Online Gambling USA / Betting Guide / An Easily Explanation of Gambling & Sports Betting Over/Under 2025

An Easily Explanation of Gambling & Sports Betting Over/Under 2025

Publish Date: 04/06/2020
Fact checked by: Jesse M Cox

Over Under – A Guide to This Betting Strategy Favorite!

Ever wanted to have sports betting over/under explained to you in simple terms? If you’ve been wondering what is gambling on the over/under, today is your lucky day! In this sports betting guide, we’ll tell you everything you need to know for gambling on over/under betting markets.

Gambling on over/under markets is, essentially, a total bet placed in comparison to a sportsbook’s prediction. The sportsbook predicts a certain statistic for a game or sporting event. The most commonly used statistic for over and under is the total score of a match.

Over and under betting markets are very important. Gambling on the over/under is one of the most popular ways of how to bet on sports in the US.

Top Areas Covered in This Guide:

  • Learn the basic terminology involved in gambling over/under
  • Over/Under wagers are more complex than other types of bets
  • Gambling over/under is mainly about the research you put into the bet you choose
  • It’s not hard to master the concept of gambling over/under
  • It’s not a big deal if you win or lose, just have fun.
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Over Under Gambling – Let’s Drill Down Into the Detail

Basic Terminology

In order to understand when sports betting over/under is explained, you’ll need to get the lingo. Here is some basic terminology to help you understand the fundamentals of over/under sports betting.

Point Spread

This is where the sportsbook predicts a specific statistic on a Game or Sporting Event, which determines if you win or lose. To win a point spread bet, your pick must cover the spread set by the sportsbook.

Push

This is when you and the sportsbook tie on the results you bet on, or the number of the points scored in a game is exactly what was predicted. You are given a full refund of your wager.

Total

This is when you add the scores of the teams or participants together. The sportsbook creates a statistic of what they think the final score will be for betting purposes. There’s also partial totals, like the Half-Time Total, or the total for a specific team.

The Over Wager – How It Works

If you want sports betting over/under explained to you, you have to know how to gamble with over wagers. Fortunately, figuring out how does betting work on the over side is relatively simple.

As an example, let’s take an iconic sports event: Superbowl LIV. Over/under betting is extremely popular in football. For the match, a hypothetical sportsbook has set the over/under odds at -120, for Over 50, and +120, for Under 55.

Let’s say you want to place a $100 wager on Superbowl LIV. You’ve studied the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers the whole season. You feel confident that the game will go over 50 points. So you wager $100 on the Over 50, at -120 odds.

The game ended 31-20, with the Chiefs ahead. That’s a total score of 31+20=51. You bet $100, and since the score beat the over/under, you take home $83 in profit from your total bet. Simple enough, right? Next up, we’ll look at the other side of the action.

The Under Wager  – How It Works

Think you’re done having sports betting over/under explained to you? Think again! We’re only halfway through with the basics. Now, let’s look at what happens when you take the under side of a total bet.

For this example, let’s take the 2018 NBA Finals’ game 1. The Cleveland Cavaliers faced the Golden State Warriors in Oakland. Let’s say the sportsbook set the over/under odds at -120 for the Over 200, and +150 for the Under 220.

You’ve been watching both teams all season, and you don’t feel they have it in them to go over 220. So you take the under bet, at +150 odds. You bet $100 that the score won’t pass 220.

However, the game wound up going into overtime, with the Warriors beating the Cavaliers 124-114, for a total score of 238. That means the score went 18 points past 220, and your under bet has lost. Better luck next time!

How to Improve Your Odds Even Further!

Now that you know how do odds work when gambling over/under, it’s time to discuss improving those odds. Unless you happen to be a psychic, even the best odds lines will always favor bookmakers.
If you want the odds to swing in your favor, you have your work cut out for you. You need to evaluate the team and the situation of the game played before placing your bet. In fact, you need to evaluate the situation better than the bookies did, if you want to come out on top.

Improving Your Gameplay

  • Here are some examples that could improve your gameplay:
  • Practice, practice, practice! Develop a system you trust and try it out, before placing a bet.
  • Be confident. When playing games of chance, you might as well be playing the Law of Attraction. Yes, you have to want it and be willing to try, but you also need to accept that you deserve to win.
  • Experiment with trusting your gut. Do little tests in the real world and record your results. Figure your gut out. You are going to get different feelings for different emotions.
  • Study body language. Body language is responsible for most of how Humans communicate. You can learn a lot just by watching people, especially in sports.
  • Invest your time in learning to utilize spreadsheets. It makes it a lot easier to evaluate trends and work out the betting odds impacted by those trends.
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Factors Impacting Game Day

Here are some examples of items that could impact game day:

  • Consensus
  • Defensive trends
  • Home-field advantage
  • Indoor versus an outdoor environment
  • Injuries
  • Line-up changes
  • Media coverage
  • Offensive trends
  • Past history of gameplay
  • Reports
  • Strengths
  • Team rivalries
  • Team standing
  • Weaknesses
  • Weather

There are particular trends sportsbooks have been known to utilize as general guidelines for creating statistics for gambling on the over/under. Below are noticeable trends noticed by our experts for gambling on over/under betting markets in some popular sports.

Soccer

  • Gambling over/under, you’ll find the line typically set at 2.5 goals.
  • The odds are typically different for over versus under.

Hockey

  • Gambling over/under, you’ll find the line typically set at 6.5 goals.
  • The total number of goals may be adjusted depending on the game, when the odds on payout aren’t adjusted.

Football

  • Gambling over/under, you’ll find the line typically set in the 40s.
  • You can make additional money based on specific players by placing bets on how many field goals, sacks, or touchdowns the player completes.

Bookmark These Top GamblingGuy Pages: Guides & Strategies

Are you done having sports betting over/under explained to you? Then maybe you want to head on over to the rest of our sports betting and casino strategy guides. There is a wide selection of guides detailing all sorts of betting systems that work, like 1.01 betting strategies and matched betting guides.

Our guides also cover general interest matters for online gamblers, such as bankroll management and gambling taxes. They also cover a range of strategic betting and value betting tips for many sports.

We provide verified basketball betting tips, the best tips for cricket betting, proven football betting systems, and even hockey prediction strategies. We also have some of the most successful strategies in soccer and profitable racing strategies around.

For casino players, we also have exhaustive online casino guides. You can learn everything, from how to win at slots to the best slot machines to play.

Over Under Strategy – The Conclusion

We hope that after having had sports betting over/under explained, you’ll be ready to make your mark at the sportsbook.

Though it may sound extremely complex, it’s not as scary as it sounds. Gambling on the over/under is relatively approachable. You check the over/under odds, pick a side, and place your bet. Anyone over the legal gambling age can create a sportsbook account and wager within minutes.

What’s really complex about gambling on the over/under is knowing which side of the action to take. There’s so many factors that go into the final score of a game. Gambling on over/under markets therefore requires tremendous expertise.

That’s why gambling on the over/under, you need to follow your head, not your heart. Just because your favorite QB is playing, it doesn’t mean that he won’t break his leg after a torrential downpour in the stadium.
We hope you enjoyed having sports betting over/under explained to you. Armed with your new knowledge, you’re ready to take on gambling on the over/under like the pros!

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