Sports Betting Lingo

ATS-  ATS is an acronym for Against The Spread.  

Chalk-  Chalk is betting on the favorite.  If you ever hear, "there is a lot of chalk on that card" it means a bettor is placing his bets on a lot of favorites.  

Dime-   A dime bet is a $1,000 bet.

Favorite-  A favorite is a team that is projected to win by odds-makers.  

Futures- A future bet is a bet that will not be decided for some time.  Most future bets are betting on a team to win the championship before the season starts or betting on a win total for a team.  For example, we picked France to Win the World Cup at +800 before the tournament started.  That is an example of a future bet.  

Juice- Juice is the commission that a sportsbook earn on each wager.  If the odds are even on a bet, generally a sportbook will make the bet -110 so they keep the -10.  

Lock-  A term to describe a pick that is an easy winner.  Veteran sports bettors know that there is no such thing as a "lock."

Moneyline-  Betting on the moneyline means you are betting purely on the team to win straight up.  There are no spreads with money line bets.

Mush- A bettor or gambler that is not skilled at making picks and normally is bad luck.

Nickle-  A nickle bet is a $500 bet.

Over/Under-  When betting on an over/under, you are betting on the final score of the game.  For example, if you bet on Braves/Marlins Over 9, you win the bet if the teams score over 9 runs in the game.  

Parlay-  A parlay is when a bettor combines two or more moneylines, spreads, or over/under bets to win, earning a higher payout if all of their picks win.  If one of the combined bets loses, the whole parlay loses.

Pick’em – When a game is a Pick ‘em, it means that there is no favorite or underdog.  Odds-makers believe that neither team has an advantage over the other.  

Push-  A push is one a bet is a tie and no money is won or lost.  For example, if you bet on the Patriots -7 and the final score is 21-14, it would be a push.  You would not lose or win anything. 

Second Half Bet- A second half bet is a bet placed after the first half ends on a new line created by the odds-makers. There are a lot of advantages to second half betting because you can get a team at a much better line if they are losing after the first half.  Odds-makers have a short time to make the 2nd half line so there is room for error on their part. 

Spread-  A spread a type of head start for the underdog of any sporting event or competition. ... This means that the favorite of the game needs to defeat their opponent by more than the point spread in order for the bet to win. This creates an active and balanced market for both sides of a wager.

Steam-  When a sudden line movement occurs across the sports betting marketplace.  Steam occurs when a large amount of money is being placed on a certain bet.  An example of steam would be the Packers opening up at -7 for the points spread and the line moving -9 by game time.

Straight Bet- A straight bet is a single bet on a spread, money line, or over/under.   

Underdog-  A underdog is a team that is projected by odds-makers to lose.  

Unit-   A person's average size bet.  A unit is typically 1-3% of the bettor's bankroll.