The process of predicting results of a sporting event or competition by placing wagers on their own outcomes is called sports betting. In several countries, the process of bookmaking (accepting wagers on events) and betting is criminalized, made illegal or just regulated. For e.g. few European nations just regulate bookmaking and NCAA has threatened the region of Delaware in US should they allow college betting. The sports betting proponents usually regard it being an interesting activity for sports fans which increases their interest in the competitions and events. Furthermore, they state that it benefits the players, teams and leagues that the spectators bet on since they get larger audiences (television and also live attendance).

The opponents of betting fear that instead of bearing usual gambling ramifications, sports betting can threaten to spoil the integrity of professional sports as there happen to be numerous attempts by gamblers to fix competitions and matches in the past. However, betting proponents counter by stating that legitimate handicappers and bookmakers always fight against corruption and several of them do it as fiercely as the law enforcers and governing people do. Overall, it's seen that sports bettor lose more as the odds produced by bookmakers are very efficient. But, most of the winning bettors are experts who will make good income by utilizing statistical and spread services offered by professional handicappers. A person can place wagers by contacting bookmakers or bookies (where betting is illegal) or maybe go online as you will find a big range of betting services on the net.

You'll find different kinds of bets associated with sports betting. Several of them are:

Proposition bets are wagers in sports betting that are placed on very particular outcomes during a competition. The examples of these bets include guessing whether a baseball player would hit more than a player on the opposing team or even the number of goals which may be scored in a fantastic soccer match or perhaps whether a particular football player would net more than a particular number.

Parlays involve more than one bets and reward their bettors with large payouts. For e.g. if a bettor bets on four different wagers on four different teams, then the parlay means that he/she is betting that all four wagers would win. If any of the bet loses, the bettor loses and if all of the four win, then the bettor would get a much higher payout (generally 10-1 in case of four teams). You can find progressive parlays, which are slightly just like normal parleys. The rewards are good, but not as large as regular parley and if several of the bets lose, a small amount or payout can still be made.