Every industry has its own language, and the same holds true for sports gambling. Hang around a sportsbook for the first time, and you’ll hear a lot of terms you’ve never heard before. And you’ll also see some things thrown in anger as that sophomore at North Carolina misses two free throws to blow the cover.
Juice: Also known as vigorish, it’s how much extra the bettor is paying to place a bet. That is how sportsbooks make their money. When both sides of a game on the point spread are -110, the $10 on that $110 bet to win $100 is the juice. When the sportsbooks increase those odds to -120 for a team that is getting most of the bets, it’s “extra juice.” Bet long enough and you’ll hear a phrase like “extra juice on the dog” without it sounding strange: .
Bad beat: This is used a lot and often incorrectly. When a basketball team misses a jumper at the end to cover, it’s probably not a bad beat. When you bet on a 4-point underdog in the Super Bowl, they lead 28-3 and don’t end up covering, that is a bad beat. When you spend 95 percent of a game assuming you have a winner and then are ripping up a ticket at the end, that qualifies. And like your fantasy team, nobody wants to hear about your bad beat story.
Lock: This does not exist. If someone tells you that they have a “lock,” or a bet that can’t lose, run the other way. Or bet the other side. Vegas doesn’t have all those fancy casinos because there are locks in sports betting.
Live dog: Nothing should warm your heart more than betting a 14-point football underdog, looking up and seeing them winning by 10. You have a live dog.
Chalk: A term for the favorite. If all four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA basketball tournament reach the Final Four, you might hear that the tournament was “chalky.”
Backdoor cover: Ah, that glorious (or painful) moment in which a team is hopelessly going to lose your bet, but rallies in the final minutes for a garbage-time touchdown, basket or goal to unexpectedly cover the spread.
Sharps vs squares: You’ll hear the “sharp money” is coming in on a team, which mostly refers to regular and professional gamblers who are taking that ugly underdog who nobody thinks can cover. And the squares are generally those recreational gamblers wandering into a sportsbook to blindly lay money on their favorite team no matter the spread. Mostly square bettors prefer favorites and overs. These are the people that will tell you they have a lock.
