Pretty much every day of my life as a tipster I'm asked what something means. In betting, especially on Twitter where there are character limits there's a plethora of abbreviations that if you're new to betting can be difficult to understand. Here's a quick glossary of some betting terms to help you understand the various terms used on social media by tipsters:
If you've got anything that you think should be added to this list, feel free to tweet me @InplayMan and tell me and I'll happily put it on the list
A
AH - Asian Handicap (see my guide on Asian Handicaps for more information)
AGS - Anytime Goalscorer
Acca / Accumulator - a bet using multiple selections
Arb / Arbitrage - to back all outcomes of an event in such a way that a win is guaranteed
B
BTTS / BTS - Both Teams to Score / Both To Score
Back - to "back" a bet means to bet on the outcome happening
Banker - a bet that is expected to win
Booking Points - instead of offering markets on cards, some bookies offer booking points instead. They work in the same way as cards except each card value is given a number of points. A yellow = 10pts, a red = 25 points and a yellow/yellow (red) is 35 points. Always worth just double checking the points value for each card on whatever bookie you use though
C
Cover - if you backed Over 2.5 Goals in a game and there were 2 early goals, the act of then backing Under 2.5 Goals to guarantee a win either way is known as a "cover" bet
CS - often an abbreviation used for "clean sheet". For those for whom English isn't your native language, if a team keep a "clean sheet" that means they don't concede a goal
Closing Line - the odds / line at which a selection is when the game kicks off is known as the "closing line"
Cash Out - most bookies these days allow you to take your money before the game completes, for a certain value. This is known as cash out. Before using it though, it's worth checking out my guide on cash outs so you understand how it works
Corners Match Bet - a corners match bet is exactly what it says on the tin really, you're betting for which team will get the most corners in the game
D
DNB - Draw No Bet - You get a refund if the game ends in a draw
DC - means double chance, backing a team to either win or draw a game
Drift - when the price of your selection gets bigger over time
Double - two selections that both need to win for your bet to win
Dutching - dutching is backing two or more selections which are along the same lines. Originally it was in horse racing where you would back two horses in a race, locking in profit if either wins, but I've also used it before on football markets, backing say Over 1.5 Goals & Over 2.5 Goals and locking in profit if the Over 1.5 bet were to land.
E
EH - European Handicap - basically the 3-way-handicap
Evens - when the price of a selection is 2.00 or 1/1
Each Way - consists of 2 bets, the first half is for your selection to win, the second half is for your selection to place and will be paid out in accordance with the bookies place terms
EV - the expected value on a bet. If you were to back a bet at 1.80 and the closing line on it was 1.66 then this would have a positive expected value, or a +EV for short
Exchange - a betting exchange is somewhere where rather than backing a bet vs the bookies, punters can back / lay bets against each other instead. The most common one is Betfair but there are other exchanges out there
Edge - a term generally used to mean you have an advantage over the bookmaker in some way, either through knowledge or backing a price / line that gives you the "edge" over them
Exposure - a term used in bookmakers to describe the amount of money they could potentially lose on an event. Generally, bookmakers would try to limit their exposure by moving the odds until there is a balance
F
Fav / Favourite - The selection that according to the bookmakers odds would be the most likely to win an event
FH - an abbreviation of First Half
FGS - First Goalscorer
FT - Full Time
Favourite - the most likely outcome of an event according to bookmakers
Form - a guide of recent performances
FK - an abbreviation of "Free Kicks"
G
GG - an abbreviation of Goals Galore, the same as Both Teams to Score
Google - a website which can be used to find the answers to things
GK - an abbreviation of "Goal Kicks"
H
Handicap - a way of creating value in bets by either giving a team a goal or more headstart or starting from a losing position. E.G. Man City -1 Handicap would mean they need to win by 2 or more
Hedging - to hedge your bets is to back multiple selections to minimise your chance of losing
I
IWAC - means "In With a Chance" and is normally used in Horse Racing to describe an outsider that has a chance of winning
IPM - an abbreviation of InplayMan, me :)
Inplay - betting on a selection that is happening now and live
J
Jolly - A "jolly" is a term used to describe the favourite, or the most likely to win an event
K
L
LGS - Last Goalscorer
Lay - the opposite of backing a bet is to "lay" it or to bet against a particular outcome
Longshot - an outsider that is deemed to have less chance of winning by the bookmakers
