Welcome to Sports Betting Spot – the ultimate guide to sports betting. Learn tips and tricks about football betting, baseball betting, basketball betting, hockey betting, soccer betting, boxing betting and more. Place smart bets on sports. Below is our rating of top 10 online sports betting books.
| Sports book | Deposit Bonus | Rating | USA Players | Review | |
| 1 |  Visit BookMaker |
20% |  |
 |
read review |
| 2 |  Visit SportsInteraction |
100% | |
|
read review |
| 3 |  Visit BetUS |
60% |  |
|
read review |
| 4 |  Visit SportsBetting |
110% | |
|
read review |
| 5 |  Visit SportsBook |
$100 |  |
|
read review |
| 6 |  Visit BetPhoenix |
50% | |
|
read review |
| 7 |  Visit DSI SportsBook |
20% |  |
|
read review |
| 8 |  Visit Bodog |
10% | |
|
read review |
| 9 |  Visit 5Dimes |
20% | |
|
read review |
| 10 |  Visit JustBet |
30% | |
|
read review |
Overview
Sports betting is the process of predicting the result of a game, event or match by wagering on the outcome of the contest.
In the United States, most sports bets are place through illegal bookmaking operations. Nevada is the only state that is legally allowed to book sporting events with point spreads and odds. Nonetheless, it isn’t too hard to find a neighborhood bookmaker in the other 49 states. Like motorists barely going over the speed limit, these “illegal” activities are rarely enforced by law enforcement.
Over the last decade, more sports bettors have turned to online sportsbooks to place wagers. The growth of the Internet during this time has enabled the online sports betting industry to flourish. None of these books are allowed to be based in the United States. Many are run out of other countries like Costa Rica.
There are some vague laws in the United States related to these operations. Generally, the laws don’t allow customers from the US to use these online sportsbooks, but any such activity is rarely enforced. Legislation has been put into place that makes it extremely difficult for US customers to make deposits into these accounts through their banking institutions.
Scandals in the History of Sports Betting
While sports betting is bigger than ever today, the activity has been prevalent for quite a long time. Unfortunately, sports betting has gained a less than stellar reputation over the years among the general public and media. Sports betting scandals have played a major role in this viewpoint. The first big scandal was tied to the 1919 World Series between the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox. New York gangster Arnold Rothstein headed an operation to fix the outcome of the series by paying off eight members of the White Sox squad. The underdog Reds won the series in the infamous “Black Sox” scandal. While Rothstein cleaned up on the series by wagering heavily on Cincinnati, the eight White Sox players were eventually banned for life from ever playing Major League Baseball again after the 1920 season.
In the early 1950s, there were some major point shaving scandals in college basketball. In the early 1960′s, NFL stars Paul Hornung of the Green Bay Packers and Alex Karras of the Detroit Lions were suspended from the league for one season for placing bets on NFL games involving other teams. In 1989, Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose was banned for life from Major League Baseball for placing wagers on MLB games. Unlike Hornung and Karras, Rose did place wagers on games involving his own team. More recently, the NBA was hit with a scandal involving league referee Tim Donaghy.
These type of scandals have led to Sports Betting’s shaky reputation in some circles. However, most sports betting participants receive more good than harm from the activity. In a typical year, about 25% of Americans will place a wager on a sporting event. Around $2 billion is bet annually on sports at the legal books in Nevada. Online sports books can take in over $60 billion in a year. All of the neighborhood bookies across America take in even more in a typical year.
Popular Sporting Events and Bets
Among all sports, football is by far the most popular sport to wager on. On fall and winter weekends, Las Vegas sportsbooks are packed with customers. On Saturday, college football rules the day. On Sunday, the NFL takes over. The structure of football has played a role in its betting popularity. First, there aren’t that many football games in a season. In college, there are 12 games in the regular season. In the NFL, there are 16 regular season contests. So, each game is important. Second, the sport is ideal for television. The pace of the games allows for replays to be show between plays.
Since most bettors watch the games on TV, it enables them to feel like they are a part of the action in some regard. Because there is a lot of scoring in football compared to sports like baseball, hockey and soccer, a point spread is used as a way to equalize the teams from a wagering perspective. Here’s what a typical point spread might look like:
Team A (-3)
Team B (+3)
When reading a point spread, it should be noted that the favored team has the minus number while the underdog squad has the plus number. To win a wager on Team A, the bettor needs the team to win by four points or more. To win a bet on Team B, the bettor needs the team to win the game or lose by two points or fewer.
The popularity of point spread betting has led to basketball being the next most popular sport to wager on after football. Totals or over/under bets are the next most popular kind of sports wagers. In these wagers, the bettor will simply wager on whether the combined total of points/runs/goals in a sporting event will go over or under the posted wagering total for the game. Money line or straight wagers enable bettors to wager on which team/player will win a sporting event without any regards to the margin of the victory. After football and basketball, baseball, hockey and soccer are the next most popular betting sports.
