More Bets Available at the Sportsbook Part 1: Futures Betting
Gennadius shares pointers on Futures Betting at the sportsbook.
It was just over a year ago that I wrote my previous sportsbook article which covered the basics regarding betting on one side or the other in a typical two-team match. This information applied to most of the major U.S. sports leagues, such as the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL. There are many more kinds of bets that can be made for these types of games, and beyond that, for particular outcomes for the leagues. While betting on individual games isn’t something that everyone has an interest in, these other kinds of bets are sometimes much more approachable and understandable to people.
One of the simplest bets that many casual fans and bettors alike make is on the potential champion for a given league. This bet is called a futures bet, and the initial odds are sometimes placed as early as immediately after the last game of the previous season. Examples of this bet, as you can see in the two images above, include betting on the winner of the recently concluded MLB World Series. The picture of the live board shows the odds to win as of October 20th, which was game 5 of the Cubs-Dodges series. It reads Cubs 7/5, Dodgers 2/1, Indians 7/5, which means for the Cubs and Indians, you would win 7 dollars to every 5 dollars bet, or 1.40 dollars to every 1. For the Dodgers, they are a bit more of an underdog at this stage, getting a bettor 2 dollars to every 1 dollar bet.
Obviously, these odds were just for the remaining teams at the time, and in the second picture, it is easy to see what the initial odds were for each team before the season started. Notice the Cubs and Dodgers at the time were still pretty much in the main pack that was considered to be favorites to win it all, and they were getting 8 to 1 odds. The Indians were a much longer shot, getting 25 to 1, and the Phillies were by far the biggest underdog, getting 350 to 1 odds.
Both the sheet with the opening odds, as well as the current odds being on the board, reflect the fact that those opening lines change throughout the course of the season. The line changes based on how the teams’ seasons progress, injuries that they have, over or under performance of players, as well as the amount of money wagered on them. At the beginning of the playoffs, the Cubs were the favorite overall, getting around 7 to 4, or about 1.75 to 1, while their eventual opponents in the series, the Indians, were in the underdog half, getting 14 to 1.
The nice thing about this type of bet is that it is easy for people to understand. Just pick a team that you think will win, or that you want to win. Casual bettors can very easily ask friends to make a bet for them if they are not going to Vegas themselves, and it allows them to have a bet to go along with their existing rooting interest for the teams that they like. People are going to root for their teams to try to win the championship of their league anyway; sometimes it’s nice to have the added bonus of getting a monetary reward to go along with it. Other times, people are looking to try to get some value or hit a long shot. This applies both to casual players as well as the more dedicated sports gambler. Before a season starts, everything is really up in the air, and sometimes you can look and see a couple of teams that you think will do well and could compete for a championship. This could be because you follow the team closely and you know them well, or it could be because you have a “gut feeling,” or it could even be because you like those teams’ colors. Whatever the reasoning, it is simple to put a couple of bets down that could provide a nice return on your investment should things work out as you think.
The images above show you how the current NFL season (well, as of a few weeks ago when I took that picture) affects the futures odds. The opening lines are shown next to the current odds, and one can easily see how New England’s better than expected start has turned them into the favorite to win the Super Bowl. On the flip side, Cleveland’s terrible performance has taken it from being a big underdog at the start of the season to what is now a huge long-shot that is highly unlikely to come in.
The fun thing about making bets like this is that sometimes those long-shots really do come in. One great example of this happened just this past year in the English Premier League. The second picture above lists the upcoming odds for the 2016-2017 season, but a historic Cinderella type of run happened last season. Leicester City, a club which had been playing several tiers below the Premier League as recently as 2009, and was almost relegated out of the Premier League the season before, defied the longest of odds and won the Premier League title. This was so improbable that most books had the opening line odds at 5000 to 1, and they kept it there for quite a while into the season before eventually slashing it down rapidly as the club continued to accumulate wins.
Fortunately for those that decided to play the long-shot, some of whom were die-hard Leicester fans and some of whom were just looking to play the longest of long shots, their bets were already made and as the incredible outcome came to pass, there was a big payday waiting for them. The liability for the books was so big due to the fact that the odds were so long, that it was reported that they would be on the hook for their largest payout ever.
When all was said and done, the books were out to the tune of 25 million British Pounds, many Leicester fans were extremely happy, and some of those fans, as well as some very bold or adventurous bettors, were extremely happy as well with their winnings.
To make any of these types of bets, it can be very easy. The simplest way, and the one that the agents taking your bets at the window appreciate the most, is for you to give them the bet ID number. This is the left most column on those sheets or the left-most number on the live boards. Alternatively, the futures bets are fairly well-known, especially for the common teams and major leagues, so you can sometimes get away with saying “Cubs to win the World Series” or something similar. Don’t be impatient if the agent needs to look the bet number up! Once you have established the bet you want to make, state the amount that you would like to bet it for. Be sure you know how much you expect to win also, and when the bet id and amount come up on the screen that is facing you, verify that it is indeed the correct team and league, and that the amounts are correct. After that, tell the agent that it is correct, and if you have other bets to make, go ahead and make them. At the end, be sure to thank the agent for their help and if you want a drink ticket, simply ask nicely.
As I mentioned in my previous article, many books will take a rewards card, so you should present it before you start making any of your bets. The actual benefits that are gained from using it at the book are still a bit of a mystery regarding what it directly translates to, and beyond that, it sometimes varies from program to program.
There are often other kinds of futures bets that can be made as well. However, the season-long championship related ones are typically the most common and the most obvious. Hopefully, this article has given you a good feeling for how simple any kind of futures bet is to understand and make, and you can go to a sportsbook the next time you are in Las Vegas and place a bet on your favorite team, or try to make it rich on one of many long shots! Come back for Part 2 of this article where I’ll cover another easy type of bet that many fans like to make, especially during the football seasons and during the NCAA March Madness tournament.
[Photos: Gennadius, BBC.com]
A former VegasChatter contributor, gennadius is a regular visitor to the Las Vegas area. Some areas of interest include aviation, sports (gambling, watching, participating), blackjack, craps, and science fiction.
When in Vegas, gennadius can be found looking for good food, spending time at the clubs, hanging out at the tables, and watching games with friends.
