champions
• AL or NL League Champions
• Divisional Winners
• Player with most Home Runs
• Best Pitcher

How to Bet on MLB

Betting on Major League Baseball isn’t easy if you do not properly understand the sport, or you are new to it. But, there are a few tips to help you maximise your profit making potential.

Learn About MLB

The first thing you must do when betting on any new sport or league is to learn all you can about it. Read up on the history, how it works, rules and regulations, and study statistics from previous seasons.

This will give you all the knowledge you require to be able to at least make informed betting decisions. We recommend learning all you can, and then trying to learn some more.

Look for Value

Even the best teams in MLB lose games. In fact, the favourite loses about 40% of the time during the regular season. So, this gives a lot of opportunity for bettors to find value bets.

Our advice would be to ignore extremely short priced favourites, and check head to head records to see if the underdog in a particular game has a good record against their opponents.

Study the Pitchers

The Pitcher on a baseball team is perhaps the most vital position and one that has a major impact on the outcome of a game.

But, with the starting pitcher generally pitching around six or fewer overs, it’s vital to study up on the reserve pitchers too. Having this information can increase the potential of you finding good value bets.

Study Strengths and Weaknesses

If you bet on other team sports then studying statistics should be nothing new to you. Use the same methods before betting on the MLB to help you make the most informed betting decisions.

Study the pitchers, batters, fielders, home form, away form, number of runs a team usually scores or concedes, and any other information which enables you to recognise strengths and weaknesses.

Keep a regularly updated list of strengths and weaknesses for each team, and compare them before betting on a game. Knowledge is the key to betting success when it comes to betting on MLB.

Most American Basketball fans would be hard pushed to believe the sport exists outside of the great NBA, but the sport is now thriving in Europe with some great national leagues and European competitions that have even attracted former NBA players to cross the water to take part.

With European basketball improving all the time, thanks in part to large investments, it is becoming more and more common to find people betting on the sport outside of America and Canada.

Top European Basketball Leagues

Not too many years ago, back in the 1980’s and 1990’s, basketball betting outside of the NBA was rightly considered to be a dull and inferior sport compared to the glitz and glamour over in America.

Now, with investment and all-around improvements, European Basketball leagues are considered to be exciting, star-studded, and enthralling in their own right.

Perhaps the top Basketball league in Europe is the Spanish Liga ACB, where eighteen teams compete each season. The teams are mostly named the same as teams in the football league, with Real Madrid being the most successful team in the leagues history.

Other top leagues include Italy’s Lega Basket Serie A, France’s LNB Pro A, the Greek Basket League, and Russia’s VTB United League.

In Britain, the British Basketball League is the top professional league but it isn’t on a par with the top European leagues at this time.

As well as heavy investment in the sport from a lot of European countries, players from America moving to ply their trade in Europe helped the sport move on and improve. These players, many of whom missed out on being drafted in the NBA or had retired from the NBA, seemed to give the European leagues validation.

Alongside the many top leagues, there are also several club competitions with the most prestigious being the EuroLeague. The equivalent to the Champions League in Football, the EuroLeague is contested by sixteen teams who compete through a round robin league format, with the top eight qualifying for the play-offs.

These play-offs are contested over a best-of-five series and the winners qualify for the Final Four. The Final Four, held at a different venue each year, then sees two semi finals, a third place game, and the final all held.

Betting on European Basketball

The betting markets available for European Basketball are the same as you would find in the NBA, with three main markets.

• Moneyline – The match result market where you bet on which team you think will win
• Points Totals – An over/under market where you bet on the total points scored will be higher or lower than a number set by the bookmaker
• Handicap – Each team will start with either a – (favourite) or a + (outsider) and bettors can bet on whether they think the favourite will win despite their minus start or whether the outsider will win the bet, even if they lose the match, because they have a plus start.
Other markets available for each match, especially in the bigger leagues from Spain, Italy, and France include:

• Home Team Total Points Over/Under
• Away Team Total Points Over/Under
• First Quarter Match Betting
• First Quarter Points Over/Under
• First Quarter Handicap Betting
• First Half Match Betting
• First Half Points Over/Under
• Player Total Points
• Player Total Assists
• Player Total Rebounds

There are also the usual outright betting markets available for each league, where bettors can bet on markets such as league champion, Player of the Year etc.

