Sports gambling in America has reached more than $125 billion in wagers since its legalisation four years ago.
The four years since the Supreme Court overruled the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in May 2018 has seen many states follow New Jerseys lead to create implement new legislation to allow online and or in person gambling in their state.
Having the ability to gamble outside of Las Vegas has given Americans the chance to wager on their favourite sports and have a wide range of options when placing them.
With more advertising and income that gambling has brought into sports has given more of a range of investments which goes back into the sports and its players.
The new range of betting options have given baseball fans the chance to test their knowledge and try to win some money from their knowledge of the game.
There are many different MLB lines which will be explained below for the beginner’s guide to betting on baseball.
Money Line Betting
In baseball this simply refers to which of the two teams will win the game. Money lines are usually used in giving a positive number for the underdog and a negative number for the favourite.
With this bet, the underdog would bring in a bigger winning margin, while betting on the favourite brings a smaller jackpot.
This is a good way to get involved in betting where you have a good feeling of which team will come out the winner at the end of the game.
Over/Under Betting
Here the sportsbook sets a value, and the punter will place their bet on whether the final total will be under or over that value.
For example, if the sportsbook sets the line for the final score of the game. You can then place a bet on the whether you feel it will be higher or lower at the end of the game.
Run Line Betting
This is similar to the point spread in basketball and football. It requires an understanding on stats, trends and pitching performances to get a clear decision on where to place your money.
Run Line betting is often more popular in the end of the season as punters gain a greater understanding of how each team and player plays.
The underdog is given +1.5 and the favourite -1.5 to their totals with different odds on each. The team then needs to win by two or more runs which can, depending on the teams, make things more probable for the underdog or the favourite depending on the game.
Reverse Run Line Bets
This is where the favourite and the underdog are flipped. The plus and minus 1.5 will rotate and the favourites would need to either win or lose by fewer than 1.5 runs to win the bet. This is far more likely so the odds with be much lower.
On the opposite side, the underdog has a much bigger margin, and should they reach the line, the odds would be much higher. This is one for the more out of the ordinary predictions of an underdog dominating the favourite.
Top Half
Some places will offer odds on the first five innings of the game. This is particularly good for teams you know that go out swinging early, teams which look to build a lead early or teams which take a long time to get into the game.
This is a great way to add interest to the games you know more on, about the styles of the teams and available players.
Future Bets
This is looking long term into the season, for example by betting on who is going to win the World Series. The odds can fluctuate as time goes by, throughout the season the initial favourite could show they are as strong as we expected or suffer injuries or poor form and drop out of the running.
There are many different options here, like predicting who will score the most runs in the season, who will be the MVP or the Rookie of the year. It’s a tough bet to get right, but the odds are often quite attractive.
Prop Bets
Depending on which sportsbook you use, there will be a selection of prop bets and other items you can look into. Props, shortened for propositions, are bets which can be on any specific part of the game.
This can include if the game will go to extra innings, which pitcher will have the most strikeouts, or which team will score first.
These bets will come with varying odds and can even be combined to create bigger odds to bring in higher totals. This though does come with more margin for error, and part of the bet may come in, but if all doesn’t then you would end up losing the bet.
