If you are familiar with online sports betting, you have probably heard of over/under bets. This type of betting is also referred to as totals betting or just totals. For punters just starting out, it can be difficult to keep track of the various types of bets and what they mean. The good news is that most of the bets are self-explanatory and can be easily distinguished by looking at the numbers themselves. In the notes below, we are going to take a look at how over/under bets work and how to apply them to online betting in New Zealand.
Totals Betting
So what are over/under bets? Totals or over/under bets are fixed odds online sports bets that represent a particular score line. This is basically the total number of points scored in a game from both teams. The combined score will be posted as the total and punters must then bet on whether the combined score will be above (over) or below (under) the score line posted. You might be wondering how sportsbooks come up with the number in the first place? Online betting sites spend a lot of time researching the teams, previous results and matchups to make an educated guess on where the score line will be.
Finding the Score Line
The advantages of placing an over/under bet is that you don’t necessarily have to know who will win the game. If two teams are evenly matched, it can be difficult to predict a winner. However, by looking a previous match statistics, you can easily determine if a game will have a higher or lower amount of goals/points scored on average. Totals bets are expressed as a numerical value such as 60.5 or 112.5. These bets can be used with all types of sports including cricket, soccer, basketball, ice hockey to name a few and don’t forget about rugby betting, these wagers can also be made in there.
A Simple Example
Let’s look at as simple example of an over/under bet. In this example, there is a rugby match between England and Australia. Instead of betting on a particular team to win, we will choose to place an over/under bet. The bookmaker in question has placed a total of 45.5 points. If we want to back the over bet, we are saying that 46 or more points will be scored in the match. If we back the under bets, we are saying that 45 or less points will be scored in the match.
The Advantages of Placing a Totals Bet
In both cases, the bets offered will be fixed odds bets such as 1.25 for over bets and 1.30 for under bets. If we backed the over bets and the total combined score was 60, we could be paid out $1.25 for every $1 we bet. If we backed the under bet and the total combined score was 40, we would win $1.30 for every $1 we bet. If either of the bets lose, we would lose our original betting stake. Over/under bets are simple bets that offer novice punters a simple way to get into sports betting without having to do weeks of research and study the team’s current performance.