A guide for those who are interested in getting started with sports betting
By: Zach Reger
It was just another college football Saturday in 2019 for Ryan Bunnell. Except this time, he wanted to do something different.
His friends in college have been talking a lot about sports betting, so Bunnell decided to give it a shot for himself. He felt confident in three teams, so he combined them all into one bet, also known as a parlay.
In order to win this bet, Bunnell needed TCU to win by at least five, Alabama to win by two touchdowns, and Oklahoma State to win by 18 or more points.
Bunnell put $15 on it to potentially win $150.
“What is the worst that can happen?” he thought to himself.
Before he knew it, the games began.
TCU got the job done early in the day. The first leg of the parlay hit.
Then Alabama won 38-7 over Mississippi State. The excitement begins to creep in. Bunnell was just one win away from winning $150.
It is all down to Oklahoma State now.
Three quarters go by, and Oklahoma State is winning 31-0 over Kansas. Bunnell is starting to feel the victory of winning his first-ever parlay.
Triple zeros hit on the scoreboard, and the Cowboys won 31-13. It was an 18-point win for Oklahoma State; exactly what Bunnell needed.
“This is easy,” Bunnell stated.
After all, he did just win big on the first parlay that he ever made.
“I felt like I knew college football better than most,” Bunnell elaborated. From there, he was hooked.
Bunnell is not alone in this feeling, as sports betting has turned into a phenomenon over the past several years.
According to a study from Statista.com, $4.33 Billion of direct sports betting revenue was generated in the U.S. in 2021. This is due to an increase in legalization, media, and overall interest.
Sports betting is now legal in over 30 states, and you cannot turn on your television without seeing either a commercial for a sportsbook or the spread of a game on the ticker.
“Every generation is more into sports betting than the last,” Teddy Greenstein, senior editor of PointsBet said.
The most common form of gambling is online, so this ease of access has helped support this growth. So who are these new people that are getting into sports betting?
According to the Fantasy Sports and Gaming Association, 19% of Americans aged 18 and older participate in sports betting. According to the same study, 50% of sports bettors are between the ages of 18-34, and under half of sports bettors (45%) make more than $75,000 per year.
Studies have also suggested that 75% to 80% of college students have gambled in general within the previous year, according to a report in the Journal of Gambling Issues.
Despite this, many sportsbooks are advertising on college campuses. Caesars Sportsbook, for example, has partnered with Michigan State University. While many college students are not of the legal age to gamble (21), they are impressionable and are more likely to be longtime customers of sportsbooks. This makes them targets for sports betting advertisements.
Diving deeper, this demographic is also much more technologically savvy. While that might not seem to be important in this instance, Greenstein pointed out that this generation is much more likely to put their banking information into a sportsbook app, while older generations would be more hesitant.
The majority of these sports fans have multiple screens as well to showcase multiple sporting events at once.
“The sportsbook wants to be the second screen,” Greenstein stated.
Sportsbooks continue to evolve as the industry grows, and Caesars Sportsbook became the American sportsbook app to stream an NFL game last season.
They can be the second screen through live betting.
Live betting has become a popular form of sports betting. Sportsbooks offer updated lines that move depending on how the game is going. That is how sportsbooks become the second screen.
Sports bettors can now bet on teams at better odds if they see a comeback coming. For example, in the NFL playoff game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Los Angeles Chargers this year, the Chargers were winning 24-7 at halftime.
A bettor could have bet on the Jaguars at +2800 odds (bet $10 to win $280). Before the game, their odds to win were +120 (bet $10 to win $12).
Live betting and parlays are two of the most popular forms of wagers sports bettors place.
Parlays are a form of sports bet in which you combine multiple bets into one to get a better payout, such as Bunnell’s college football bet.
“Parlays are irresistible. How could you pass up a chance to turn $20 into $400?” Greenstein pointed out.
Parlays continue to evolve as they become more popular. Each sportsbook now has its own form of a same game parlay, where each leg is from the same sporting event.
This gives sports bettors a way to increase their odds when they are just watching a single game. They are especially popular during Primetime games or other instances when there is only one game going on at once.
At FanDuel, nearly half of all active users who bet on the NFL have placed a same game parlay. Additionally, over half of the new users place a same game parlay bet within their first week on the site.
Andrew Potter-Gray, a sports bettor, is of the majority when it comes to same game parlays. He placed many of these types of wagers during baseball season.
