Sports Betting Basics

When it comes to betting, you can never have too much information. Have you ever wanted to bet on a particular sporting event and found the the point spread, odds and bookies were just too much to deal with?  The world of sport betting can seem like a complex one, but it is really not as hard as it looks.

Betting on a sport goes way back in our history to the colonists who were known to bet on cockfighting, horse racing and fighting. England has a long tradition of betting so for the colonists to bring it over with them is not a surprise. In the 1800s, the sport of choice to gamble on was horse racing with boxing following close behind. Later that century, baseball became more popular and by 1919 we had the World Series which we all know is famous as the Black Sox Scandal.

Then into the 20th century we find that basketball and football began to catch the eye of the public and soon these two sports rivaled baseball. Known today as betting with the money line, this type of odds betting still takes place today but the money line bet for college basketball and football had the games mismatched causing gambler to be betting on the same team. The bookmakers changed that.