Sports betting offers considerable opportunities to place wagers and potentially take home big prizes. It can liven up even the dullest game, too, but if you’re looking for excitement when wagering, you will need to choose the game you bet on carefully.
In some sports, the favorite wins the vast majority of games or match-ups, and this makes it very difficult to win big unless there are supplemental markets and unique betting lines. Other sports lend themselves well to in-play or live betting, which is especially beneficial if you want another reason to watch more sports.
1. Horse Racing
Although the favorites frequently win horse races, it certainly isn’t uncommon for outsiders to pick up shock victories. Horses that haven’t won for years can enjoy a return to form and offer massive odds. And some of the best sportsbooks in the US offer the opportunity for multiples.
Multiple bets are those where you bet on the outcome of several events, or predict several things in the same event. In horse racing, for example, you can attempt to pick which horses will finish 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
There are typically multiple meets every day during the horse racing season, while indoor or all-weather racing means you can even enjoy placing wagers during the wet winter months when outdoor meets are not held. Horse racing is exciting due to its availability, range of bets, and the sheer number of events that take place around the world.
2. Tennis
Even with indoor meets, horse racing still has a fixed season. Tennis, on the other hand, is played all 12 months of the year. This gives keen bettors the chance to have a flutter no matter what month it is. The sport also has a long-form book, and bettors can enjoy placing a variety of additional bets, such as how many aces will be served during a match, or the margin of victory.
Tennis also has the potential for massive upsets, which can make it very profitable to bet against the favorites.
The biggest tennis betting markets are seen during the four Grand Slam events which are:
- Australian Open – January
- French Open – May to June
- Wimbledon – June to July
- US Open – August to September
However, there are multiple other competitions including ATP Finals down to the ATP Challenger event, as well as WTA matches, and these are held throughout the year.
3. eSports
eSports is emerging as a serious betting contender due to the introduction of more tournaments and their widespread availability on streaming and TV services.
Bettors can place wagers on individuals, as well as on teams, and there are additional bets dependent on the game being played. EA FC matches, for example, offer a lot of the same bets that can enjoyed with physical soccer games. eSports has a lot of data, as you should expect from an industry that is so heavily reliant on technology. This data makes it possible for bettors to analyze and predict.
And, as the popularity of the sport continues to grow, more and more betting opportunities are likely to emerge. For now, if you’re an avid eSports watcher, you may even have the upper hand over the betting sites.
4. Soccer
Soccer is the most widely played sport in the world and one of the most popular betting markets. While a lot of people choose to bet on their favorite team, rather than performing any analysis, this isn’t likely to yield the best results. And, if your team does win most matches, they will be heavy favorites, which means you need a lot of wins to make up for the occasional losses.
Fortunately, soccer betting is incredibly varied. You can build multiple bets, such as attempting to predict the outcome of every match played in a league on one day. While individual match odds can be quite short, predicting ten correct can still net considerable returns.
Alternatively, you can build multiple part bets on a single match, so you could predict that Inter Miami will win 3-2, be leading at halftime and that Lionel Messi will score two goals. You can also place in-game bets on soccer, although the game can move quickly which makes it difficult for some bettors to keep up with this style of gambling.
5. Cricket
Cricket is a much slower game than any of the previously mentioned games. Single test matches can go on for five days, with long breaks between the actions. This can be boring for spectators who don’t appreciate the finer nuances of the game, but it also presents the perfect opportunity to place live bets.
Between overs, gamblers can predict the outcome of the next over or even the next ball. That boring five-day session becomes a lot more exciting if you have regular bets on the ball getting hit for a six or the bowler bowling a maiden over.
There are more exciting versions of the game played, including the T20, but cricket is a very seasonal sport, with matches rarely played during winter.
6. Greyhounds
Greyhound racing is quicker and potentially more exciting than horse racing. However, it has come under fire in recent years, especially for the welfare of the racing hounds, and, for this reason, many greyhound tracks have closed down.
Where it is still available, though, races happen quickly, which is not only beneficial if you’re at the track but it is also beneficial if you’re betting online.
Some sports betting sites offer live coverage of the races, which means you can log on and get a feel for the racers to help determine which dog you think is most likely to win.
7. College Basketball
College basketball tends to throw up a lot more surprise results than senior basketball, and there are thousands of games played every season.
Like some other sports, you can access bet builders and a good variety of different types of wagers other than just money-line bets. Win-line bets can add a little more excitement because they effectively offer a handicap for or against a particular outcome.
Alternatively, you can attempt to predict who will be winning every half or quarter, depending on which league you’re betting on. As with any other sport that includes tournaments or leagues, it is also possible to bet on the overall winner of the table, or to bet on final places.
8. Golf
Golf is another sport that is especially great for live betting. Action is relatively slow and there is plenty of opportunity between shots and between holes to place live bets.
Typical bets in golf include picking the winner, but you can also find sportsbook sites that let you pick final scores for some of the major players. In-play betting opportunities include betting on whether a player will hole their next shot, what their final score will be on a particular hole, and more.
Golf is another summer sport, but tournaments are played around the world now, which means you can find betting opportunities virtually every month of the year if you’re so inclined.