Knowledge Base
Glossary
Plain-English definitions for the terminology used across Football Compass.
- Accumulator
- A single bet that links multiple selections; all selections must win for the bet to pay out, and the odds multiply together.
- American Odds
- Odds expressed as a positive or negative number, where a positive figure indicates how much you win on a $100 bet and a negative figure shows how much you need to stake to win $100.
- Asian Handicap
- A handicap system that eliminates the draw outcome and offers split handicaps, often used in soccer betting to reduce variance.
- Bankroll Management
- The practice of deciding how much money to risk on each bet to protect your funds over the long term.
- Bet Builder
- A tool that allows you to combine multiple markets from the same match into a single wager.
- Book Margin
- The sportsbook's built-in profit margin, often seen as the difference between the true odds and the odds offered.
- Both Teams To Score (BTTS)
- A wager that whether each side will find the net at least once during the match.
- Cash Out
- A feature that lets you settle a bet before the event ends, locking in a profit or limiting a loss.
- Closing Line
- The final set of odds or spread offered just before a match starts, considered the most accurate reflection of market opinion.
- Correct Score
- A bet that predicts the exact final score of a match, such as 2-1.
- Decimal Odds
- A way of expressing odds as a single number, where the total return including the stake is calculated by multiplying the stake by the decimal value.
- Double Chance
- A bet that covers two of the three possible outcomes in a match, increasing your chances of winning.
- European Handicap
- A handicap that gives one team a head start or deficit, but unlike Asian Handicap, does not split the handicap into quarters.
- Expected Value (EV)
- A measure of the average amount you can expect to win or lose per bet if you repeated it many times.
- First Goal Scorer
- A market where you pick the player who will score the first goal in the game.
- Fractional Odds
- A traditional British format that shows the profit relative to the stake, written as a fraction like 5/1.
- Half-Time/Full-Time
- A bet that asks you to predict the outcome at both half-time and full-time, like a draw at half-time and a win for one team at the end.
- Juice
- The commission that the sportsbook charges for taking your bet, usually built into the odds.
- Line Movement
- The change in odds or point spread over time as the sportsbook adjusts to betting activity.
- Live Betting
- Betting on a match while it is in progress, with odds that update as the game unfolds.
- Moneyline
- A bet on which team will win a match outright, with odds that reflect the outright winner without a point spread.
- Over/Under
- A bet on whether the total number of goals scored in a match will be higher (over) or lower (under) than a set line.
- Point Spread
- A handicap given to the favorite team to level the playing field, requiring them to win by a certain margin for the bet to pay out.
- Single Bet
- A straightforward wager on one outcome, with the return based solely on that selection.
- Value Bet
- A bet where the odds offered are higher than the true probability of the outcome, suggesting a potential edge.