Potter-Gray would parlay together two players that he believed would record a hit in the game. For example, he parlayed Paul Goldschmidt and Tyler O’Neil to both get a hit when the Cardinals faced the Brewers last season.
“You can get good value by just combining a couple of players you think will do well together,“ he explained.
Finding good value and winning money is a great feeling that young sports bettors enjoy, but it is not everything.
They also feel a sense of community with their friends, especially when they all bet on the same team. Whether the bet wins or loses, they went through it together.
According to a survey from Betting Hero, social wagers, or the experience of placing bets among friends, were more important to fans than being able to place live bets.
Many bettors are looking for ways to interact, share information, or bet directly with their friends and family, which is where social media has taken over.
Each of the major sportsbooks has built a strong social media presence to engage with their sports betting audiences.
Jordan Williams, a newer sports bettor, recalled times in college when he and his friends would cross the Missouri-Illinois border in order to place bets since sports betting is not legal in the state of Missouri. To this day, it is a great memory that they all share.
While sports betting is legal in the majority of US states, legislation has not passed in every state. This leaves many sports fans doing what Williams did and driving to a legal state.
As expected, there are plenty of differences between living in legal states vs. nonlegal states. Bunnell moved from Texas to Arizona, so few understand those differences more than he does.
Joey Appleton, a sports bettor just entering the workforce, did not have a lot of money in college to place bets. He would drive to Illinois from his home in Missouri in the morning to place bets then he would have to see how those bets did.
Appleton would like more bets in games that occurred later in the day, but he needed his earlier bets to win before he could drive back across the river.
He also discussed his desire to live bet, but that was not possible since he watched the games back home in Missouri.
If he were to drive the 20 minutes it took him to get to Illinois, it would be too late. The live odds would have changed.
“It got exhausting,” Appleton explained.
States are legalizing left and right to get their piece of the sports betting revenue, so bettors like Appleton, will not have to leave their houses to place their bets soon.
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While a lot of joy and excitement comes from sports betting, it is not all sunshine and rainbows. Most sports bettors end up losing more than they win.
In fact, professional sports bettors often hit their bets at a 53%-55% rate, which means that they even lose 45%-47% of the time.
Amateur sports bettors normally are not as successful as professionals and take more risks with parlays, while the professionals tend to stay away from those.
Losing is going to happen. Some bets will not stand a chance from the beginning, but then there are bad beats. These are circumstances that prevent your bet from winning in an unlikely manner.
An example is when a basketball player throws up a deep three-pointer late in the game that they are losing and it goes in. That play might not matter in the win-loss column, but when you need a team to win by a certain amount of points, that play could have major implications.
Earlier this year, Cleveland State is the perfect example of this.
Aside from the potential and likelihood of losing money, sports betting can be intimidating. Sportsbooks offer sign-up promotions and use big numbers such as $1,000.
For example, FanDuel currently is offering a no-sweat first bet of up to $1,000. The promotion essentially means that you will get your first bet back in bonuses if it loses. If the bettor puts $10, $50, $100, or $1,000 on their first bet, they will get their money back.
There can be confusion with these promotions. They can be intimidating, yes, but there is also a sense of trust you are putting into the sportsbook that you will get your money back.
Multiple young sports bettors discussed nervousness or anxiety when their first bet lost.
Then the next question they want to know is what can they do with that money. Are they able to withdraw those funds or is it just bonus money that has to be used on the sportsbook?
If it turns into bonus money, and you win your bet with the bonus money, then can you withdraw it?
It is important to read the fine print as each sportsbook differs. The general answers to those two questions are:
1. No-sweat first-bet losses turn into bonus money.
2. Free bets can be withdrawn if it hits a certain amount.
Due to all of this, it is of the utmost importance to be responsible when gambling on sports. Here are a few quick points for those that want to get started in sports betting.
- Sports betting is supposed to be for entertainment, so do not wager more than you can afford.
- Set limits and be strict with those limits.
- Understand that losses happen, so do not “chase” your losses.
- When starting off, it is best to start with a smaller wager size.
A sports bettor that requested to remain anonymous stated that he/she started with $100 bets. That bettor now does not find enjoyment unless the wager is for that amount.
Sports betting is here, and it is here to stay. It will only become more popular as more states legalize it.
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