Granada edges Malaga to emerge from drop zone
Soccer Betting Lines
02/06/2012 - Granada, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Granada climbed out of the relegation zone on Monday with a 2-1 win over Malaga at Los Carmenes.
With its second-straight La Liga victory, Granada improves to 25 points on the year to sit tied with Rayo Vallecano and Mallorca in the Spanish top flight.
Nigerian striker Odion Ighalo, on loan from Udinese, put the home side in front after a scoreless first half, notching his third goal of the La Liga season in the 57th minute.
Malaga answered 11 minutes later through Salomon Rondon, but Inigo Lopez grabbed the game-winner nine minutes from time to claim the win for Granada.
The visitors were dealt a major blow in the 83rd minute when Martin Demichelis was given a straight red card, reducing Malaga to 10 men and sealing the 2-1 loss.
Malaga has now lost three of its last four league contests and remains in eighth place with 28 points through 21 games.
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs designated infielder Blake DeWitt for assignment on Monday. The 26-year-old batted .265 with five home runs, 11 doubles and 26 RBI in 121 games during his first full season with the Cubs i
<< Alcohol led to Presbyterian player's death
Clinton, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - An autopsy has determined the death of a
Presbyterian College football player on Sunday was brought on by alcohol
intoxication.
The Laurens County Coroner's office said Monday that the death of 21-year-old
Kyl
<< Liverpool, Spurs finish goalless at Anfield
Liverpool, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Liverpool and Tottenham played to a 0-0
draw at Anfield on Monday, doing little to improve the ambitions of either
side.
The result leaves Tottenham seven points back of leaders Manchester City
<< Missouri State to visit Kansas State, Louisville
Springfield, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Missouri State football will open the 2012
season by visiting two FBS opponents and play five home games as part of an
11-game schedule announced Monday.
Seventh-year head coach Terry Allen and the Bears wi
<< Lawrie, Stanley soar in world rankings
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paul Lawrie claimed a four-shot win in
Qatar, while Kyle Stanley erased an eight-shot deficit to come from behind and
win the Phoenix Open on Sunday. With those victories, both players made big
moves i
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby skated with the team on Monday, but did not participate in full team practice and his status has not changed. Crosby has been out since December 5 due to concu
BU downs Harvard, gains Beanpot final >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kieran Millan stopped 29 shots and Wade Megan
tallied twice as Boston University took a 3-1 decision over Harvard in the
first semifinal matchup of the 60th annual Beanpot from TD Garden.
Matt Nieto als
Carmelo Anthony leaves game with strained groin >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Knicks star forward Carmelo Anthony suffered a
strained right groin in Monday's game against the Utah Jazz and will not
return.
He suffered the injury near the midpoint of the first quarter as he
No. 24 Louisville routs Connecticut >>
Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Smith scored 16 points and Gorgui
Dieng added 15 to lead No. 24 Louisville to a thorough 80-59 throttling of
Connecticut.
Kyle Kuric chipped in 10 points and nine rebounds, while Chane Behanan
Denmon helps Missouri edge Oklahoma >>
Norman, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marcus Denmon made four three-pointers en route
to 25 points, as the fourth-ranked Missouri Tigers snuck past the Oklahoma
Sooners, 71-68.
Ricardo Ratliffe added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers (22
Online Sportsbook Football Betting
Why Sports Betting is so much fun?
Betting Sports
The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)
But you could also simply bet on the money line, or straight-up winner of the game. Oddsmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on the underdog to balance the action on both sides. While money line gambling is an attractive option for football and basketball bettors who only care about picking a winner, it is the primary option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball and individual sports like boxing, tennis, golf and racing events such as NASCAR. ( More details on playing the Money Line)
Points (or Runs) Scored
Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.
The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.
Future Bets
Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.
Proposition Bets (or Prop Bets)
Proposition bets , also known as prop bets, focus upon the more exotic aspects of a game and are generally reserved for events that are widely televised. Prop bets are extremely popular when it comes to wagering on the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. The Imperial Palace Casino’s sportsbook is well-known for the enormous number of prop bets offered. For example, you can bet on:- What team will win the coin toss
- What player will score the game’s first touchdown
- What will be the exact margin of victory
Types of Bets
Straight Bet
Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.
Sports Betting Parlays
A parlay is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers and is dependent on all of those wagers winning together. The benefit of the parlay bet is much better odds than placing each individual bet separately since the difficulty of hitting it is much higher.Standard payoffs on a two-team parlay are 13/5; while a three-teamer pays 6/1; and a four-teamer 10/1.
Parlay cards are also fairly common in sportsbooks and popular with bettors, as they are released early in the week with set odds that do not change in return for a slightly lower payoff.
Round Robin Betting
Adventurous bettors who enjoy betting parlays sometimes put together a series of parlays called a Round Robin . A three-team Round Robin consists of one three-team parlay and three two-team parlays. For example, Joe likes teams A,B,C – with a Round Robin he has a three-teamer with ABC, and two-teamers with AB, AC, and BC.Betting Teasers
Similar to a parlay, a teaser bet is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers, but is different in that the point spread is adjusted to your advantage on each individual wager. In exchange for the points, you get less of a return on your bet compared to a parlay. For example, a 6-point teaser would move the line on a 7-point favorite from -7 to -1, meaning the team would have to cover 6 less points. Each of the individual wagers must win or the bet is a loss.These are the main types of sports bets available today. But as sports betting continues to grow, sportsbooks will continue to develop new and creative ways to bet. We’ll continue to track these changes to the sports gambling landscape, so check back often and we’ll tell you all about it!
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
What Is the Point Spread?
What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
How to Read Point Spreads
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
- Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
OR
- Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.
-
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
- Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
OR
- Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score
Who Really “Won” the Super Bowl odds ?
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.