Source: https://www.wsn.com/betting-guide/public-underdog

For more betting guides visit: https://www.wsn.com/betting-guide

To find out if online sports betting is legal in your state, go to: https://www.wsn.com/sports-betting-usa

Video Transcript:

In almost every game there’s a favorite and an underdog.
Generally speaking, more people bet on the favorite and it’s pretty easy to see why. After all, the favorite is going to win most of the time.

In this video we’re going to explain why going against the public and betting on the underdog can be the smarter play.

There are few key reasons why underdogs can be the better bet, even though they lose more often than they win.

We’ll break them all down step by step and then show you how to spot good opportunities for betting on the underdog.

Let’s get started.


BASIC UNDERDOG ODDS

There are lots of different bets you can make to back the worse team and they all use some form of odds or point spread to account for the skill difference between the underdog and the favorite.

In moneyline bets, that’s a bet on one team to win the game straight up, the underdog will always have longer odds, meaning you get a bigger payout on your bet.

The bigger the dog, the bigger the payout.
Any time you see a moneyline bet with positive odds, like +200, for example, that’s the underdog team.

+200 means you win $200 in profit for every $100 you bet.
So even though the underdog team loses more often than it wins, betting on them can actually be profitable if you’re getting the right odds.

Let’s compare that to the odds for betting the favorite.

The favorite is always shown with a negative number, like -150 for example, and that tells you how much you have to bet in order to win $100.

Odds of -150 mean you have to bet $150 to win $100 in profit.

Bets on the favorite win more often, but pay out less compared to how much you have to risk.


WHY UNDERDOGS GET BETTER ODDS

A common rule for sportsbooks is that they like to balance the action on both sides of a game.

That way, no matter who wins, they make a profit on their commission and don’t risk having to pay off tons of winning bets.

Remember before when we said that generally speaking, most people bet on the favored team?

The fact that people naturally bet the favorite, even though the payouts are worse, is the reason you can often get better odds by betting on the underdogs

This is the important part: Sometimes you have to be patient in order to make this work.

When betting lines are first released, more bets are placed on the favorite than the underdogs.

The sportsbooks then have to balance their action by improving the point spread or odds for the underdog.

If you wait for that to happen, you can get a way better price on your bet than if you had bet the underdogs right when the lines were released.

This doesn’t happen every time but it’s pretty common, especially in the NFL since there’s so much time between the lines being released and the game.


BETTING AGAINST THE PUBLIC

Now that we’ve explained some of the reasons betting on the underdogs can pay off, let’s look at some common spots that are especially good opportunities.

One of the best spots to back the underdog is when the heavy majority of the gambling public is betting on the favorite.

Not only will you get better odds because the sportsbook is trying to balance their books, there’s also a lot of statistical evidence indicating that when 75% of the public or more is taking one side of a game, they’re wrong significantly more often than they’re right.

This is called Betting Against the Public and based on historical data it’s been proven to work.

This situation comes up a lot when the favored team has an all-star reputation, certain star players or is being over-hyped by the media.

The public overwhelmingly backs them, even though the odds are way shorter than they should be.

That’s when you can get great value backing the underdog.

For more tips and strategies for betting on the underdog, check out our comprehensive guide available for free on WSN.com.

Good luck and thanks for watching.


Find out more about Kurt Long here: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1273767/