How to Place a Bet Online: Step-by-Step Guide
Are you new to online sports betting? Are you looking for some great tips on placing your first bet? Here we will walk you through the process for how to place a bet so that you can make sure you do all the right things to ensure you win your money. Gain key insights and learn principles and concepts for successful sports betting—we will teach you the importance of correctly placing bets, finding value as you shop around, and finding solid sports betting apps for getting the job done!
- Creating an Account
- Depositing Funds
- Navigating the Betting Site
- Understanding Odds
- Selecting a Bet
- Placing Your Bet
- Monitoring Your Bet
- Cashing Out
- Withdrawing Winnings
Choosing a Betting Site or App
Remember to choose a reputable sports betting site or app if you’re interested in online sports betting. You’ll only be as successful if your sports betting platform is trustworthy—avoid using products with no clear track record of success for its members. Although it’s not an exact science, we encourage you to use the following tips and strategies for selecting a trustworthy sports betting app or website:
- Go with one of the bigger names (Caesars, BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel, etc.). There’s a reason why these platforms enjoy so much popularity and why people come to them repeatedly for their sports betting needs.
- Read online reviews—find out which platforms have reliable customer service, a user-friendly design, timely payouts, etc.
- Use the free sign-ups to view any sportsbook’s odds before paying for a membership plan. See if the platform has the markets you’re interested in betting on and if the odds are competitive.
- Make sure you’re using a sportsbook with licensing and regulation in your state, region, or jurisdiction. You can know with certainty that the sports betting app is operating in accordance with your local laws.
- Look to sports betting apps with safety features in place, such as SSL–encryption and a process for verifying its newest members. When sportsbooks are doing these small things right, there’s a good chance they’re doing their due diligence elsewhere, too!
- Some bettors will consider bonuses or promos for new members when choosing an online sports betting app. Sometimes, the decision comes down to how much the site will give you in Bonus Bets for registering and placing your first bet.
For further reference, see our detailed guide on choosing a sports betting app to learn more about selecting a trustworthy platform. It’s not rocket science, but we hope to introduce you to a few good strategies you might not have thought about—it will make your decision that much easier!
Creating an Account
To create a new sports betting account, follow these step-by-step instructions when registering with your new sports book. The process can differ from one sportsbook to another, but you can follow this rough guide to get started!
- First, you’ll want to download the sports betting app to your phone or mobile device. If you’re using the platform from your computer, you can visit the website to begin.
- Click “Register,” “Join Now,” or “Sign Up” to start registering for your new account. The button usually appears somewhere near the top of the screen and comes in some bright color that lets it stand out.
- You must include basic information like your name, address, date of birth, email, etc. These parts verify that you’re old enough to use the app and live in a jurisdiction where the service is available.
- You must also create a username and password to log in and out of your new account.
- Next, use your login information to open your sportsbook. Now, you can view the odds and see which events are available to bet on or make your first deposit.
Creating your new account shouldn’t take more than five minutes to complete. As you can see above, you can accomplish everything in five easy steps! Honestly, you might not need this guide. These sportsbooks make it easy to reason through things—the signup steps are self-explanatory!
Depositing Funds
You must have some money in your account to place your first bet online. Luckily, sportsbooks offer many banking options that allow bettors to deposit funds and collect payouts using methods best suited to their budget and lifestyle.
Some of the standard deposit methods include the following:
Credit/Debit Cards: Nearly all sportsbooks offer credit cards as a deposit option. Some even allow you to collect winnings using this method, but most of the time, you must choose a different banking option. You’ll usually see Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express as your top card options. Diners Club is offered occasionally, too.
Prepaid Credit/Debit Cards: Many of our favorite real money sportsbooks have the Play+ Card as the top prepaid card option. Prepaid cards work like e-wallets where bettors transfer gambling funds into an online account completely separate from their bank.
E-Wallets: Like prepaid credit or debit cards, e-wallets provide a separate online account to store your gambling funds, keeping them separated from your bank and the money you use for living. The most common e-wallet options found at our favorite sportsbooks are Venmo, Skrill, and PayPal.
PayNearMe: This deposit option is for bettors who want to submit funds using cash. When you make a PayNearMe deposit, you print off a barcode from your sportsbook, which you’ll take to a participating retailer like a pharmacy or gas station. The cashier scans the barcode, and you pay the amount you’d like to deposit to your account in cash.
Bank or Wire Transfers: These are helpful deposit and payout options for bettors who want to move around large sums of money. These transfer methods allow you to deposit thousands of dollars in your sportsbook account safely and securely and collect thousands in winnings!
