Sports Bet Types Explained

A moneyline bet is the simplest form of sports wager: you pick which team will win the game outright. No spreads, no point totals — just the winner.

A point spread bet handicaps the favorite with a points deduction and the underdog with a points addition, evening out the wager and typically paying close to even money (-110).

A totals bet — also called over/under — wagers on whether the combined score of both teams will go over or under a posted number, regardless of who wins.

A parlay combines two or more wagers into a single bet. All legs must win for the parlay to cash, but the payout multiplies — small stakes can return large amounts.

Futures wagers are bets on outcomes that resolve weeks or months in the future — championship winners, division titles, season-long award winners, and regular-season win totals.

A same-game parlay combines multiple bets from a single game into one ticket — typically pairing the spread, total, and player props from the same matchup at correlated (and reduced) odds.

Live betting — also called in-play betting — lets you wager on games as they unfold. Lines move continuously based on the score, time remaining, and game state.

Player props are wagers on individual player performance — passing yards, rebounds, strikeouts, goals — regardless of the game outcome.

A teaser is a multi-leg football or basketball bet where you adjust the point spread (or total) in your favor on each leg in exchange for a reduced payout.

A round robin is a set of smaller parlays automatically built from a larger pool of selections — if you pick 4 teams, the round robin can build all possible 2-leg, 3-leg, or 4-leg parlay combinations.

A prop bet — short for proposition bet — is any wager on an outcome other than the final score. Game props, team props, and event props (like the Super Bowl coin toss) all fall under this umbrella.