How to Bet on European Basketball

Betting on European Basketball may be growing in popularity and have the same markets as the NBA, but it will require a little more work to improve your chances of making a profit.

Study Different Leagues

Enhanced statistics are widely available for the NBA but they may be harder to find for each individual league in Europe. It is down to you to search for this information and find out as much as you possibly can about the league or leagues you wish to bet on.

Betting blindly on a sport or league you know little about is a sure way of going broke, so ensure the maximum amount of research is carried out before a single bet is placed. Find out things such as, top teams, top players, statistical information from the last couple of seasons, which teams perform better at home than they do away or vice versa, number of points scored or conceded by each team on average, does the league generally see high or low scoring matches, which players score the most points, rebounds or assists.

All this information will give you the knowledge you need to make informed betting decisions and improve your chances of winning.

Specialise in a Certain League or Leagues

With so many Basketball leagues in Europe it will be difficult for you to become as knowledgable as you need to be about all of them. So, we recommend that you specialise. Study as much as you can on one or two of the more popular leagues, as well as maybe the EuroLeague, and only place bets on matches in these leagues or tournaments.

This is a way of increasing your profit potential by decreasing the amount of bets you will have without the required knowledge.

Study Recent Stats and Team News

Just the same as in football, recent statistics and team news are two extremely important things to know before placing a bet.
Obviously, recent form and possibly head to head stats will tell you if a team is performing well, if they have a good record against their next opposition, if they’ve struggled away recently, etc. All the information you need to improve your chances of placing a winning bet.

From this you can work out which team is more likely to win, average expected points for each team and in total, and whether one team should win by a wide margin.

Perhaps even more important than the statistics is the team news, especially if teams are competing in another continental competition. These teams may rest most of their squad, including key players, and that gives bettors the chance of finding value in backing the opposition or utilising the handicap market.

The betting odds will still probably only reflect the difference in league position of the teams etc, and not the fact that the favourites are missing their best players.

Another thing to look out for is injured players and how much of an impact their absence will have on the team as a whole. Some teams rely heavily on key players and without them may not be anywhere near as good.

For the most part, a team missing one or two key players shouldn’t make that much of a difference to the outcome of the match. However, if bettors know this information they can look further into the teams performances without those key players and may find an edge they didn’t previously have.

There are three main betting markets when it comes to placing a bet on a Major League Baseball match.

Analysing these three markets we can see why some bettors concentrate solely on the Run Totals (Over/Under) market. The moneyline (match result) market may put bettors off due to extremely short priced favourites and an outsider not providing enough value to bet on, whilst the Run Line (Handicap) market may be a little over-complicated to someone who is new to betting on MLB.

So, the Run Totals market is the obvious choice and provides plenty of potential for profit with so many games played during a regular season. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to correctly predict an outcome in this market.

Problems With MLB Run Totals Betting

The main problem with betting on Run Totals in Major League Baseball today are that it’s difficult to predict an outcome.

There are less runs scored in modern Baseball games as there used to be, which makes it difficult for someone to confidently predict a game will have over a certain amount of runs scored.

Which would make it sound like the simple solution would be to look for games where one team has a great starting pitcher and bet under. However, the starting pitcher doesn’t pitch deep into games like they used to so it’s difficult to confidently bet lower.

There are ways to increase your potential for profit, and make this market incredibly appealing to yourself and other bettors.

Betting on MLB Run Totals

The main way to bet on Major League Baseball Run Totals is to predict whether a game will have over or under a certain number of runs, with the bookmaker setting odds based on the probability of each outcome.

