With most sports betting, you see odds calculated through algorithms and professional linemakers before placing a wager. You have to watch a game or wait for the scores to be resolved to know whether you’ve won or lost.
Live betting is different. Through live betting, you can place wagers as sports matches are unfolding right before your eyes. Furthermore, live bets feature constantly updated odds, allowing experienced sports bettors to potentially make excellent profits.
Let’s break down everything you need to know about live betting now.
What is live betting/in-play betting?
In a nutshell, live betting allows you to place in-the-moment sports wagers as a game’s action is unfolding. Mobile sportsbooks now allow sports bettors to place immediate wagers through online interfaces. Wagers’ odds are automatically updated through the use of sports betting algorithms, so odds can change from moment to moment.
Through live sports betting, players can win big money right up until the very end of a game. Some mobile sportsbooks even include live betting-specific wagers, as well as live streaming functionality so you don’t have to be near a TV to take advantage.
Best live betting sites in Illinois
Most of the popular sportsbooks in the world have live sports betting options on them, including some old favorites. Additionally, many mobile sportsbook platforms include live streaming functionality for ease of use and user convenience. Here are the best live betting sportsbooks currently available in Illinois.
DraftKings app
DraftKings is an online fantasy and live betting sportsbook that is one of the household names in the sports betting industry. It’s been around for quite some time, and they have every single sport under the sun available to be bet on. From the NFL to the NHL to MLB, you can pick a live sport and see the various bets available for you to bet on.
Placing a wager on an outcome is easy and simple to do, and both the website and the DraftKings mobile app is designed to help you make the best decision. Once you click on a sport you can make the daily wagers, enter fantasy tournaments, and bet on live sports with live betting!
You will be able to place your bets on dozens of scenarios and make different wagers all with the press of a few buttons. It’s never been easier to get into live betting, and with DraftKings you can start making some real money on your favorite games.
FanDuel app
FanDuel is another operator that has been around for as long as DraftKings has. Its sportsbook offering is very well done, and you can find various types of bets for each sport. It’s also very easy to both use and make payments with on both your computer and mobile device. Despite the sometimes overwhelming number of sports and bets, FanDuel manages to keep their web interface clear and clean, which is a massive plus in their favor.
Much like DraftKings, you will have a large sports selection to choose from with he FanDuel mobile app, and they offer live sports betting on several types of sports.
William Hill app
William Hill is a sportsbook that has been around since before people started using the internet. They’ve been around for 50 years, and they certainly know what they are doing. The book offers a generous opening bonus, plenty of market depth and variety, and a robust user interface that allows for easy navigation.
You can also look at the updated live betting page, which constantly displays the score of the game so you can see it at all times.
The website and WH mobile app are very easy to use, and you will be placing bets with it in no time. When it’s time to deposit or withdraw your money, that can be done without any hidden fees or delays.
PointsBet app
PointsBet is a sportsbook that is tailor-made for live sports betting. Unlike some of the other sportsbooks, it changes your winnings based on the points of the game thanks to its titular “pointsbetting” system.
For example, if you bet that basketball team A would score 50 points and they end up storing 60, you will receive your winnings x 10 for the extra points. If they only score 40 points, then you lose 10 times your bet. It’s a very unique way to go about making bets while the PointsBet mobile app combines perfectly with live sports betting.
Advantages of live betting
Live betting can provide several advantages to experienced or intelligent sports bettors next to its format and shifting odds.
For instance, you can watch odds for live bets change on commercial breaks or quarter breaks for a game you’re watching. As you check the betting lines across sportsbooks, you can take advantage of unique or situationally beneficial bets that might not have existed before the game began.
Say that you want to support an underdog team but none of the betting lines before the game are worth your while. As your underdog team does better over the course of a football match, betting algorithms and linemakers adjust the odds and produce several more potentially profitable bets that you can then place money on.
In essence, live betting’s biggest advantage is its spontaneity and the possibility of new profitable wagers cropping up over the course of a game.
Furthermore, you can hedge your bets to make wagers to make up for bets that you believe you’re about to lose. Say that you wager money on the underdog for a basketball game turning out triumphant, but it’s all but certain that they will actually lose. You can make a live bet for something more sure and recoup some of your losses.
Lastly, live betting allows you to make wagers and get paid more quickly depending on the wager type and its conditions. You don’t always have to wait until the end of a game to get paid.
Disadvantages of live betting
Even though live betting is already a popular offering in most states that allow gambling, it does have a few pitfalls that you need to be aware of.
