Common features of leading online gambling sites

Common features of leading online gambling sites

So, what is an online betting site and what can you expect to find? Quite simply, they are sites and mobile apps where you can wager on sports markets. There are two general types of these sites – real money online betting sites, and social betting sites. Real money sites only accept cash, but social betting sites use virtual currencies.

Feature-wise, I like to search for the following:

  • Sports markets
  • Bet types
  • Live streaming
  • Special bets such as parlays

Betting Markets on Popular Sports

Popular features among the top sports betting sites include the fact that you can nearly always find more than a single type of sport to bet on. I do not think I can ever remember a betting site or a social sportsbook that can pride itself on having just one sport!

Some sites can specialize in a particular sport. Most US online sportsbooks, for example, have more coverage for their NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB markets. However, you will generally have sports markets for major sports, like soccer, tennis, golf, NASCAR racing, etc.

You'll find that the odds are longer for these most popular of sports, but that the bookmaker websites have a high amount of choice too for what I would call "lesser" sports like handball, volleyball, darts, cycling, beach volleyball, and table tennis. There also tend to be special markets for individual events like the Olympics, Super Bowl, and the NBA Finals.

Outright/futures betting markets

Although in-play betting is the contemporary trend, the majority of sportsbooks also possess a top selection of outright/futures bets - they may be referred to as pre-game markets. What they are, in effect, is a bet placed prior to the commencement of the game, and as such, the odds remain fairly constant. Often these bets can be placed for a number of days or even weeks in advance of game day.

The most common pre-match bet is to choose the game winner, but I’ve seen loads of other outright options and props bets, including:

Score predictions

  • Point spread bets
  • Over/under points
  • Winner in a specific half/quarter/period
  • Team props for different stats
  • Player props for different stats

Player and team props are my personal favourite types of bets, as I believe that these are more interesting than simple money line predictions. NFL games, for example, often have the following player/team props bets:

  • First touchdown scorer
  • Number of field goals
  • Number of passing yards
  • Half-time correct score

You'll find that the more popular sports will have a greater range of individual bets for each game. So, for example, I consistently see 100+ props bets on football games, whereas sports like volleyball might only have an outright winner market.

In-play betting

Most of the online sportsbooks will offer in-play or live betting. Live betting is essentially a range of bets that you can make while the game action unfolds.

The sole caveat is that the odds will change in real time depending on the progress of the game and which team/player is performing better. Bets are occasionally suspended during games as well. This is usually when the result is so lopsided that the sportsbook will not be generating any revenue by keeping the bets open.

Being able to bet during a game has completely changed my online bookmaker usage. I'm a sports nut, so I would watch games live anyway, but in-play betting just adds another level of interest and intricacy to the experience.

Along with the bets themselves, top bookmakers cram their live betting sections with a stack of in-game statistics, and there is usually a 2D or 3D visualization of the action and sometimes an automatically updated play-by-play feed.

Parlay

A parlay bet is when you have more than one outright selection all in one bet. You're essentially creating a range of bet selections. You must have at least two outright winner selections in order to constitute an parlay. For example, picking the 49ers and Chiefs to win is technically a "double", but an parlay.

You can go as crazy as you want with parlay and add as many picks as you want. The catch with this is that the odds are cumulative – instead of payouts per game, you get one payout for the combined odds of your picks. In the above example, the 49ers might have odds of 1.25 to win, and the Chiefs 1.35. But combine them in an acca, and the odds might jump to about 1.60.

To win a parlay, ALL of your selections have to come in! So, if the 49ers won but the Chiefs lost, your acca would lose. The 49ers and the Chiefs would both have to win to get your payout. I'd recommend you try parlay – I consistently put huge selections on NFl game days or if there are a lot of NBA games on – I consistently have 5+ selections and it's such a blast watching the results come in! But always gamble responsibly and within your means.

Same game parlay

This is an acca where you make more than one choice, in a single game or a series of games—not just on the outright score.

So now take the example we had before; you may want to select the 49ers and the Chiefs to win, Christian McAffrey to score for the 49ers, and Patrick Mahomes to score for Man U. This turns the bet from a straight double or parlay into a same game parlay since your selection here is now into two player props bets. You could get as detailed as you want with these bets. I remember this one I created where I picked the Eagles to win, for there to be over four touchdowns, and Saquon Barkley to score!