How to Actually Make a Bet

• Locate the Race and Sports Book.  Virtually every casino has a Race and Sports Book.  
• Located the betting information sheets.  
• Behold the greatness of the betting information sheet. This is part of a sheet from the LVH from our last March Madness trip.  

• All the information you need to relay the kind of bet and amount will be found on these sheets. 
• The number assigned to each team is directly to the left of the team name.  
• To the right of the team name is the spread.  
• The column under total is the Over/Under and the M/L column is the Moneyline.   
• Dont tell the cashier you want to bet on Florida Gulf Coast.  Find the number to the left of the Florida Gulf Coast's name and tell that number to the cashier.  
• You also need to tell them what kind of bet you want to make.  
• Are you making a Moneyline bet, are you betting a team against the spread?  
• This is the second crucial piece of information you need to tell the person taking your bet.
• Finally, you need to tell them how much you are betting.  
• A $20 Moneyline bet on Florida Gulf Coast would be, "Give me the Moneyline on 879 for $20."  
• Once you place your bet, the Cashier will give you a slip of paper.  It will look like this:  

• MAKE SURE YOU KEEP THIS SLIP OF PAPER.  TREAT IT JUST LIKE CASH. (at least until you lose, then you can rip it up)
• Notice this ticket tells you how much you will win also.  
• The Moneyline is +700 so if you would have bet $100, you would have won $700 for a total of $800.  
• Since I only bet $20, I will only get 1/5th of that +700, or 140.  So if Florida Gulf Coast would have won outright, I would have got my $20 back, plus my $140 of profit.  Sadly, it didnt turn out that way, which is why I still have this ticket.  
• When you win your bet, you will need to return to the sports book and present this ticket back to cashier to collect your money.  
• If you are no longer in Vegas when the event ends, you can mail it back in as well.
• Finally, casinos within the same family will cash tickets from sister properties sports book.  If you make a bet at the Flamingo and are at Planet Hollywood when you win, the Planet Hollywood book will cash your ticket.  

Halftime Bets & Parlays

Half-Time Bet

The half-time bet is not a new type of bet, its a bet on only one half of a game. You can bet against the spread or the point totals for either half of a game.

• The first half lines are posted on the betting sheets, while the second half lines will be posted on the big board at the sports book.

Parlay Bet

Parlay bets are when you place a series of 2 or more bets together on the same betting ticket. In order to win, you have to cover (pick correctly) every bet on the ticket.  

• Each individual bet in a parlay is often referred to as a “leg” of the parlay.
• These can be a series of bets all against the spread bets, all over/under bets, all moneyline bets, or a mixture of these.
• The payouts get larger with the more “legs” that are involved in the parlay. 
• Each sportsbook has its own parlay payout table.
• The draw of the parlay is that you can win a lot of money while laying out a relatively small amount of money. 

The Moneyline Bet

• The moneyline bet is a bet on a team to outright win the game.  There is no spread involved.

• If a team is the favorite in a game, the moneyline bet will pay out much less and is considered a “safe” bet.  If a team is the underdog in the game, the moneyline bet will pay out much more and is considered the “risky” bet.

• The favorite is presented on the betting sheet as a (-) and the underdog is presented as a (+) on the betting sheet.

• Payout example: Arizona (-250) is the favorite to beat the underdog Utah (+250).  This means you would have to bet $250 to win $100 if you bet on Arizona to win.  Conversely, it means you would have to bet $100 on Utah pulling the upset to win $250.

March Basketball Viewing Parties

March brings the beginning of the NCAA college basketball championships.  It is a month long tournament and a huge deal in Vegas. While the Super Bowl is the largest betting day in Las Vegas, the 4 days of the opening round of the NCAA tournament, sometimes called March Madness, is very close in scope and scale and instead of only one day, lasts four. Die hard sports betters spend 13 hours a day in sports books and ball room setups watching all the action.  Here are some suggestions from the 360 Moneyline crew for some of the best sports to catch all the action.

• Caesars Properties - Harrahs, Caesars Palace and Planet Hollywood offer man cave packages starting at $1100/day.  The amenities vary based on property, but some of the highlights are access to your own private TVs, complimentary drink service, and betting stations. For more information, check out http://www.caesars.com/hoops/
• The Cosmopolitan- Hoops and Hops.  Hoops and Hops has three options, the basic option for $40/day gets you access to the ballroom and 2 complimentary drinks.  VIP level costs $125/day and includes upgraded seating and free craft beer and cocktails all day.  The private pod options gets your own TVs you control, complimentary cocktails.  The cost is $1,500 for 8-10 people.  For more information, check out http://www.cosmopolitanlasvegas.com/experience/event-calendar/event-details/HoopsandHops_03-21-2013.aspx
• South Point offers a free ballroom setup and provides food for an additional cost.  The ballroom includes large screens on all the ballroom walls and betting stations set up in the room.  For more information, check out http://www.southpointcasino.com/
• LVH.  Some consider it the mecca for March Madness.  In addition to their large sports book, they offer free seating in their theatre.  They offer food and drink specials and on site betting stations right outside the theatre.  For more information, go to http://www.thelvh.com/calendar/132-hoops-central
• If you are downtown, you will want to check out the Golden Nugget.  They also provide a free ballroom set up with food and drink specials and betting stations to ensure you don't have to go to the sports book to get your bets in.  For more information, go to http://www.goldennugget.com/LasVegas/upcomingevents.asp

The Over/Under

• The total number of points the two teams playing will score combined 
• Has nothing to do with margin of victory
• If you think the two teams will score over the number set by the casinos, you bet over.  If you don’t think they will score that many points combined, you bet the under.

Example - If the Over/Under is set at 42 in a football game and the final score is 20-17, the total for the game is 37 All bets on the Under are winners and all bets for the Over and losers.

Tips - For this type of bet, you really need to consider the type of offense the teams are known for (if both teams play up-tempo, then there will be more scoring opportunities), how good the opposing defenses are, weather conditions (if the game is outdoors) and other similar factors. 

Always keep in mind that any scoring in overtime, extra innings or any situation where time is added will count towards the final total.  If you bet the Under, overtime is not your friend. 

          

Against the Spread

The Spread - It's the predicted number of points by which a favored team is expected to beat a weaker team by

• Most common type of sports bet
• Determined by casino sports books taking into account records, weather conditions, where the game is played, player injuries and more.
• Once the spread is set, the favorite doesn't just have to win, they have win by a certain margin.  They have to "beat the spread"
• The casino's goal is to get half the people to bet on one team and half on the other.  That way, regardless what team wins, the casino wins.

Jargon (Example spread is 7)

• The favored team is said to be "giving points".  
• It's represented on the betting sheets as minus (favorite team is -7 points)
• The underdog team is said to "getting points". (underdog team is +7 points)  
• If the team you beat on doesn’t win by more that the spread, then its said they "didn’t cover" (the spread) and your bet loses.

The next time you're in Vegas, grab a betting sheet and look for that spread that speaks to you.  Use your knowledge of the teams and the sport to try and make informed decisions when placing a bet against the spread.  

Keep in mind that the casinos want equal action bet on each team so that they win regardless of which team wins the game.