How to use this glossary
The terms are grouped by where you meet them in a normal week, and each group runs roughly from the simplest idea to the least obvious. Where a term has its own full explanation on this site, the entry links to it. Definitions are written from the book's side of the counter.
The price of a bet
Odds. The price of a bet. Odds tell the player what he wins for what he risks, and they carry the book's margin inside them.
American odds. The format with a plus or minus sign. A minus number is what a player must risk to win 100. A plus number is what he wins if he risks 100.
Juice, vig, vigorish. The fee a bookmaker charges for taking a bet. Vigorish is also called the cut, the take or the margin. At the usual price a player risks 110 to win 100. The arithmetic is worked through in how to work out the margin.
Handle. The total amount wagered over a period, before anything is paid out.
Hold. The share of the handle the book keeps after paying winners, usually as a percentage. Hold is what the juice turns into across many bets.
Overround. The amount by which the implied chances of all outcomes add up to more than 100 percent. It is another way of measuring the margin in a market.
Implied probability. The chance of an outcome that a price suggests. A price of minus 110 implies about 52.4 percent, because 110 divided by 210 is 0.524.
Push. A bet that ties. The stake goes back to the player and nobody wins.
Types of bet
Straight bet. One bet on one outcome. The pick is graded on its own.
Moneyline. A bet on who wins, with no point spread. The price does the work of making the two sides even.
Point spread. A handicap given to the underdog so that both sides attract money. The favorite must win by more than the spread.
Total, over/under. A bet on whether the combined score lands above or below a posted number.
Parlay. A single bet that links two or more wagers, also called an accumulator, combo bet or multi. Every leg must win. It pays more than the legs would separately, and loses if any one leg loses.
Teaser. A parlay in which the player moves the spread or total in his favor on every leg and accepts a lower payout in exchange.
Round robin. A set of smaller parlays built automatically from a list of picks. Three picks in two-leg parlays makes three bets.
Prop. A bet on something inside a game other than the final result, such as a player's total or which side scores first.
Future. A bet on an outcome decided weeks or months away, such as a season winner. The stake stays on the books until then.
Live bet. A bet placed after the game has started, at a price that moves with play.
Bet Builder. On this platform, the product that lets a player put several picks on one ticket. A straight takes the pick's own price and a parlay is priced off the legs combined.
If bet. Two bets joined by a condition. The second only goes on if the first wins.
The lines
Line. The posted price or spread on a game. To move the line is to change it.
Opening line. The first number posted for a game.
Closing line. The last number before the game starts. Players who regularly bet a better number than the close tend to be winning players.
Line movement. A change in the number, caused by money, news or both. How a book posts and manages its lines decides how exposed it is to either.
Key number. A margin of victory that happens far more often than others. In pro football the common ones are 3 and 7, covered in why 3 and 7 matter.
Hook. A half point on a spread or total. It removes the chance of a push.
Buying points. Paying a worse price to move the spread or total by half a point or more.
Steam. A fast move in a line across many books at once, usually because respected money arrived.
Off the board. A game the book has stopped taking bets on, often because of an injury or other news.
Chalk. The favorite. A player who bets chalk bets favorites.
Dog. The underdog.
Players and limits
Player. The person betting. In a pay per head setup the player belongs to the agent, not to the provider.
Active player. A player whose bet was graded that week. It is the unit on the weekly bill, defined in full under what counts as active.
Limit. The most a player may risk, on one bet or across a week. Limits can be set by player, by sport and by bet type.
Credit. The amount a player may bet before paying anything. A credit player settles after the week closes.
Prepaid, post-up. A player who puts money in before betting and can only bet what is there.
Sharp. A player who wins over time by betting good numbers. Also called a wise guy.
Square. A recreational player who bets for entertainment, usually on favorites and popular sides.
Exposure, liability. The amount the book stands to lose on one result. Too much on a single game is the usual cause of a bad week.
Layoff. A bet one book places with another to reduce its exposure on a result.
Balanced action. Roughly equal money on both sides of a game, so the book earns the juice whoever wins.
Agents and structure
Agent. The person who runs the book and owns the relationship with the players.
Master agent. An agent who has other agents beneath him.
Sub-agent. An agent working under another, with his own players and his own figures. The platform's agent tree is how that structure is set up.
Make-up. A loss carried forward in an agent deal. It has to be recovered from later weeks before the sub-agent is paid a share again.
Split. The share of the week's result that goes to a sub-agent under his deal.
The weekly close
Grading. Marking each bet as won, lost or pushed once the result is in.
Figure. A player's net result for the week. A plus figure means the book owes him. A minus figure means he owes the book.
Settle, settlement. Closing the week with each player: paying the winners and collecting from the rest, on a fixed day.
Carryover. A balance that is not settled and rolls into the next week, usually because it is below an agreed amount.
Weekly report. The summary of handle, hold and each player's figure that the close is worked from.
The business model
Pay per head. A way to rent a sportsbook platform, as opposed to building your own. The agent pays a flat weekly fee for each active player and the provider runs the technology. On BookiePerHead, Standard is $8 and Pro is $11 per active player per week.
Price per head. The same thing by another name.
White label. The same platform shown to players under the agent's own name and domain.
Racebook. The part of a platform that takes bets on horse racing.
Digital casino. Slots and table games run by software.
Live dealer casino. Casino tables run by a real dealer and streamed to the player.
BookiePerHead is software and a support line. It takes no wagers and holds no player money. Whether taking bets is lawful depends on where you and your players are, and that question belongs with a lawyer.