Navigating the Betting Platform
Knowing how the apps function and where things are located on the user interface is helpful if you’re new to online sports betting. Like the sign-up process, using most sportsbooks is self-explanatory even when the setup is different, going from one sports betting app to the next. Use this brief guide to learn how you navigate the interface—find specific sports or events and view the odds to find the best bets to add to your slip!
Promos for new bettors or the loyalty program can usually be found at the top of the main menu under “Promos,” “Bonuses,” or “Rewards.” Once you’ve clicked these buttons, you’re taken to a separate page with bonuses for new bettors and weekly regulars.
Most of the time, the list of available sports markets appears in a menu along the lefthand side of the screen. It’s typically a long vertical column that runs from the top of the screen straight down to the bottom. They’re usually in alphabetical order. Some sportsbooks will have a separate tab toward the top where the most popular markets are located, making it easier to find the best markets from the long list.
Click on any sports market to view the games, matches, or events you can bet on. Your betting opportunities usually appear in the middle of the screen. Each game is outlined with date, time, and, depending on the sportsbook, the spread, total, and moneyline odds.
Most of the time, the sportsbook will feature the spread, total, and moneyline odds in the central portion of the featured bets page. If you want to see the other betting options available for that game, match, or event, you can click “All Wagers” to see different ways of betting, like props or futures.
Major sports betting apps allow bettors to adjust the odds format between American, decimal, and fractional odds. You can customize this in your bet slip or on the main screen, which displays the odds for each game or event.
Many sportsbooks have the bet slip on the right side of the screen. Once you’ve found the game you want to bet on and locked in the odds you’d like, you can click on the bet, and it will appear on your slip automatically. Some sports betting apps allow you to turn your bet into a parlay, teaser, or round robin on the betting slip.
You can make your first deposit by choosing a suitable banking option and entering an amount you’d like to start with. Click “Banking Options” or “Make a Deposit” to load new funds onto your favorite sports betting app.
If your bet wins, you can collect your payout by clicking the “Withdrawal” or “Cash Out” button. Your account balance will change to reflect any real money winnings coming into your online sports betting account.
Understanding Odds
Our favorite sportsbooks allow you to change your odds format: American odds, decimal odds, and fractional odds. Most American bettors prefer American odds, but some like the other two options. You don’t have to use the most popular odds format to bet on American sports if you don’t want to—you have the choice to see these bets in decimal or fractional form.
Let’s look over the different odds formats, learn how to read them, and learn how you can calculate your payout!
American Odds
Any game or event has a favorite to win and an underdog. The odds for the favorite are with a negative sign (-), and the underdog odds are positive (+). Take the example below, for instance, of how the odds might read at an online sportsbook.
Steelers
Bengals
-500
+700
In this example, the Steelers are the favorite team to win over the Bengals. Anyone betting on the Steelers must wager $500 to win $100 for a complete payout of $600. If you feel like the Bengals could pull off an upset and eke out a win over the Steelers, you can bet $100, and if you’re right, you can win $700 for a complete payout of $800.
Betting on the favorite doesn’t carry much risk, so the payouts can be minimal but steady. You’re risking much more betting on the underdog, but the potential payouts can be hefty if an upset occurs—they’re high-risk, high-reward.
Fractional Odds
These odds are written with backslashes (/) or hyphens (-) and are the favored odds format in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The number on the left side of the “/” is the amount you can win, while the number on the right side of the “/” shows how much you must wager to earn the amount on the left side. Let’s look at another example:
Steelers
Bengals
1/3
5/1
This would be called “five-to-one odds” on the Bengals. You will win $5 for every $1 you bet. So, you could bet $20 on the Steelers. If your bet is correct, you win $100 ($20 x $5 = $100) and get your original bet of $20 back, so the total payout is $120.
Decimal Odds
This odds format is popular in places like Europe, Australia, and Canada, and it is sometimes referred to as “European odds.” These odds appear as a number with a decimal point (.). Let’s take another look at the Steelers and Bengals game:
Steelers
Bengals
1.4
3.0
If you bet on the favorite-to-win Steelers, you must wager $100. Multiply your wager by decimal odds of 1.4 ($100 x 1.4), and you’ll get a total payout of $140. You get your original wager of $100 back plus your profit of $40. Those betting $100 on the underdog Bengals can profit $200 if there’s an upset ($100 x 3.00 = $300). You get your original $100 back and your profit of $200.
Selecting a Bet
Choosing your bet is easy—choose the sports market you want to bet on and select a game or event that’s available in the middle of the main screen.
