If you have been in the industry of sports betting for a while, you must have come across the term prop bets. Below is a quick-hit look at prop betting, what it means and how you can use the relevant information in the industry to make good wagers on prop bets.
What is Prop Betting?
Prop bets, just like future bets, are wagers placed on the occurrence of a future event. In fact, in some betting sense, prop bets are a form of future betting. However, whereas most future bets focus on the future of a team, prop bets are mostly about an individual player or a particular event.
The Super Bowl in the NFL is considered the mother of all events in terms of prop bets released to the general public, often featuring thousands of props ranging from the length of the national anthem to the color of Gatorade poured on the winning coach at the Super Bowl. The props are, however, not limited to the NFL alone; we have props for all kinds of sports, ranging from number of baskets in an NBA game to how many goes will be scored in a soccer match or even how many runs will be scored by a particular player in an MLB clash.
Understanding and Wagering on Prop Bets
As a general rule, most online sportsbooks cash in handsomely on prop bets since they are driven by public interest and perception, which are often subject to manipulation. Many studies have it that most bettors play on prop bets for fun purposes in hopes of big payouts, hence don’t really pay much attention to them. And knowing that, most sportsbooks also tend to spend less time in making sure the prop lines are sharp, as opposed to their stringent assessments on more traditional lines such as point spreads, money lines and total bets. To make their money, the books often just charge extra juice on the prop bets, making it easier for them to get their share of profits from the simply-created lines.
But make no mistake; props bets are not suckers, however foolish the props may look. Yes, due to less-rigorous assessment of the props, you may find some really sweet value picks, and yes, some props simply sound silly. However, by deeply assessing the props, you are bound to notice that there is a lot of thought that is put into the creation of the props and lines.
Lines and props, mostly released first by Vegas, convey varying information about certain aspects of betting that are expected to happen on any given sporting event. And given the vast nature of prop bets across various sportsbetting platforms, it is important to cautiously select the lines you want to bet on and then do the relevant research on the betting trends and statistics surrounding your bet in order to understand how to profit from the props and their respective lines. Some of the areas you can factor into your studies include past trends between players and teams, recent form and health of players, among others. Through such research, you will find some discrepancies and tidbits of information that will prove to be the game-changing difference between a winning and losing, which in turn moves you closer towards sustained formulas of success in prop betting.
Finally, remember that prop bets and their lines are just as good as the sportsbetting site that releases them. To ensure that you get the best-value odds and cash-in successfully from your winning bets, me mindful of your target-site and its rules regarding prop bets.
