If you’re a huge sports fan, you may already be a big fan of sports betting and not even realize it. Many sports fans create fantasy teams and bet against each other without exchanging money. Approximately 67% of all college students bet on sports. Nearly half of all American adults bet on the Super Bowl every year. (It might be safe to assume that a large portion of this percentage feels pressured into doing so at the request of multiple coworkers who “just want to have a little fun, gosh, loosen up.”) And sports betting brings about 30 million visitors to Nevada every year, since it is currently the only state in the U.S. where sports betting is legal and taxed.
Although all gambling depends on chance, betting on sports is an interesting type of gambling because it really does require a thorough understanding of the sport itself, as well as a sharp eye for details. Here are a few basic tips to get you started in the world of sports bets:
- Pick your sport and do some research on it. The term “sports betting” is almost too vague to use simple because betting techniques differ for every sport. For example, bettors in baseball tend to place bets on the outcome of a series of three games, while bettors in basketball tend to focus more on single games. Understand your sport and how bettors place predictions on it.
- Pick your expert betting picks. Sports picks are very specific predictions regarding the success of certain players and teams; you won’t bet on your picks but you will use them to analyze which team you should bet on. There are many websites that offer free sports picks, but you can also choose to buy sports picks from experts who have analyzed tons of little details. Whether you choose to collect your expert betting picks from a free site or choose to buy sports picks, the important thing to look for is how the picks are determined.
- Pick a place. Even though Nevada is the only physical place where sports betting is legal in the U.S., there is still no concrete consensus on methods of online sports gambling. As of right now, the majority of people who choose to bet on sports will do so through an online sports bookie. There certainly are some questionable sports betting websites online, but there are an equal number of legitimate and trustworthy sites too, which may also double as providers of expert betting picks.
One final tip that many experts give beginners is to keep in mind that sports betting can be fun and exciting, but it can also be dangerous if you aren’t careful; you always want to make sure that you don’t bet with money that you don’t have. As long as you take precautions to stay safe, betting on sports is great way to find other fans and maybe even make a little money.
