5 Types of Sport Bets

Sports betting offers many options, and the type of bet you choose depends on your style and preferences. Each type of wager provides a different way to wager on sports, events, or games. Megapari goes over the 5 main types of best sports bets you can place at online sportsbooks. You don’t need to memorize every detail, but knowing the basics helps when picking the right stake for you.

Moneyline

If you’re wondering how to bet on sports, this is the easiest wager. You choose a team to win. That’s all. When you check a game on a sportsbook, moneyline stakes are usually listed first, alongside spreads and totals. Games aren’t always equal, so the odds differ. If one team is weaker, they get higher odds, which means a bigger payout if they win. The stronger team has lower odds, so the payout is smaller.

Point Spread

Spread bets make things interesting by leveling the competition. The weaker team gets “extra” credit added to their score. For example, if the Chicago Bulls are favored over the Boston Celtics with a spread of:

Chicago Bulls: -6

Boston Celtics: +6

The sportsbook expects the Bulls to win by 6 points. Betting on the Bulls requires them to win by 7 or more points. Betting on the Celtics means they must win or lose by 5 or fewer points. The spread adjusts the final score: 6 points are subtracted from the Bulls’ score or added to the Celtics’ score to determine the result.

Totals (Over/Under)

Want to stake on the score but not pick a winner? Try totals at online sports betting. You bet on whether the combined score of both teams will be over or under a number set by the sportsbook. Let’s say you’re free betting on a basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. The bookmaker sets the over/under at 215.5 points. If you bet the “over,” you’re predicting the total score will be 216 points or more. If the final score is 110-108 (218 total credits), you win because it’s above 215.5. But if the score is 105-102 (207 total points), you lose since it’s below the line.

Parlays

Parlays let you combine multiple wagers into one. This can increase your payout, but every bet must win, or you lose it all. For example, say you pick:

Dallas Cowboys to win – Moneyline bet (odds: 2.00)

Lakers vs. Warriors, Over 220 points – Totals bet (odds: 1.90)

New York Yankees to win – Moneyline wager (odds: 1.80)

Multiply the odds:

2.00 × 1.90 × 1.80 = 6.84

If you bet 10 and all three predictions are correct, you’d win 68.40 ($10 × 6.84). But if any one of them loses, the entire parlay is lost. 

Teasers

Teasers are like parlays in that you bet on multiple outcomes and need all your predictions to be correct to win. The main difference is that with teasers, you can adjust the point spreads or totals in your favor—though this adjustment reduces your potential payout.

When placing a teaser bet, you’re allowed to shift the point spreads or over/under totals by a specific number of credits, as determined by the sportsbook. In football, the typical adjustments are 6, 7, or even 10 points, while in basketball, they’re usually 4, 5, or 8 points. All parts of the teaser must use the same point adjustment, but the direction of the shift can differ for each team or sports game.