Betting Dictionary

Ante Post - a long – term bet; usually for teams to win their local leagues, or for the Champions League winner and so forth.

Asian Handicap - where one of the teams begins the game with a goal advantage or, in the case of the level ball asian handicap, there are only 2 possible outcomes (1X or X2).

Arbitrage – going in favour of bets that their combination is definitely going to put you on the positive side at the end of the day.

Back – the most usual form of betting; simply betting in favour of any outcome from a particular game.

Banker – this is the strongest bet for each player; the one that he believes is the most likely to win.

Betting exchange or Trading – this is the exchange of bets between different players without the bookmakers playing the role of the 'middleman'.

Dead heat - this is when in a sporting event, more than 1 team/person ends up in the same position on the table. Decimal odds – the odds' form; 1.50 (and not ½) is the usual practise in Greece.

Each way – usually in horse betting, but in football betting too. Betting 10 euros in favour of horse A to win the race, it is as if you are betting 5 euros for it to come first and 5 euros to come within the first 3 horses.

European handicap – the goal advantage in favour of one of the two teams is always a whole number and thus there are 3 possible outcomes (1-X-2).

Even money - when a bet is won, the profit is as much as the amount of betting; e.g. if i bet 100 euros even money is when i get back 200 euros that is 100 euros profit.

Fair bet – when the player believes that the odds are really representative of the situation surrounding a game.

First goal – betting in favour of one of the two teams to score the first goal in the game (other 'first' bets come in the form of the first goal scorer in the game, the time when the first goal is going to be scored).

Fixed odds – where the odds related to a particular game cannot change (OPAP's practise).

Forecast – betting in favour of a team to come first or second on the table (or race, in the case of horse betting).

Fractional odds – contrary to the 1.50 (usual practise in Greece), here we have the ½ (usual practise in Britain).

Half time – predicting the result of the game for the first half. Handicap or line – this is the Asian handicap or the European handicap.

Head to head – here, the player bets in favour of a team to take a higher position on the table at the end of the season than one other particular team. Or it can come in the form of for example Panathinaikos to score more goals than Aek on the 19th day of the league despite the fact that these 2 teams are not playing against each other on that day.

In-running or Live betting – betting while the game is being played.

Lay – the usual practise in betting exchange companies like Betfair.

Money line – a usual practise in America. This shows how much money we need to bet in order to win a particular amount of money (if we bet in favour of the favourite to win the game) and how much money we will win if we bet in favour of the outsider to win the game.

Odds – the odds come in 3 different forms;the decimal form – 1.50 (usual practise in Greece), the fractional form – 1/2 (usual practise in Britain) and the money line form - +100 (usual practise in America).

Over/Under – this has to do with the amount of goals, points (in basketball) to be scored in a game. In football the most usual over/under betting is the 2.5 goals margin (thus the odds vary in relation to the strength of the teams) whereas in basketball the points' margin variates and the odds are usually the same for either team to win.

Pointspread – the advantage, in terms of goals or points, that the bookmakers gives in favour of a team before the start of the game.

Punter or bettor – someone who is betting in sport events; bettor has mostly to do with horse betting.

Push – when the bet is cancelled or when (e.g. in Asian Handicap) the betting amount is returned to the player.

Scorecast – correct score prediction together with which player is going to score the first goal of the game.

Spread or Handicaps – the terminology used for the advantage given to one of the teams.

Spread betting – when you choose to bet in games where the bookmaker has given an advantage to one of the two teams before the game starts.

Stake – the betting amount.

Sure bet – where if the odds are correctly combined, the player is definitely going to end up with some winnings at the end of the day.

System bet – this is when we bet in favour of say 3 teams to win their games and we win when we ask for any 1 or 2 or 3 teams to win their games.

Teaser – handicap betting where the player can choose the handicap to be given to one of the two teams.

Three way bet – 3 possible results for any game, e.g. in football. Tipster – someone who gives predictions for the likely outcome of games.

Two way bet – 2 possible results for any game, e.g. in tennis and basketball. Underdog or rag – the outsider of the game.

Value bet – the possible outcome of a game which its odds are higher than the actual chances it has to be the final outcome of the game.

Winning margin – the difference by which one of the two teams is going to win the game.