Not sure how sports betting works?

Race Horse Book provides an explanation of sports wagers and sports betting terms that are common to sports.  You can find information on money line wagers, parlays, teasers, if bets, and European odds.  We provide plenty of examples and walk you through the bet.

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Included is a discussion of pari-mutuel betting, betting options, placing a bet at the track, payoff calculations, and the track cut.

If Bets

If bets are used by many players as a method of money management.  Like a parlay, an if bet links together 2 or more individual bets.  Unlike a parlay, an if bet is not an all-or-nothing wager: the individual bets remain individual bets and pay at the listed money line if they win.

For example,  let's concentrate on an if bet that contains just two wagers.  You bet on an initial team or total, if that bet wins then the second bet that you chose will automatically be placed.  You should therefore always list the bet you are most confident about first.  If your initial bet loses, then the second wager is not placed.  The status of the linked bets has nothing to do with the games' starting times or what order they are played; it is strictly a logical relation.  Even if the first game in your 'if bet' is played hours after the second one, the status of the second bet must wait for the first game's results.

The amount of the total wager is collected at the time you place the entire bet sequence.  All individual bets that comprise the 'if bet' must be for the same amount.  You can only bet the same or less on the following wager.  The advantage of playing an 'if bet' is that it reduces your exposure to losses.  Since the second wager is placed only if you win, the maximum amount that you can lose is the amount of the first wager.  If the first wager wins, then the original stake is used to place the second wager and so on.

'If bets' can generally contain up to 6 individual bets, and the process just described continues for each one.  If at any time an individual bet loses, then the remaining wagers will not be placed.

Players have an option for choosing the conditions of an if bet: "single action" or "double action."  Single action specifies that the remaining bets in the sequence will only be placed if the preceding bet wins.  If the preceding bet is a "push" or is cancelled for any other reason, then the remaining bets will not be placed.  Double action specifies that the remaining bets in the sequence will be placed if the preceding bet wins, results in a "push" or is cancelled for any other reason.  In other words, "double action" means that the remaining bets in the sequence will not be placed only if the preceding bet loses.