Even though sports betting has not yet been legalized in Ohio, you can improve your punting skills by using various apps to practice for free.
In December 2024, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine formally signed legislation to legalize sports betting in the state. After creating rules and procedures and issuing licenses for more than a year, Ohio is now prepared to legalize sports betting beginning January 1, 2024.
Inside Sports Betting: How It Works
With the legislation of sports betting, it’s essential to understand how and where to gamble, what odds signify, and how to possibly win in order to place bets on a gaming website. In a lot of cases, it isn’t as simple as choosing a champion or a loser.
For beginner punters, there is a lot to learn, regardless of whether they want to wager on an underdog or favorite, the overall amount of points, a specific player’s statistics, or one of several other alternatives.
Thus, in today’s article, we’ll walk you through some beginners’ gambling tips that can get you started with real money sports betting in Ohio.
How to Read Betting Lines
A point spread is connected to almost every game that is accessible for betting. Before publishing a line for a match, bookmakers choose which team should be the favorite and which should be the underdog.
Sportsbooks display betting lines with a positive sign for the underdog and a negative sign for the favorite. This is not a forecast of the match result, but rather a divider used by the bookies to try to split betting activity evenly between both sides of the line.
Operators frequently adjust the line as bets start coming in an attempt to even out the wagers. The lines often advance in half-point steps.
Measure Your Wager
Your $100 wager does not necessarily guarantee a $100 return on that investment. The combination of your bet size and the odds is what determines your rewards. For ease of understanding, the reward will be based on the odds you bet at. In order to win $100 with odds of +110, one must wager $110.
For instance, if team A is listed as “A -5” on the betting line and you wager $110 on them and they win by five points or more, you gain $100. You forfeit your $110 if they lose or do not win by a margin of at least five points.
Thankfully, online casinos and the corresponding smartphone apps make it simple to figure out what your possible reward will be, so you don’t have to run for a pen and paper every time.
Sports Betting Apps for Beginners and Experts
Today, there are many sports betting apps to choose from. At news.betjack.com, you’ll find numerous articles and suggestions that can help you better choose among the betting options. This is a good opportunity to check your punting skills, even if you are a complete beginner.
Types of Sports Betting in Ohio
We’ve seen how you can read a bet. Now, let’s explore the types of bets available and spot the ones you should choose as a beginner.
Point-Spread Betting
Although this kind of wager can be found in many sports, high-scoring sports tend to have the most of them. To place a point-spread bet, you must forecast whether a team will succeed or lose by a specific range or within a specific number of points.
There will be a “favorite” and an “underdog” squad. Your favorite must meet or beat the point spread to win a straight wager, while your underdog needs to simply come out on top or win by a margin smaller than the point range to cover the wager.
However, there will be no winner, and all bets will be returned if no team beats the spread—in gambling jargon, this situation is known as the “push.”
Moneyline Betting
The easiest type of wager to place is a moneyline wager. Here, the gambler is placing a wager on a team to win the game outright, regardless of what the points spread indicates.
Also, who wins or loses the bet has nothing to do with the final score. You will win your bet if the team you choose wins. In money lines, the underdog has larger odds than in straight wagers, so they can be quite profitable.
Take, for instance, this collegiate basketball match: Ohio State is -9 in its matchup with Illinois. You must wager $110 to win $100 on Ohio State because your straight wager odds (against the margin) are -110.
However, if your Moneyline odds are +450 for Illinois and -560 for Ohio, a $100 wager on Illinois would return $450, while a $100 wager on Ohio would return only a little profit.
Betting in Totals or Over/Under Betting
The outcome of the match is relatively irrelevant in this kind of wager. The purpose of the wagerer is to control the total number of points, scores, or goals scored by both teams in the event’s final score.
In essence, you are placing a bet on whether one or both teams will score more or less points than the number predicted by the bookies. The total is also determined by the bookies to split the wagering action 50/50. Like point spreads, total lines might also change.
There are many total bets that you can make. You can place a bet on the sides’ overall scores after two or four quarters. Another option is to bet on the combined points scored by each team.
Prop Betting
Props are wagers on things like the coin toss or how long it will take to sing the national anthem. When making this kind of wager, you occasionally have to bet on one player’s performance.
Players’ props, betting teams’ props, and many other props are available to gamblers with the standard online bookmakers. Props allow the bookmakers to be “creative” and provide extra opportunities for wagering on the course of the game.
Future Betting
Lastly, betting on a team to win the season title or to surpass or diverge from a season-long win total set by bookmakers is a future bet. Future bets are possibilities for placing bets on events’ results, like the Pro Bowl, World Championships, Heisman Championships, etc.
Futures are normally made accessible to players as soon as the season is over. Retail sportsbooks, for instance, will post the odds for each league team to win the World Series next year as soon as the series is over.