Lump - the act of putting a larger than normal bet on a selection. Not reccommended, see my article on Staking Plans
Longshot - a long shot is a bet at bigger odds which is unlikely to win an event, also known as an outsider
M
MG - Match Goals - the total number of goals in a match
Money Line - a term generally used in American sports but generally just means which team / selection will win
N
NAP - mainly used in Horse Racing to describe the best bet of the day
NB - stands for "Next Best" and is again mainly used in Horse Racing to describe the 2nd best bet of the day
O
O1.5, O2.5, O3.5 etc - The O here simply means Over
Odds On - when the price of a selection is lower than EVENS it's described as "Odds On"
Odds Against - when the price of a sleection is greater than EVENS it's described as "Odds Against"
Outlay - the amount of money you have on any selection
P
Punt - to have a "punt" simply means to have a bet
Parlay - an term generally used in America to describe an acca / multiple bet
Price - another term for the odds of a selection
Payout - a term used to describe the amount you would receive if your bet were to win
Q
R
RG / Responsible Gaming - betting only what you can afford to lose
Rball / Rollerball - the stats which are shown on in-play games showing you how many attacks and shots each team has had is often referred to as Rball
RAB - an abbreviation of "Request A Bet", where you can request the odds of something happening from a bookmaker. Most bookies usually have their own versions of this such as "What Odds Paddy" while some don't offer the feature such as Bet365
S
Scorecast - a bet in which you predict a goalscorer and the final score in a game combined into one selection
Shorten - when the price of your selection gets lower over a period of time
Single - a bet containing only one selection
Spreads - another term for handicap but generally used in American sports
Spread Betting - a type of betting where your return is based on the accuracy of your selection, rather than a simple win or lose. If there is a spread for 2.5-2.7 goals in a game for example you can buy (saying it will be higher) or sell (saying it would be lower) that spread, and the more "right" you are, the more you could potentially win, while the more "wrong" you are, the more you could potentially lose
SP - means "starting price" and indicates the price of a selection at the point when the event begins
Stake - the amount you place on a selection
T
TG - Team Goals - O1.5TG for example would mean you need a team to score 2 or more
Treble - 3 selections that all need to win for your bet to win
Trixie - a bet with 3 selections where your stake is placed equally on 3 doubles and a treble. E.G. A 50p trixie on selections ABC would total £2 with 50p placed on AB, AC, BC and ABC
Timecast - a bet in which you predict the goalscorer and the time that the goal will be scored
To Win to Nil - a market that in order to win requires your team to win the game without conceding a goal
To Win Both Halves - a market that in order to win requires your team to win both halves of the game. It's often confused that a team winning 2-0 at half time and 2-0 at full time is a winning selection, but that would mean your team drew the 2nd half 0-0. It would have to be 2-0 at half time and 3-0 at full time for the bet to land
To Score Both Halves - a market that in order to win requires your team to score in both halves of the game
To Win Either Half - a market that would require your team to be leading at half time or to win the 2nd half for the bet to land
U
U1.5, U2.5, U3.5 etc - the U here simply means Under
V
Value - often misinterpreted as "Odds Against" / a bet over evens, but is actually the different between the bookmakers price on any selection vs your personal opinion of an event happening. E.G. If you feel Liverpool have a 70% chance of winning this weekend, they should be priced at 1.43 or 4/9. If instead they were priced at 4/6 then this indicates value for you as you feel the likely outcome is greater than the price being offered
W
WDW - means Win-Draw-Win and is often used to describe the most popular market in football betting which is the outcome of the match
Wincast - a bet in which you predict the goalscorer and the final result of the match combined into one selection
Winning Margin - the number of goals / points by which a team win a game. For example, a 3-1 win would be by a 2 goal winning margin
X
X - often used to abbreviate a DRAW in football
xG - stands for Expected Goals, and is a measurement of the number of goals that a team would be expected to score, based on a range of factors from chance creation, shots data, historical form and more
xGA - stands for Expected Goals Against, and is a measurement of the number of goals that a team would be expected to concede, based on a range of factors from chance creation, shots data, historical form and more
Y
Z
OTHER
1X2 - 1 means home win, X means draw, 2 means away win. People often combine these by saying 1/X which can mean home win half time / draw full time
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