What is live betting?
Live betting is betting on a game after it has started. The book keeps repricing the spread, the total and the moneyline as the game goes on, and you can bet at the current number. It is also called in-play or in-game betting.
A line that never sits still
Before the game there is one line. Once it starts, the live betting option on a site or an app shows a new one every few seconds.
Say a team closed as a 3-point favorite and falls behind by 10 in the first quarter. The live line might make it a 4-point underdog, and you can bet it there, or bet the other side.
The prices come from a model fed with the score and the clock, with a trader watching over it, and two things follow from that. The book takes the market down during a scoring play, a review or a timeout, then puts it back up. And a live bet usually waits a few seconds before it is accepted; if the price moves in that time, the bet is refused or offered again at the new price.
What it costs
More than betting before the game, as a rule. A pregame spread is usually -110 on both sides, which is a cut of about 4.5 percent. Live lines are often -115 or -120 on both sides, and that is about 6.5 percent and 8.3 percent. The book has to post a number in seconds, so it gives itself more room, and I'd have done exactly the same.
Who is ahead of you
The picture on your screen is behind the game, by anything from a few seconds to most of a minute on a stream. The book's data is faster than your television. If a live price looks too good, something has usually happened that you have not seen yet.
What it is good for
I'd use it for two things. One is hedging: getting off part of a pregame bet, or locking in a result on a ticket that is still alive (see hedging). The other is a better number, when a team you liked before the game falls behind early for no lasting reason and the price is better than the one you passed on.
People ask for the best live betting sites. I would judge a book on how quickly it accepts a bet, how often its markets are closed and how wide its prices are, and I'd start from the sportsbook reviews.
Before kickoff
Set a loss limit before the game starts. Live betting lets you make twenty bets in an evening, and each one pays the cut. Have a reason for every bet that is more than the score, and keep each one the size of a pregame bet, or smaller. The live betting guide goes deeper.
Live betting is the fastest game in the book. Nothing in it obliges you to keep up.
Related questions
What is a prop bet?
A prop bet, short for proposition bet, is a bet on something that happens inside a game other than the final result. Whether a quarterback throws for more than 249.5 yards is a prop. So is which team scores first.
What is a sportsbook?
A sportsbook is a business that takes bets on sports. It posts the prices, takes the wagers, pays the winners and keeps a cut that is built into the odds. It can be a counter in a casino, a website or an app.
What is pay per head?
Pay per head is a service for bookies. An offshore office gives the bookie a betting site, the lines and the phone clerks to run his players, and charges him a fee for each player who bets that week. The bookie keeps the players, the risk and the money.