For example, a match between Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees had odds at one bookmaker of:

• Under 7.5 Runs – 15/8 (2.88 Decimal and +188 Moneyline)
• Over 7.5 Runs – 4/9 (1.44 Decimal and -225 Moneyline)

So, in American odds a bettor would have to place $100 on Under 7.5 Runs to win $188 and would need to place $225 on Over 7.5 Runs to win $100. It’s clear that over is the favourite here and looking at the pre-match stats show why.

Looking at season stats showed us that, in 47 games, Baltimore Orioles had scored a total of 183 runs and conceded a total of 281. This is an average of 3.89 scored and 5.97 conceded. New York Yankees had scored 236 (average of 5.1) and conceded 185 (4.02) in 46 games.

So, adding the amount of runs scored and conceded for each team tells us that Baltimore should score an average of 3.955 and New York should score an average of 5.535. This is a total of over nine, hence the odds being so short for the Over 7.5 betting market.
Alternative Run Totals Markets

As well as the main Run Totals markets, there are alternative markets to bet over/under on for a game. These can be either by betting on over or under how many runs each team will score or by betting over/under an alternative set number of runs.

• Run Totals Per Team – This market allows you to bet on how many runs you think each team will score. Using our above example shows us that New York Yankees would be expected to score an average of 5.535 runs during the game. So, you can go online and find a bookmaker who offers several Run Totals markets. For example, Sky Bet offer 2/7 (-350) for them to score Over 3.5, or if you’re feeling extremely confident you could go Over 5.5 (20/23 or -115) or Over 6.5 (13/10 or +130). This is a solid market if you have done your research and are confident of one team taking full control.
• Alternative Run Totals – The alternative set number allows bettors the chance to use their knowledge to try and win a bet at improved odds. As we see above, the odds for Over 7.5 total runs in the game were 4/9 (-225). But, looking at the average expected runs in the game gives us over 9. So, bettors may want to wager in an alternative market by betting on Over 8.5 at odds of 4/6 (-150) or Over 9.5 at odds of evens or +100.

How to Bet on MLB Run Totals

In order to give yourself the best chance of making a profit on MLB Run Totals betting markets you must ensure you do your homework and follow our tips to make a more informed betting decision.

Work Out Average Expected Runs

As we have done above using widely available statistics, potential bettors should work out the average expected runs for each team in a game.

To do this you simply write down the total number of runs scored and conceded in the current season, as well as the number of games played. You then divide each number by the number of games to give you an average for each. So, using the information that Baltimore Orioles scored 183 and conceded 281 in 47 games we do the following equations.

• 183 / 47 = 3.89 runs scored
• 281 / 47 = 5.97 runs conceded

We then do the same for the opposition, then add the runs scored for one team to the runs conceded for the other team to get an average expected runs scored for each team. We can then add the two averages together to get a total expected runs scored for the game.

This can be done for every game played throughout a season, obviously using stats from the previous season if betting on matches at the beginning of a regular season. You can also look at previous head to head statistics to work out an average number of runs scored from the last ten or twenty games played between the teams.

Study Pitching Stats

Another tip for whether to bet Over or Under in a game is to study the pitching statistics for each team. This means looking at the depth of quality available in the bullpen and not just focusing on the starting pitcher.

If a starting pitcher doesn’t concede many runs, it may tempt a bettor to wager on under a certain number being scored. But, you need to remember that this is just the starting pitcher and they will not pitch for more than say six overs in a game. So, you need to look at the bullpen stats and manager usage to either strengthen your betting selection or convince you to not bet on the game at all.

There’s no point betting under a certain number of runs being scored based on a solid starting pitcher if their back up is poor. The same way it’s a risky business betting over a certain number if at least one team has solid pitching depth.

The Academy Awards, otherwise known as the Oscars, is held annually and sees the elite of the film industry gather together in celebration of the big screens previous twelve months.

From the red carpet, to the glitz, glamour, and sometimes ridiculous outfits, this is Hollywood’s finest all out for a good time and hoping to win one of the many Oscar awards on offer.

