What Is A Sportsbook Bet

What Is A Sportsbook Bet Rating: 5,0/5 6933 reviews
  • Our odds calculator is perfect for showing you how to calculate potential winnings for all types of sport wagers. It indicates how much you will win based on the odds and total wagered. That way, you’ll know the exact amount you would win prior to placing any picks at your favorite sportsbook. Below is an explanation on how to bet on sports by using our betting odds.
  • Even non-gamblers make moneyline bets. Betting the moneyline for a game is possibly the most simple way to wager on sports. Bettors just choose a player or team to win. If the bettor chooses the winning side, the sportsbook.
  • Sportsbooks typically require you to wager a certain amount before bonuses can be withdrawn – this is called play-through Understand betting play-through requirements with this guide It’s easy to.
  1. What Is A Sportsbook
  2. 10 Top Sports Betting Sites

What is Sports Betting? Bettors pick the result of a sports event. The potential winnings they stand to win are determined by the odds provided by the sportsbook. A “unit” in sports betting is a measurement of the size of someone’s bet. Because everyone has different sized bankrolls for sports betting, using the term unit is a way for us to show your profit or loss in.

Estimated Read Time: 3 minutes

See All Guides

Browsing through the terms and conditions of sportsbooks can be exhausting. Thankfully, we’ve read the fine print for you to tell you what to expect when you first log in to a new online sportsbook.

In this guide, we examine the most typical rules and requirements surrounding minimum deposit limits, and outline which deposit methods come with the easiest process and lowest fees. Additionally, we’ll take a look at minimum bet limits, a common restriction on how small a wager your online sportsbook will accept.

Minimum Deposit Amounts Depend on Your Funding Source

To start placing bets at your sportsbook of choice, you’ll first have to make a deposit. Minimum deposit amounts vary between books, but the required amount often also varies depending on the method used to make the deposit.

For most sports bettors, credit cards and eWallets are the most appealing option. They typically come with the lowest minimum deposit and the least amount of fees.

Money transfers, checks, and bank wires have the highest minimum deposits, as these are a greater hassle for sportsbooks to process and deal with. It is industry standard for banking methods to have the highest fees of any deposit method.

Minimum Deposit Via Credit Card

Credit cards are the most popular method of deposit. Minimum deposits with a credit card can range anywhere from $10-$100, but tend to fall on the lower end of this range.

American and European bettors can expect to encounter $10 minimums at the most popular online sportsbooks.

What

Sportsbooks strive to set a low minimum deposit for this method, given that it’s the most popular and convenient way for bettors to fund their accounts.

Minimum Deposits Via Bank or Money Transfer

If you use a bank wire or a money transfer to fund your betting account, you may have to lay down a lot of cash. Minimum deposits can be significantly higher for these methods, particularly if you’re unable to take advantage of an ACH or online bank transfer.

Minimum deposits can be as low as $10 for electronic transfers, but don’t be surprised if you’re asked to deposit significantly more when using more traditional wire services.

Minimum Deposit Via eWallets

When we talk about eWallets, we’re referring to services like Paypal, Neteller, and Skrill. eWallets allow you to store multiple credit card or bank account numbers in a secure environment. Payments are much faster, and many are nearly instantaneous.

What

Best of all, some sportsbooks place no restrictions whatsoever on deposits made via eWallet services. That said, a $10 minimum remains standard at many online sportsbooks.

Note that you may also be required to use the same eWallet to make a withdrawal when the time comes.

The Smallest Bets You Can Make At Your Sportsbook

You might be surprised to hear this, but most sportsbooks allow you to make very small wagers. As long as you meet deposit requirements (and future withdrawal requirements), sportsbooks are happy to let you wager with tiny amounts of money.

We’ve seen online sportsbooks accept wagers as low as $0.01, but the majority place their minimums between $0.50 and $2.00. You won’t find an online sportsbook with a minimum higher than $5.00.

Note that minimum bet amount can vary depending on the time of year or specific event.

Get Started Today!

If you’re still trying to figure out how to best develop a sports betting strategy, we’re here to help. We’ve created an entire guide to the fundamentals of sports betting to help you get started.

If you’re trying to decide what method is right for you to finance your sportsbook account, check out our comprehensive guide to all things related to depositing and withdrawing from your sportsbook.


A common question from new or casual sports bettors is “What is a unit?”. A popular term in sports betting is “unit” and below I will explain what bettors mean they refer to a unit, and examples of it being used.

A “unit” in sports betting is a measurement of the size of someone’s bet. Because everyone has different sized bankrolls for sports betting, using the term unit is a way for us to show your profit or loss in universal terms.

Someone who is betting $10,000 per bet against the spread in NFL and is up $18,000 on the season isn’t nearly as impressive as someone who bets $10 per bet against the spread and is up $180 on the season. Using units gives us a tool to keep track of profits and losses without the dollar value.

Because basic sports betting strategy tells us that you should be betting somewhere between 1-5% of your bankroll on each wager, it is generally accepted that a unit is equal to approximately 1% of your bankroll. Nothing is set on stone with this, but that is an easy way to calculate a single unit.

Using the above formula, someone who has a $1,000 bankroll would be betting $10 per unit, while someone with a $50,000 bankroll would be betting $500 per unit.

Using the bankroll management strategy that recommends 1-5% of your bankroll on each bet you would essentially want to bet between 1-5 “units”.

What Is A Sportsbook

Many sports handicappers will release their plays with units, with the most common being 1-5 units or sometimes 1-7 units. The 1,2, and 3 unit plays are more of the average plays, while the 4, 5 and sometimes 6 and 7 unit plays are the big plays where the handicapper feels they have found a lot of value on a play.

If a handicapper released a 5 unit play and you had a $1,000 sports betting bankroll you would be risking 5% (5 units) or $50 on the play.

When a bettor says he is +25 units on the year what does that mean?

This would be a measurement of his success on the season so far. Referring to being +25 units means he is “plus” 25x whatever 1 unit is to him. This could be +$25 for someone, while it could be +$25,000 for another.

How can a handicapper with a 25-32 record be +15 units?

It is possible to have a sub .500 record but still be up units if you are betting on underdog or “plus money” selections. For example, picking only NFL underdogs on the money line could lead to a negative record but profits on the season.

Can a sports bettor actually be +1546 units?

There is a lot of ways you can inflate your numbers to make yourself sound good. Like I said earlier a unit = 1% is just a general guideline and everyone has their own way of doing things. Read the fine print. 1 unit to that bettor could 0.001% of their initial bankroll for all we know.

Below is a video basically going over what was said above…

10 Top Sports Betting Sites

Ready to take your new sports betting knowledge to work? Get started at Bovada.lv with a $250 sign up bonus if you don’t have an account there already!