With New York set to roll out mobile sports betting on January 8, 2022, bettors in the Empire State will no longer have to travel to in-state retail sportsbooks or cross into neighboring states to place their wagers. Once this happens, New Yorkers will be able to conveniently partake in live in-game betting.
What is live sports betting? How do you place a live in-game bet? What does live betting mean for sports fans just starting out with betting on NY mobile betting apps?
What Is Live Sports Betting?
Live sports betting, or in-game betting is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of placing a wager before a game starts, bettors can react to and place bets while the game is happening. Live in-game betting gives an edge to fans who are actively watching the games they are betting on.
Here’s an example: Let’s say the Buffalo Bills are playing the New York Jets. Heading into the game, we can safely expect the Bills to be heavy favorites and therefore not provide bettors with much value. During the first half, however, Bills QB Josh Allen throws an interception that gets returned for a touchdown, and the Jets score a special teams touchdown. With the Bills trailing by 14 points, their chances of winning have dropped and now their odds are much more in favor of bettors who still expect Buffalo to win.
Do All Sportsbooks Offer Live Betting?
With nine online sportsbooks available to bettors in New York, operators don’t have the “luxury” of leaving betting features out of their apps if they want to gain any significant amount of market share. Most online sportsbooks offer in-game live betting to some capacity, with some companies offering more variety than others.
Live Betting Odds
Most bettors are familiar with the option to bet on game lines such as point spreads, moneylines, and totals. These are also available as live betting lines as the game progresses and you can see examples of what that looks like in the BetMGM screenshots above.
The other type of popular live betting lines that most online sportsbooks offer center around points scored within a certain timeframe. Here are some examples from different sports that you’ll find on nearly every online sportsbook:
- How many goals will ____ team score in a period?
- How many runs will be scored in an inning?
- How many points will ___ team score in the third quarter?
Each sportsbook would have a live betting line associated with each example above and you would wager on whether it would be over or under that number.
What Affects Live Betting Odds?
No matter what sport you’re in-game betting on, there are a few key factors that will alter the live betting odds you’re seeing:
- Current score
- Current performance of each team
- Time remaining
- Injuries to key players
Tips For A Successful Live Betting Strategy
Regardless of your sport of choice, here are three general tips to keep in mind when live betting on sports.
- Watch the games! Yes, this seems obvious and is low-hanging fruit, but if you want to be successful with live betting, it’s the most important place to start. Having a way to keep track of the game and understanding the flow of the game along with how each team is performing is vital.
- Determine what games you’re interested in before they start. Do your research before the games start in order to figure out which matchups stand out to you. If you understand the strengths and weaknesses of the teams involved, you’ll be able to act much quicker while the live betting odds are changing.
- Pay attention to your bankroll. It’s incredibly easy to get swept up in the excitement of in-game betting and for you to lose track of how much you’ve been wagering. Make sure you’re practicing responsible gaming and setting spending limits for yourself, regardless of how well you are (or aren’t) doing that day.
Below are some of the more popular live betting markets available on a sport-by-sport basis.
NFL Live Betting
Live betting in football is one of the easier sports to place in-game wagers with due to the amount of information you have at your disposal as well as the slower-paced nature of the game.
- Point spread
- Moneyline
- Game totals
- Game props
- Will ____ team score on their next drive?
- How many points will be scored in the third quarter?
- Player Props
NBA Live Betting
If you’re following a team closely throughout an NBA season, you can get a really good feel for how they typically perform during certain parts of games. Let’s say you’re watching a game between the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors. During the first half, the Knicks jump out to a lead after some sloppy play from the Warriors. You would be able to get much better odds for Golden State at this time if you expect them to bounce back in the second half as one of the NBA’s top teams in terms of second-half points.
- Point spread
- Moneyline
- Total points
- Game Props
- How many threes will be scored in the second half?
- Player Props
- Point totals
- Points + Rebounds + Assists totals
MLB Live Betting
With the MLB being one of the more individual player-based sports, it’s important to know the strengths and weaknesses of each team and who is in or out for a particular game. If the New York Yankees were trailing the Boston Red Sox going into the 7th inning, but you knew the Red Sox had a weak bullpen, there would be value to betting on the Yankees to win the game.
- Run spread
- Moneyline
- Total runs scored
- Game props
- How many runs will be scored in the 5th inning?
- Will there be a stolen base in the 3rd inning?
- Player props
- How many strikeouts will Player A have in the 2nd inning?
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