In 2017, the US legal sports betting market had an estimated worth of $270 million and another $2.5-3 billion in the black market, according to Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, LLC research firm.

This is a lot of money that anyone interested in sports betting can tap into. It may be a game of chance, but a chance to make money is better than no chance at all.

To increase your betting odds, however, there are tips and strategies that you need to learn and observe, especially when betting on major sporting events.

Each year, the Super Bowl draws an extraordinary number of bets. Golf tournaments, tennis tournaments, other professional sports are no different. Every playoff is a chance to place your bets and win big.

Which bets are available on major sporting events?

Futures betting

As the name suggests, this is a kind of bet placed at the beginning of an event as a means to predict a possible winner in advance.

If you visit www.casinopedia.com, you’ll see a lineup of upcoming events, such as a basketball game between India and Australia. You can bet in advance if you think Australia would win or if you vote for India.
Since the odds are updated daily leading up to the event, you’ll have a good idea where your bet will lean towards. There’s also a good chance that you’ll bet on underdogs that will eventually win.

Point spread

Available in every single sporting event, this type of bet is usually placed the day or the night before a particular tournament or game.

Be on the lookout for what sportsbooks will consider as the favorite as it will be given a certain spread that must be covered for them to be a betting winner.

Prop betting

It was the mid-1980s when then Station Casinos Vice President Art Manteris thought of other ways to attract more casual and non-sports fans to bet on the Super Bowl. It all started when he bet that William “Refrigerator” Perry would score a touchdown despite not having carried the ball since 24 November of that year.

With the risk too high, Manteris, instead, set the line at 20-1 for Fridge to score a touchdown in the Super Bowl XX. And they did, with Perry carrying the ball to the end zone, no less.

This gave birth to what is now known as a prop or proposition bets.

What is exciting about such bet is that it typically involves unique things surrounding the event. You can bet on just about anything that is worth betting on.

Moneyline

This is probably the simplest type of bet you can make, as it mainly revolves around betting on a particular game or match winner.

If you bet on a team or player that is considered the favorite, you will receive a return lower than what you would receive if you bet on the underdog.

But, like anything in sports betting, placing your money on the underdog often is not a wise move.

Over/Under

In this type of bet, you make a wager based on the total final score of a particular event or game. You bet on whether the actual number is higher or lower than the number predicted for a particular game statistic.
Different sports will have different over/under predictions.

What makes this different from other sports bets is that the focus is on the numbers and not on the winner or loser.

In football, sportsbooks usually crunch the numbers based on over and under 2.5 goals predictions.

The table can look like this:

• Hibernian v Rangers Over 2.5 goals
• Norwich v Swansea Over 2.5 goals
• Werder Bremen v Schalke Over 2.5 goals

You will also see how much returns you’ll get for a particular bet. $70, for example, will have a return of $13.

Now, part of increasing the odds on your favor is to choose the right sportsbook.

The best ones offer:

• Live betting allows you to place your bets while watching the sport you’re betting on at the same time. Not all sportsbooks offer this feature. But people who enjoy such an arrangement would agree that live betting should be mandatory.
• Cheaper lines so you can save money in the long run. At the moment, finding such sportsbooks are not that easy. But you’re lucky if you do.
• Mobile apps for betting on the go. You don’t want to miss an opportunity to make money on your favorite team just because you couldn’t find a computer nearby. Mobile apps offer the kind of convenience that avid bettors need.
• Deposit/reload bonuses that you can benefit from. This is one of the ways that sportsbooks keep you coming back for more, but some offers are better than others. Check out bonuses before you place your bet.