First, not every single sport is available for live betting, and some sports won’t have a real-time tracker. If you are the type of person who likes to see how the events of the game affect the odds of the game, you will need to find a sport with a real-time tracker.
Furthermore, you aren’t able to change your live bets after they have been placed. It’s all too easy for newcomers to sports betting to place unwise wagers on the live betting interface out of excitement, only to watch sadly as their wagers don’t go their way.
Additionally, you’ll need access to a live stream interface without lag or a TV that displays the game of your choice so you can watch the action unfold and properly contextualize shifting odds. Without being able to see the game in question, live betting is almost worthless.
Many of the most popular professional sports have live bets made available for them on top sportsbooks, including:
- Football
- Basketball
- Baseball
- Hockey
- Tennis
- Soccer
- MMA
However, these are national sports, and in some states betting on college-level sports is prohibited. If you want to make bets on college games, make sure to check your state laws. If you have a live betting option for some of these sports, you can see the full stats, score, and even a livestream of the game right from your device.
Additionally, some of the apps that host live sports betting aren’t available in all states, and the real-time odds can be a rollercoaster. Sometimes blanket outright odds are better for you and you should rely on them, and sometimes you need to take a chance on the constantly moving real-time live betting odds.
Typical live betting lines offered during a game
There are several different types of bets that you can make with live sports. Most wager types can be placed for the majority of professional sports, although the exact format or written odds might be a little different depending on specifics like the scoring system and so on.
The most common bets that you can make are the following:
Moneyline
With this bet, you simply pick a team and choose who will win. With a bit of research, you can easily get some advantages over your competitors. There’s no point spread or other fancy terms, you simply pick a team or player, and if they win you get your wager!
Betting on the favorite to win offers less money while betting on the underdog can give you a higher profit if you do end up winning. It also doesn’t matter if your team wins by one point or twenty-five points, if they win you win. If they lose you lose.
Moneyline odds are represented as over 100 or less than -100. This shows you how much money you would theoretically win if you made a $100 wager or how much money you’d need to put down to win the same amount.
Say that the underdog has odds of +200. Wager $100 on that team, and you’ll win $200. Alternatively, the favorite team to win might have odds of -300. That means you would need to wager $300 to win $100.
Point spread
If moneyline is the easiest betting in the world, then point spread betting has to be the most popular. They even the field for both teams and give bettors a reason to bet on each team.
It involves wagering on how many points a team will win or lose a match by. For favorite teams, you’ll be that they’ll win by more than the point spread demonstrated. As an example, if a favorite team has point spread odds of +7, they would need to win by eight points or more for you to get a payout.
When betting on the underdog team, you’re wagering that they’ll either win outright or they will lose by less than the point spread amount. For example, if an underdog team has point spread odds of -6, they need to either win the game or lose by five points or less for you to win.
Period or quarter bets
Period or quarter bets are bets where you bet on something, but only for the first quarter, period, or set of the game. You could bet on the number of total points scored in the first quarter of a football game, the winner of a specific set in tennis, or the period winner in a hockey match. It’s a localized bet that has fewer chances of being impacted by the events of an entire game.
Plus, it’s an easy way to make some quick cash without leaving the odds up to an entire game.
Total bets or prop bets
This bet comes up the most in baseball games, where people can bet on the total number of runs, pitches, or strikeouts for each inning or game. In other words, it involves betting on the combined points scored by both teams over the course of a game.
Prop or proposition bets are specialized wagers that have you bet on a particular event, such as a player getting injured, a particular player scoring a touchdown, and so on. They don’t have any grounding in statistics and they are almost impossible to predict. For example, you could bet on the number of foul balls in a baseball game.
Prop bets are very fun and can be memorable moments whenever they are pulled off! You can make a prop bet on anything, so don’t be afraid to bet a few bucks on something that might sound a little crazy. It could happen, and you might be able to pocket some winnings!
Is live betting available via mobile apps?
Yes! You can make live bets on your mobile device, but you will need to download the associated app for the sportsbook on your phone. As long as you have the correct version of the app and the current operating system on your phone, then you can make mobile bets. Some operators also include live streaming functions, allowing you to place bets and watch the game all from the same screen.
The mobile app works the exact same as the website version. You can make deposits, place bets, and view all of the statistics for the game right from your phone so you can have betting with you no matter what.
Live betting is a fun way to get into sports betting, giving you enough customizability and control over your bet so you can still make a profit. But live betting can also be fun due to the inherent randomness and shifting odds, keeping sports betting fresh for even the most experienced bettors.