Let’s explore the different betting options on these sportsbooks—you can bet and win to fatten your bankroll in many ways. Most of the time, you’ll find three primary types of sports bets on the menu where all available games, matches, and events are located:
- Moneylines: These are bets for the winner of a game or event. Your bet is considered a win if the team or competitor you wagered on is the outright winner.
- Point Spreads: These bets are designed to get bettors to wager on the underdog team or competitor. You’re betting on the margin of victory. For instance, the favorite will have odds of -3, meaning that they must win by more than three points for the bet to be a win. The underdog might have odds of +3, which means bets on the underdog will win if that team wins outright or loses by three points or less.
- Totals: These bets are also known as over/under bets. The oddsmakers will predict the game’s final combined score, and bettors must correctly predict if the final score comes in over or under this number.
Placing Your Bet
Follow these steps to placing your online bet at your favorite sportsbook:
- Select the game, match, or event.
- Choose the type of bet. You usually find moneylines, totals, and spreads right next to the game you’re betting on, but you can find additional wagers on the bet slip, like parlays, teasers, or round robins.
- Choose the amount of money you’d like to stake on the bet. Make sure there’s enough money in your account and bet conscientiously using units proportionate to the size of your bankroll.
- Sports betting apps will include payout calculators so bettors can determine their potential winnings. In many cases, it’s done automatically for you on the bet slip itself! Use these calculations to your advantage and develop a great strategy for making the wisest bets possible.
- Once you’ve added the bet to your bet slip, you have the odds you want, and the bet type and odds format are correct where you want them. Confirm the bet so you can lock it into the sportsbook.
- Keep track of the game and the progress of your bet. If you are correct and your bet wins, you’ll get paid out as quickly as your payment method allows.
Monitoring Your Bet
Keep track of your active bets as the game, match, or event plays out. If live betting is available, you should place additional wagers to hedge against any possible losses you incur with your current bet. While tracking your bets can be a time commitment, it helps to gain an understanding of the bet’s strengths and weaknesses. You can better adapt your approach as you learn more about monitoring your bet online.
The Importance of Betting History
One of the biggest keys to success in online sports betting is keeping track of your betting history. These provide a full breakdown of all the money you commit to sports bets, how much money has been won, how much has been lost, and the rate at which you bet (or don’t beat” the closing line. It’s a tool that helps you keep track of everything and shows you areas where you need to improve your betting strategy or adjust your approach.
Cashing Out
The cash-out feature is typically found directly on your sportsbook’s betting slip. It helps bettors minimize potential losses by letting them cash out early from an event and lock up some winnings. It’s a double-edged sword to stick around till the end of a game because if you hold tight the entire way and your predictions are correct, you can get a much bigger payout. But if you’re wrong, you stand to lose quite a bit.
Cashout Calculators
The cash-out function lets you effectively cut losses if things aren’t working out your way, but it can result in many lackluster wins that allow you to hold your own while rarely making a profit. That’s what makes using cashout calculators so important—you can determine the value of your current bets and the value of other bets that the sportsbook offers, as well as the potential escape routes in the event of a misinformed bet.
Withdrawing Winnings
Follow these steps to withdraw money from your betting account at your favorite online sportsbook. Most of the time, this is a painless experience, except for payout methods like physical checks or wire transfers, which could take multiple business days to conduct and process.
- Choose your withdrawal method. You can usually find these options on your betting slip when you’ve placed a successful wager. With some sportsbooks, you can find these options under “Banking Methods.”
- Read the payout method rules, including processing times and any applicable fees.
- Submit your payout request.
- Make sure your sportsbook accepts your payout request. Once the app’s approval team greenlights your payout request, your payout status might turn to something like “processed” or “confirmed.”
- Wait for your payout based on the processing time posted on the app. If there are any issues, follow up with the customer service team to resolve matters.
The processing time of your payout will depend on which withdrawal methods your sportsbook offers. You can check out these times on the page where all the banking options are available. You rarely pay fees to use these payout options, but if there are any, you can also find these on the same page when the processing times are posted.
Common Betting Mistakes to Avoid
New sports bettors can become susceptible to careless betting mistakes that have existed since the dawn of time. Avoid these common pitfalls by adopting responsible betting practices. As the term practice implies, gambling responsibly takes practice and developing some sense of muscle memory through experience.
Avoid These Mistakes
- Don’t Chase Loses: You lose a ton of money in a lousy betting session, and you feel the need to place extra bets to offset these losses and recoup the money. This is called “chasing losses,” one of the biggest betting blunders. There’s a chance you could lose even more!
- Doing Zero Research: A big mistake newbie bettors make is making wagers without research to back them up. This is common when bettors place wagers on markets or games they’re not knowledgeable about. It’s essential to bet on what you know.
