Futures Bets

For anyone who is interested in sports betting online, knowing the various types of bets is an absolute must. For most sport matches and tournaments, fixed odds betting is perhaps the most common. This is a type of bet where punters know the sports betting odds at the time the bet is placed. The payout never changes even if the odds fluctuate before the event. A popular form of fixed odds betting are futures bets. We take a look at what futures bets are and how they work.

Fixed Odds and Futures

If you think about placing a bet, surely all bets are future bets; after all, if an event hasn’t taken place, it must be in the future? While this is certainly true, standard fixed odds bets are bets that are placed within a close timeframe to the event itself. For example, local sports betting sites will be offering bets on an upcoming soccer match in two days’ time.

What are Futures Bets?

While technically in the future, the event itself is close enough for punters to have all the information they need to make an informed bet. The players will be chosen, the injury list will be released and we know where the match is taking place. All these variable help to guide punters towards making a much more informed bet.

A Riskier Bet

On the other hand, futures bets are bets where the event in question is far into the future. This could be a number of weeks or a number of months. All top sports betting sites offer futures bets on international and local sporting events. With futures bets, the betting site will offer odds when the bets are opened. Because the event is so far off into the future, it is very difficult to determine what the outcome will be. There is no current evidence of how each team or individual is performing to make an informed decision. As such the odds on futures bets can be quite good.

An Example

Let’s take a look at an example of a futures bet. Let’s say you are browsing through the list of bets on popular sports betting sites and you come across the tennis and the Australian open. But the problem is that you are in July and the event is a full six months away. The bookmaker will have a list of players to choose from and the fixed odds for the player to win. At this point in time, you have no idea if the player will even be in the competition never mind be able to win.

The Payout

In the men’s competition, the odds of Federer, Nadal or Andy Murry winning are pretty good. So these odds will be lower. However, let’s say you place a bet on Nick Kyrgios at really good odds. While the sports online betting odds indicate that Kyrgios is not a likely contender, you stick with your bet. If Kyrgios did manage to make it through the first, then the second round, his odds would improve. This doesn’t matter because you have your odds fixed. If he did pull off a massive upset and actually win the Australian open, you would be paid out the odds you agreed upon way back in July and you would be sitting pretty.