Straight bets are the most common type of wagers at the sportsbooks and the easiest and simplest to place. In essence, the straight bet is a single wager on an outcome in a game. Depending on the sport, there are quite a few choices you can make for placing a straight wager, we will look at the most popular further down, but the main principle of a straight bet is that it is an individual bet, unlike for example, parlay bet, where you bet a number of games at once.
As mentioned, different sports will give you the option to place various straight bets. Let’s look at some of the more popular options. Football bets give you the most options to place a straight wager, including “win outright”, “point spread” and “over-under”. The “win outright” is simply a straight bet on which team will win the game. This is by far the most popular straight bet at the sportsbooks and is not just for football, the same applies to all sports. For example, one can place a straight bet on basketball on which team will win, or baseball, or boxing match on which fighter will win the bout, etc. This is where beginners often start their betting journey, since it’s the easiest bet to place.
The point spread is another popular option for straight bets. You can read more about how the point spread works here. And finally, the over-under or “total” is yet another straight bet many people make. The sportsbook posts a prediction number of the total score (the score of one team plus the score of the other) of a football game, for example, and players make a straight bet on whether the actual total of the game is over or under the one predicted by the sportsbook.
How are the odds payouts of straight bets calculated? Rather simple, really. For every option the sportsbook posts odds on the straight bet. For example, if the odds on the Eagles are +110, it means that you will win $110 for every $100 wagered in a straight bet for the Eagles to win.