Totals Betting or Over/Under betting as it’s commonly referred to is a simple sports betting wager you can place on ❤️ any game where you predict the final collective score of both teams combined. And yes, it’s just that simple! Before ❤️ the game, oddsmakers will set the line – they will choose a total number that will reflect both team’s points ❤️ or goal total. Your job is to decide if the final score for both teams collectively (added together) will be ❤️ higher or lower than the oddsmaker’s number.
Oddsmakers are very skilled at coming close to this number in most situations, so ❤️ it can be challenging to determine whether your score will go over or under, but it’s also easy depending on ❤️ the game and whether you think a team will rise to the occasion and blow their opponent out of the ❤️ water.
Totals betting is great for new bettors or bettors that don’t follow sports as closely. You don’t need to predict ❤️ the winner of the game, you don’t need to know the teams in-depth, but you definitely need to know them ❤️ well enough to figure out if they will over or underperform in the matchup.
Totals betting is offered for many different ❤️ sports as it lends itself to different styles of play – you can find totals betting odds on all professional ❤️ sports, collegiate sports, and combat sports. Outside of regular team sports, the rules can be a bit different, but we’ll ❤️ explain that below and outline how totals work for each sport.
Totals Betting Odds Explained
While it’s not difficult to figure out ❤️ how totals work, you also need to pay attention to the odds that are associated with each side of the ❤️ totals wager. The oddsmaker’s goal is to predict the exact amount of points both teams score, and most times they ❤️ are dangerously close to being accurate, so you do have your work cut out for you to decide if you ❤️ want to bet over or under that score.
The odds attached to each side of the wager will be modest, you ❤️ won’t see huge underdog odds like you would in moneyline betting. If you prefer the American odds format, you will ❤️ likely see a range of -150 to +115 depending on the game or sport. These odds represent the likelihood of ❤️ the score going over or under. The larger the negative number, the more likely, and a positive number will indicate ❤️ it is less likely, but you would win more money overall.
A good trick to reading American odds is to visualize ❤️ aR$100 wager. If you bet the more likely scenario, the over, let’s say at (-150), you will need to bet ❤️ that amount to winR$100. If you want to bet the less likely situation, the under at (+115) you will win ❤️ that amount on aR$100 bet.
If you aren’t used to American odds and prefer decimal, you can toggle your view on ❤️ most sportsbooks. Decimal odds are commonly used in European countries but are still used in the United States to this ❤️ day. The odds don’t change by using decimal, they’re just displayed differently, so if you have over/under odds set on ❤️ an NHL game of 5.5 with 1.87 odds on the over and 1.95 on the under, the more likely outcome ❤️ is the over, and least likely is the under. You could make more money betting on the under, but you ❤️ do need to weigh the risk.
The decimal odds will show you how much you would win for every dollar wagered. ❤️ You simply need to multiply your bet amount by the odds. If your odds are 1.95, you will win 95 ❤️ cents for every dollar you bet. So, if you decided to place a wager ofR$10, you would returnR$9.50, plus your ❤️ initialR$10.
Sometimes it can be easier to think of betting in fractions, like using the term ‘10/1 odds.’ This is called ❤️ fractional odds and is more popular over in the United Kingdom and Europe, but still used worldwide. Fractional odds require ❤️ the most work to determine how much you’d win on a wager, as you need to do a calculation to ❤️ get your answer. To determine your winnings using fractional odds on a totals wager, you will need to multiply your ❤️ bet amount by the top of the fraction (numerator) and divide that total by the bottom number (denominator).
Let’s say we ❤️ want to take the under on aR$15 wager and the odds are 20/21. We would multiply 15×20, which is 300, ❤️ then divide that into 21. You would winR$14.28 plus your initialR$15, almost doubling your money.
Totals Betting By Sport
While totals betting ❤️ is still quite simple to wrap our heads around, it’s important to understand how the odds are shown in each ❤️ sport as totals can be viewed in different ways when you aren’t looking at a team versus team sport. You ❤️ can find plenty of total-based props and specials as well for special events.
All team sports will have season totals, these ❤️ are forms of futures wagers, but you can look at these to try to predict the number of total wins ❤️ a team or player might have during the season. You would have to wait until the regular season is over ❤️ to claim winnings on these.
NFL Totals Betting
NFL totals betting is quite popular during the season, as you can usually predict ❤️ how a team might perform against another when evaluating defensive/offensive situations. You might learn that the Green Bay Packers defensive ❤️ line gives up very few touchdowns to running backs, and if they’re playing a team that focuses on their run ❤️ game, you might not see a high-scoring game.
A common total in the NFL can range from the 30’s to 50’s ❤️ in some cases. You might see a total of 43 for a Buffalo Bills versus Cleveland Browns game. If you ❤️ take the under, you would only win if the final score was 42 or less (25-17 for example). If the ❤️ score ended up being 30-15, you would lose your wager because the total would be 45.
NBA Totals Betting
When betting the ❤️ totals on the NBA, you will follow the same principles as you would for the NFL. You will be looking ❤️ to predict the total number of points for both teams, which can be quite high in any NBA game. Many ❤️ NBA games have totals in the 200’s, which is a lot of points consider. On any given day, many of ❤️ the totals are in the 210 to 240 total range.
You might see an NBA total of 219.5, which just means ❤️ that hitting 219 is entirely possible so oddsmakers want to take away the option for a push, and you will ❤️ need to choose if you think the game’s total will be less than 219 or more than 220. If you ❤️ choose the over and the final score is 120-98, that is a 218-point total and you would lose your wager.
MLB ❤️ Totals Betting
Baseball totals betting can be tricky because the outcome relies on the starting pitchers first, but also the batting ❤️ order. If you aren’t looking at these things, you are likely just guessing your totals bet. MLB and Baseball totals ❤️ usually range from 6 to 12 or so, depending on how the teams match up.
You might see a total of ❤️ 8, and decide you want to take the under. If the Braves beat the Marlins 7-0, you will win your ❤️ bet. If you see a total of 12, and you take the under, and the Braves beat the Marlins 9-5, ❤️ you will lose. It’s quite simple once you get the hang of it.
For more info, check our baseball betting rules ❤️ page here
NHL Totals Betting
The NHL is probably one of the lower-scoring sports out there. It’s very common for NHL games ❤️ to have totals of 5.5, to eliminate the possibility a game ends 3-2 or 4-1, etc. You will frequently see ❤️ this total on the oddsboard because it’s a safe option for sportsbooks.
If the Chicago Blackhawks are playing the Dallas Stars ❤️ and the total is 5.5, and you don’t feel like either team has strong scorers this year, you could take ❤️ the under and if the score ends up being 2-1 you would win your bet.
MMA/UFC Totals Betting
UFC and MMA totals ❤️ are a bit different, as you aren’t really betting on their judge scorecards. You will be betting on the distance ❤️ of the fight. When betting UFC totals, you will bet the over or under on the number of rounds the ❤️ fight lasts. For three-round bouts, you will see a total of 1.5 usually, and the over/under is decided at the ❤️ 2.5-minute mark of the second round. For five-round bouts, you will likely see a total of 2.5, and the over/under ❤️ is decided at the 2.5-minute mark of the third round.
Soccer Totals Betting
Soccer is one of the lowest scoring sports in ❤️ the world, if you thought hockey’s five-point totals were low, it makes things even more tricky to bet on soccer. ❤️ The totals for soccer can be so unpredictable as there are so many variables. It’s common to see totals of ❤️ 2.5 meaning you will need either 2 goals to cash on the under and 3 goals to cash on the ❤️ over. Same as above.
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