Sports betting is among the most lucrative and money making business across the globe. The sheer number of people involved in the business makes it a multi-billion dollar industry. The industry thrives on a number of sports bets.

Here’s everything you need to know about the types of online sports betting:

1. Straight bets :

These are the most popular and straight forward type of betting. Straight bets are most commonly practiced in sports such as football and basketball. You choose if you wish to bet on the favorite and thus consequentially lose the points or you choose to bet on the underdog and gain points.  Usually, in such a case the betting is done with reference to a betting line that is determined. There are cases wherein a tie situation may arise which is called as push which results in no profit no loss.

2. Total Line bets :

Generally popularly done in cricket and football total line bets involve a sum of the score of both teams. The betting involves taking a call if you want to bet under or over the set score total.  In cases of basketball and football, this type of bet can be done on each half the game. The crux of this type of betting is always the combined score as a reference point to conduct any sort of betting activity.

3. Money line bet

Money line bet is quite a straight forward type of bet wherein you make the choice of who wins outright. There is no point spread in this case. The bettor has to either choose the underdog and make the points or choose the favorite and lose points.  Generally it is most commonly practiced in football and hockey, however, it is practically present in every type of online sports betting site.

4. Parlay bets :

When bets are grouped together and are more than two picks exist these are known as parlay bets. Two repeated picks or more are identified,and bets are placed. The pay-out in case of a parlay is usually figured out on the basis of betting odds. In parlay, the sweet spot is when all your picks win, or else the entire set of parlay loses.  The risk and returns on the parlay are thus significantly high.  Experienced bettors usually try their hand at parlay as it comes with experience and not everyone can nail the art of parlay.

5. Teaser bets :

Teaser bets are basically parlay with a different take to it. Teaser bets also involve a group of two picks or more that are bet upon. However, in this case, it needs to be noted that the overall expected payout turns out to be much lesser. The reason being that the points spread can be manipulated in favor of the bettor. The con when it comes to teaser bet is that risk is still significantly high just like the parlay bets, also the payouts are reduced in general.

6. Head to head bets

This is generally done in sports that are held between two competitors. It’s all about who wins the higher position in the race.  The main reason for this bet to be extremely popular is the unpredictability of the outcome. It’s very hard to predict the winner which makes it an interesting betting experience.