The Oscars – A Brief History

The Oscars are actually the Academy Awards, first held in 1929, and are a celebration of the best movies to make it to the big screen in the last year.

Each winner receives an Academy Award of Merit, otherwise known as the Oscar Statuette, which is a 34.3cm tall gold-plated Knight depicted holding a sword standing on a reel of film with five spokes. These spokes represent actors, directors, producers, writers, and technicians.

The Oscars – Awards

There are twenty-four awards given out during the Academy Awards ceremony, honouring the best of the film industry from the writers, directors, and actors down to the make-up artists and visual effects people.

Obviously, there are some awards more famous than others and the biggest awards given out at the Oscars include:

• Best Picture
• Best Actor in a Leading Role
• Best Actress in a Leading Role
• Best Actor in a Supporting Role
• Best Actress in a Supporting Role
• Best Director
• Best Cinematography
• Best Writer for an Adapted Screenplay
• Best Writer for an Original Screenplay
• Best Animated Feature Film
• Best Original Score
• Best Original Song

Oscars Betting Markets

There are usually several betting markets available for the Oscars, ranging from the usual outright winner markets to special markets allowing punters the chance to bet on someone dropping an award or saying a certain line during an acceptance speech.

The most popular betting markets are usually:

• Outright Winner – This market allows punters the chance to bet on who will win a certain award and these markets are usually available for almost every award being given out at the ceremony.
• Over/Under – Where a film is nominated for several awards in different categories, the bookmaker will usually offer an over/under market and the punter bets on whether that movie will win more or less awards than a set number.
• Head to Head Bets – These are usually markets offered where the punter bets on which movie will win the most awards out of two possible selections.
• Special Bets – These bets can include some ridiculous betting markets, such as brand of dress worn by the winner of the best actress award, first recently deceased celebrity to feature in the memorial film sequence, and which celeb the host will take a selfie with first. These markets can be bizarre but always offer punters great fun.

Betting on the Oscars

When betting on the Oscars it’s probably best to stick to the more well known categories, although these are still difficult to predict. We do have some tips on how to be able to make an informed decision when betting on the Oscars, and how to give yourself the best chance of making a profit.

Previous Award Ceremonies

Take note of the awards ceremonies which precede the Oscars, namely the Critics Choice Awards and the Screen Actors Guild’s Awards, as history has shown that winners from these two awards do often go on to win an Oscar.

In fact, 90% of best actor winners at the Critics Choice Awards since 1998 have gone on to win the best actor Oscar in the same year. At the same awards, 74% of winners of best actor, best actress, best picture, and best director have gone on to win the Oscar shortly after.

From the Screen Actors Guild’s Awards, we can note that 75% of best actress awards in the last twenty years have been given to the same actress who then goes on to win the Oscar.

Another awards ceremony to pay attention to is the Golden Globes, although only 56% of winners have then won an Oscar in the past two decades.

Current Affairs

Hollywood loves a message and that is why recent world events or social media movements can have a big impact on who wins certain awards.

For example, during 2017 there was a social media movement that allowed women who had been sexually exploited to stand up and #metoo. This indicated female empowerment and the Oscars panel obviously took this into consideration when “The Shape of Water”, a film with a powerful female lead, was named best picture during the 2018 awards ceremony.

Some say this was coincidence, but it was the first time a film with a female lead had won best picture since “Million Dollar Baby” in 2004.

Similarly, the year before a film called “Moonlight” won best picture despite another film being declared the winner and then it being corrected a few minutes later. Moonlight made history by becoming the first film with an all-black cast and the first LGBT film to win the best picture Oscar.

What is strange about this is the fact that Hollywood was criticised a year before for the lack of nominees from ethnic or minority backgrounds. Again, current affairs not only had an impact on the nominations but also on who won the awards.
Shop Around

Our last piece advice for betting on the Oscars is to shop around, find the best odds available and also take advantage of some of the more bizarre special bets available.