| | |  | Last Updated: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 |  | | | Sports Gambling: Avoiding Tie or Push
- Saturday, 22 Oct 2005
In the past few days we have been explaining all the different types of sports gambling wagers you are allowed to make. We focused on the most popular form of sports gambling which are straight bets. We have seen how straight bets are divided into three categories: Point Spread Gambling, Over/Under Gambling and Money Line Gambling. The examples given for both Point Spread Gambling and Over/Under Gambling included the possibility of a situation of a “tie” or a “push“, where the gambler neither wins or loses his bet. There are situations in which the bookmaker can in fact rule out the event of a tie, which means that you’ll either win or lose your bet.
In order to understand this concept better with regards to point spread betting, let’s examine the following example. Assuming that in a match between the Atlanta Falcons and the Buffalo Bills the online gambling site has chosen to make the Falcons a -4.5 favorites. In the NFL or in any other type of sport for the same matter, half points are never part of the scoring system. A team can not win by a half point. So what is the meaning of the half point with regards to sports gambling? This is the online gambling site’s way of ensuring that there is no tie. This means that if you are gambling on the Falcons, they have to win by more than 4 points for you to win the wager. F the Falcons win by exactly 4 points you lose your money.
Let’s examine another example from the world of sports gambling; this time let’s see how the no-tie is implemented when making an over/under wager. Let’s assume that the online gambling site has indicated the 38.5 as the number total number of points scored in the game between the Falcons and Bills. As we have said before, the scoring system in the NFL doesn’t include the use of half points. By raising the game total by half a point the online gambling site prevents a situation of a tie. If you are gambling on “over”, the only way for you to win your wager is if the combined score of both teams exceeds 38 points. If it’s exactly 38 points you lose. | |
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