Sports betting has been on the internet for almost as long as the internet has existed. It quickly became popular and not much has changed since. Well, actually, a lot has changed. The way you are able to bet on the internet nowadays is leaps and bounds more advanced than it was even 5 years ago. Though the sports and leagues you are betting on have likely not changed all that much, the type of bets that can be placed as well as the way in which you can place them has. One of the biggest advancements of the sports betting world has been the introduction of live betting.
Live betting as a term is fairly self-explanatory, but how it works may be a bit confusing to some. On top of that, the live betting interface and rules governing it is something that can change from site to site. So while the concept of live betting remains constant at all times, the way you go about live betting can be entirely different on different sites.
How it Works
As the name implies, live betting allows for people to wager on sporting events while they are ongoing. In the past, if you did not place your wager by the time the match or game began you were out of luck. Nowadays this is not a worry because whether the game is literally happening as you watch, or in a commercial break, odds are available and wagers can be placed.
Live Betting Odds Are Fluid
When you are betting on a live match or game, the odds are going to change as the conditions of the game do. Even though the pre-match wagers might have seen one team be the favorite while the other was the underdog, live betting lines may see that storyline flipped on its head.
No matter whether we are talking about spread bets, over/unders, or any of the plethora of prop bets that might be available, the odds are going to change as the game does. For example, if the over/under for an NBA game was 205, and the end of the first quarter saw a point tally of just 42, the live over/under might be a bit lower than it was before the game started.
Advantages and Disadvantages to Live Betting
When it comes to the positives and drawbacks to live betting, you are really something that is subjective and very dependent on the tide of the match/game. To determine how live betting can be a positive while also working against you, we will describe a few hypothetical scenarios.
For example, if the Cleveland Cavaliers are heavy favorites in a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves and you do not bet on them, a live bet after they have already taken the lead will give you worse odds than the same bet had it been placed prior to tip-off. If, on the other hand, Minnesota opens the game with a surprise lead and you think they might go on to win, you can then place a live bet on the Timberwolves and still be given favorable odds. Of course, as the Minnesota lead grows, the odds on any pro-Minnesota wagers are going to slowly but surely get worse.
Another Quick Example:
The one disadvantage to live betting that is almost undeniable is that it is very difficult to create great value without betting on something that is a real outlier. Because oddsmakers are also watching the game at hand, they are adjusting the lines as the game continues. To illustrate this, we will use an example featuring the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles facing off against the famous Green Bay Packers.
In this matchup, the Eagles enter as heavy underdogs. If you choose to place a bet on the Eagles before the game kicks off, and they win, you stand to walk away with a lot of money. If, on the other hand, the game begins and the Eagles jump to an early lead, then go on to win, the odds will have been adjusted and you will end up walking away with significantly less money than had the Eagles bet been placed before kickoff.
The advantages and disadvantages tied to live betting basically boil down a situation of odds vs. knowledge. As you watch the game and gain more knowledge of the teams involved, your odds on a winning bet will diminish.
Live Betting Interfaces
As was briefly touched upon before, the way live betting works is something that differs from site to site. The interfaces will all look the same, but the general feel will be somewhat constant. Once you select a specific match upon which you would like to wager, you will then be greeted with a host of individual betting propositions.
Typically, the betting propositions are listed from most popular (eg. spread, over/under, moneyline) to the least popular (eg, individual player and team props). The odds will accompany the different options.
When the odds are changing, you will find that certain propositions are temporarily blacked out. Until the odds have been set these propositions will be unavailable.
To be quite blunt, live betting has entirely changed the betting landscape of the 21st century. It has opened up bettors to literally thousands of individual bets that otherwise never existed. In essence, it has created an entirely new way of betting on sports. People who would have shied away due to the uncertainty of live betting are now able to watch a game and make a betting decision later. Whether this is an entirely great thing is up for interpretation, but the fact of the matter is that it has forced traditionalists to rethink sports betting and all its many facets.