- Account limits
- Restrictions a bookmaker places on a customer's maximum stake or available markets, often after the customer wins consistently. See sharp vs soft bookmakers.
- Accumulator (parlay)
- A single bet that combines several selections, all of which must win. The bookmaker's margin on each leg compounds, so accumulators usually carry a high effective margin.
- American odds
- The format used in the US. Positive numbers (+150) show the profit on a 100 stake; negative numbers (−200) show the stake needed to win 100. Convert with the odds converter.
- Arbitrage (surebet)
- Betting every outcome of a market at different bookmakers so that a profit is locked in whatever happens. It's a different strategy from value betting, which relies on edge over many bets.
- Asian handicap
- A handicap market that removes the draw, with half and quarter lines such as −0.5 or −0.75. See Asian handicap explained.
- Bankroll
- The money you set aside for betting. Stake sizes are usually a small percentage of it. See bankroll management.
- Break-even probability
- The win rate a bet needs to make no profit and no loss: 1 ÷ decimal odds. At 1.909 (−110) it is 52.38%.
- Closing line
- The market's final price before an event starts. It is the most informed estimate of the true probability.
- Closing line value (CLV)
- How much better (or worse) the price you took was than the fair closing price: price ÷ fair close − 1. See closing line value explained and the free CLV calculator.
- Decimal odds
- The odds format that shows the total return per unit staked, stake included. At 2.50, a stake of 10 returns 25.
- Dropping odds
- A sharp fall in a price, usually at the sharpest bookmaker, caused by informed money or news. See dropping odds explained.
- Drifting odds
- The opposite of dropping odds: a price that gets longer because the market rates the outcome as less likely.
- Edge
- The advantage of a bet over the odds it breaks even at: the expected value as a percentage of the stake. A +5% edge means you expect to make 5% of what you stake over many bets.
- Expected value (EV)
- The average result of a bet if repeated many times: probability × profit − (1 − probability) × stake. See expected value betting and the EV calculator.
- Fair odds
- The odds of an outcome with the bookmaker's margin removed, equal to 1 ÷ its true probability. See the no-vig calculator.
- Favourite–longshot bias
- The tendency for bookmakers to load more margin onto long shots than onto favourites. It's why the power method is more accurate than a proportional split when removing the margin.
- Flat betting
- Staking the same amount on every bet. See flat betting vs Kelly.
- Fractional odds
- The UK and Irish format that shows profit relative to the stake: at 3/2 you win 3 for every 2 staked.
- Handicap (spread)
- A bet in which one side starts with a virtual advantage or disadvantage in points or goals.
- Hold
- The share of the money wagered that the bookmaker keeps if bets are balanced: overround ÷ (1 + overround). At −110/−110 it is 4.55%. See the vig calculator.
- Implied probability
- The chance an odds price assumes: 1 ÷ decimal odds. It includes the bookmaker's margin. See implied probability.
- In-play (live) betting
- Betting after an event has started. Prices change with the action, so live price moves rarely carry the same information as pre-match moves.
- Juice
- The American word for the bookmaker's margin. See what is vig.
- Kelly criterion
- A staking formula that sizes each bet in proportion to its edge. Most bettors use a fraction of it. See the Kelly calculator.
- Limit (max stake)
- The largest bet a market or bookmaker accepts. A price move in a high-limit market carries more information than one in a thin market.
- Line
- The price or the handicap/total offered on a market. 'Same line' means the same selection at the same handicap or total.
- Line shopping
- Comparing several bookmakers and placing each bet at the best price. See line shopping.
- Margin (overround)
- The excess over 100% of the implied probabilities of a market: the bookmaker's built-in fee. At −110/−110 it is 4.76%.
- Market maker
- A bookmaker that sets prices through its own models and large limits, which other bookmakers often follow.
- Moneyline
- A bet on which side wins the match, with no handicap. Called 1X2 in football when the draw is a separate outcome.
- No-vig odds
- Odds with the bookmaker's margin removed: the fair odds. See the no-vig calculator.
- Opening line
- The first price a market is published at, before it is moved by bets and news.
- Overround
- See margin. The amount by which a market's implied probabilities exceed 100%.
- Payout (market payout)
- The share of the money wagered that goes back to bettors in aggregate: 1 ÷ the sum of implied probabilities. At −110/−110 it is 95.45%.
- Pre-match
- Before the event starts. BetTheDrop alerts only cover pre-match prices.
- Power method
- A way of removing the margin by finding the exponent that makes the probabilities add up to 100%. It handles the favourite–longshot bias. See our methodology.
- Push
- A bet that neither wins nor loses (for example a total landing exactly on the line), so the stake is returned.
- Reference market
- The sharpest, lowest-margin market used as the best estimate of true probabilities.
- Reverse line movement
- A line moving the opposite way to where most bettors are staking, which suggests sharper money on the other side. See steam moves.
- Soft bookmaker
- A recreational bookmaker with higher margins and lower limits whose prices follow the sharp market with a delay.
- Steam move
- A fast, strong price move that starts at a sharp bookmaker and spreads to others. See steam moves.
- Total (over/under)
- A bet on whether the total goals, points or games in a match will be above or below a line.
- Unit
- A standard stake size, often 1% of the bankroll, used to compare results regardless of the amount staked.
- Value bet
- A bet whose odds are higher than the true probability justifies, so that its expected value is positive. See what is value betting.
- Variance
- How much results swing around their expected value. High variance is why a month of bets proves little.
- Vig (vigorish)
- The bookmaker's margin built into the odds. See what is the vig.
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