- Poor Bankroll Management: One of the most common mistakes is when bettors make disproportionate wagers to the bankroll balance. For example, if you only have a few hundred dollars to work with, you should be by units of $10, not units of $100 or more!
- Betting When You’re Angry or Frustrated: It’s rarely beneficial to act by impulse and emotion. Logic goes out the window, and you’re susceptible to making dumb mistakes. Never bet on sports when you’re angry. The same goes for betting on sports while you’re drunk or high. You’re likely to lose money in an altered or emotional state.
- Not Sticking to Your Betting Budget: If you set up an allotted amount of money to bet with and exceed your limit, you’re making a big mistake. Making a concession can lead to ignoring your boundaries and overspending on your sports betting.
- Ignoring Value: Sports betting is more than just winning your bet. You want to make intelligent bets that allow you to build up your bankroll. A big mistake new bettors make is betting to win and not to grow their balance.
- Betting Only on the Favorites: This goes hand in hand with our point about ignoring value. Constantly betting on the favorite results in minimal payouts. You make a lot more money betting on the dog in the event of a big upset.
Tips For Responsible Betting
- Know when to quit. It’s a good idea to leave if you’ve experienced a crushing chain of losses. Don’t chase losses—get out while you’re behind!
- Bet on sports markets, games, or teams you’re familiar with because it will result in a much more informed bet. If you understand the nuance and context, you can make better decisions based on logic and solid intuition.
- Don’t bet on sports when intoxicated, angry, or frustrated. Never let sports betting be your outlet for blowing off steam.
- Shop for value in your bets. Look for opportunities where the oddsmakers have made a mistake in their prediction and are undervaluing a competitor or team. It’s bets like those where an upset is possible, and you could walk away with a hefty payout.
- Bet using units that are proportionate to your bankroll balance. When the size of your bankroll increases, then you can increase the size of your betting units. If your balance drops off, decrease your betting units’ sizes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Find out the most common questions our customers and readers have been asking about placing bets and getting your feet wet the first time you’re using an online sports betting app! If you don’t feel like reading the guide, you’ll get most of the key highlights here.
How Do I Choose the Right Sports Betting App?
People have their own unique methodology for choosing a sportsbook that’s right for them. The best way to find a good platform is to read online reviews from websites like our own or from places like ConsumerAffairs, Trustpilot, or SiteJabber, which contain user reviews. You should check the bonuses/promos to see what bonus bets you can earn on your first wager. Check out the available deposit or withdrawal methods to ensure timely payouts.
How Long Does It Take to Register with an Online Sportsbook?
Between downloading the app/visiting the website, entering your basic information, and making your first deposit, you should only spend around five minutes signing up for a new sportsbook. These platforms make it easy for newcomers to join. A lot of the signup process is self-explanatory, so you should be able to get yourself up and running in no time!
What Information Must I Provide to Sign Up?
New members must enter their name, email, mailing address, and age when signing up for a new account with a real money sportsbook. The address and age are used to verify that you’re old enough and that you’re living in a place where the sportsbook is available.
Which Banking Methods are Available for Deposits and Payouts?
The deposit and payout methods may fluctuate depending on which sportsbook you’re using. Most platforms offer the following banking options: credit cards, prepaid credit cards, e-wallets, PayNearMe, bank/wire transfers, etc.
What Are Odds Formats?
You can view odds in American, decimal, and fractional formats. American odds are most popular in the United States (obviously), while the Brits favor fractional odds, and decimal odds are the preferred format of Canadians, Aussies, and most European countries. American odds use – and + signs, decimal odds use numbers with decimals, and fractional odds are written out like fractions.
What Is Responsible Betting?
Responsible betting is the act of taking proactive steps to safeguard yourself against irresponsible gambling practices, some of which can lead to gambling problems or addictions. Responsible betting includes:
– Not chasing losses.
– Do your research before you bet.
– Managing your bankroll effectively.
– Not betting when intoxicated or angry.
How Do Point Spreads Work?
In the case of American odds, the favorite to win is signified by a negative sign (-), and the underdog is represented by a positive sign (+). If the favorite has odds of -3, they must win by three or more points for the bet to be considered a win. The underdog has odds of +3, which means they need to win outright or lose by less than three points for the underdog bet to be considered a win.
How Do You Read Odds?
Let’s say the Steelers are the favorite to win with odds of -800, and the Bengals are the underdog with odds of +800. You would have to bet $800 on the Steelers to win $100, while a $100 bet on the Bengals could result in an $800 payout if there’s an upset and they win! Betting on the favorite carries more risk and only results in a small payout, whereas an underdog bet can be much more lucrative.