Over the last few years, the US has exploded into one of the hottest sports betting markets in the world. For years, the industry was either held to Nevada or went completely unregulated, but now, states are reaping the benefits of taxation and licensing. The opening of the nation invited the biggest and best names in the business from around the world, with some $165 billion bets in the country, per Yahoo! Finance.
Now, many are familiar with betting lines like the spread and money line, but there’s so much more to major sports betting in the modern scene. Thanks to online platforms, the markets run very, very deep for the NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, MLS, and more. Still, there’s one newly popular section that’s well worth a look due to its odds and how it often only relies on just one event or milestone to be hit.
The rise of prop bets in US sports betting
It’s commonplace for bettors to bet on outcomes of games via the money line or spread, often stacking several picks onto the pay slip to enhance the odds, but recently, more and more fans have been turning to props. Prop Bets don’t require you to correctly predict a game-winner, have higher potential payouts, and with some bookies, you can request your own “exotic” prop bets.
You can bet on markets that have near-even odds, such as the result of the coin flip or under-overs on the length of the national anthem or number of touchdowns, or per player outcomes. These can be anytime touchdowns, the first player to score a point, the number of bases stolen, interceptions gave away, and anything else that can be quantified or tallied within the game.
Match outcome bets can leave bettors a bit detached from the sport itself when they have a multiple bet slip. Props, on the other hand, are all about the intricate parts of the game at hand, with prop bets needing certain players to get in on the action and suddenly perform as the bet predicts. A prop bet can be won in a second, while most other bets wait for the final whistle.
How to capitalise on prop betting options
While all bettors should thoroughly research teams, injuries, and news prior to placing a wager, prop betting can be the most reliably researched, thanks to modern stats sites. With one team coming against another, there are many factors that can swing the eventual outcome, but with prop bets, the research often pertains to one player, their form, preferences, and who they’ll have to best to win in prop bet markets.
Due to how many goals and points are scored in ice hockey, NHL props bet markets have become rather popular – particularly the anytime scorer margins. For these, TSN Stats is the easiest and most clear-cut resource to utilise. Not only can you sort by teams and point, goals, or assists counts – as well as several other key stats – but you can then flip to player logs to see form and over to the goaltenders to see where they rank.
Naturally, NFL betting is the biggest in US jurisdictions and certainly presents a glut of prop betting opportunities. Again, research is key, and while it can be easy to identify offensive stars, it’s not always clear how well they’ll fare against certain defensive set-ups. For this, turn to Pro Football Reference and its defence page, paying particular attention to yards and touchdowns allowed to the pass and the rush to identify weaknesses that prop bet players can exploit.
Prop bets have opened up a new angle to engage with sports, particularly if you put in the research and can identify key players in advantageous positions.