Betting terms glossary

Talking like the counter

Every trade has words that let the people in it talk fast, and betting has more than most. A bettor who knows them reads a line, a rules page or a capper's pitch in half the time, and he is a lot harder to confuse. I've heard plenty of players nod along to a word they didn't know and pay for it later.

The definitions below are the meanings the words have in American sports betting. Where a page on the site goes into the subject properly, the term links to it.

The terms

• Action. Money bet on a game, or a bet that stands. "No action" means the bet is void and the stake comes back.
• Agent. A bookie who runs his players through a pay-per-head shop and pays it a fee for each one.
• Against the spread (ATS). A team's record measured by whether it covered, not whether it won.
• Arbitrage. Betting every outcome at different books at prices that leave a profit whichever side wins. See arbitrage betting.
• Backdoor cover. A late score that means nothing to the game and everything to the spread, usually the losing team covering in the final minutes.
• Bad beat. A bet that looked won and lost at the end. Every bettor has a story about one, and every bookie has heard all of them.
• Bankroll. The money set aside for betting and nothing else. See bankroll.
• Bet slip. Where a bet is put together before you confirm it. See what a bet slip is.
• Book, bookie. The book is the operation that takes bets; a bookie is a person who does it, usually local and on credit. See what a bookie is.
• Buying points. Paying a worse price to move the spread half a point or more your way. The spreads page says what it costs.
• Chalk. The favorite. A chalk bettor lays the price on favorites, and a chalky card is one where the favorites mostly won.
• Closing line. The last price before the game starts. Beating it regularly is the best sign you are betting well. See closing-line value.
• Cover. To win against the spread. A -7 favorite that wins by 10 covered; one that wins by 4 did not.
• Credit. Betting on your word, settled at the end of the week. See credit and collections.
• Dead heat. A tie for a paying place, as in a top-10 golf bet, where the stake is divided between the tied players. See house rules.
• Dog, underdog. The team the book expects to lose, priced at plus money or given points.
• Draw no bet. A bet on a team where a draw returns your stake. See three-way moneylines.
• Exposure. What a book stands to lose if a result goes against it. See exposure.
• Fade. To bet against a team, a player or a person. Fading the public means taking the side most of the money is against.
• Favorite. The team the book expects to win, laying points or a minus price.
• Futures. Bets on something decided weeks or months away, such as a championship. See futures.
• Get down. To place a bet.
• Handle. All the money bet, stakes only.
• Hedge. Betting the other side of a bet you already hold, to lock in something either way. See hedging.
• Hold. The share of the handle the book has left after paying winners. Not the same as the vig. See hold.
• Hook. The half point on a line, there so the bet can't push. See what the spread means.
• If bet. Two straight bets where the second goes ahead only if the first wins. See if bets and reverses.
• Implied probability. A price written as the percentage of the time it has to win. See implied probability.
• Juice, vig. The book's cut, built into the price. At -110 you lay $110 to win $100. See what the vig is.
• Key numbers. The margins football games land on most, 3 and 7 above all. See spreads.
• Limit. The most a book will take on one bet. See limits.
• Line, number, price. The odds on offer. Who makes it first is on the line setting page.
• Line shopping. Comparing the same bet at several books and taking the best price. See line shopping.
• Live betting. Betting after the game has started. See live betting.
• Middle. Holding both sides of a game at different numbers, so a result landing between them wins both. The odds movement page shows what it costs a book.
• Moneyline. A bet on who wins, with no spread. See moneylines.
• Off the board. A game the book has taken down, usually for news, so it takes no bets on it until it is repriced.
• Outs. The places you can bet.
• Over/under, total. A bet on the combined score. See totals.
• Parlay. Two or more bets on one ticket, all of which have to win. See parlays.
• Pick'em. A game with no favorite, where the spread is zero.
• Post-up. Betting with money deposited first, the way every sportsbook works.
• Prop. A bet on something inside a game other than the final result. See props.
• Public. The recreational money. Books know it likes favorites and overs, and they shade lines for it.
• Puck line, run line. The spread in hockey and baseball, usually set at 1.5 with the price doing the rest.
• Push. A tie with the book: the result lands on the number and the stake comes back. See what a push is.
• Reverse. Two if bets, one in each order. See if bets and reverses.
• Reverse line movement. A line moving against the side most tickets are on, because the bigger or sharper money is on the other side.
• Round robin. A set of small parlays made from one list of picks. See round robins.
• Settle. To square up at the end of the week: losers pay, winners get paid.
• Sharp, wiseguy. A professional bettor, the kind of player a book respects and limits. When a sharp bets, the line moves.
• Spread. The points the book gives the underdog to make the game an even bet. See spreads.
• Square, recreational. A casual bettor. Most players are squares, and a book is built around them.
• Steam. A line moving fast across many books at once, because a sharp group hit them all within minutes. See odds movement.
• Straight bet. One bet on one result, graded on its own. See what a straight bet is.
• Sweat. A bet still in doubt, and the watching that goes with it.
• Teaser. A parlay where you move every spread in your favor and take a smaller payout for it. See teasers.
• Three-way moneyline. Three prices: one team, the other, and the draw. See three-way moneylines.
• Tout. Someone who sells picks. See what cappers are.
• Unit. Your standard bet, used to keep a record that means the same at any size. See what a unit is.

The ones I'd learn first

If you only learn a handful, I'd make them the vig, the hook and the push, because those three decide what a bet costs you and how it is graded. Then sharp and square, since a book sorts every player into one or the other, and it is worth knowing which one it has you down as.

Chalk and fade come up in every conversation about a game, and they matter least. They are about which team you like. The vig is about what you pay to like it.