What is Futures Betting

A bet that is popular among competitive gamblers and the average fan alike is the futures bet. A futures bet is simply taking a stab at who will win a particular event. You can bet on who will win the Masters, or the Super Bowl, or the NCAA basketball championship, or just about any significant sporting event you can imagine.

Sportsbooks set these lines well before the event, or before the sport’s season begins, and the futures odds are updated regularly to reflect roster changes or any other factors that might have an impact on the team/player.

Futures bets are popular because fans/bettors like to have bragging rights. Telling friends you bet on the Las Vegas Raiders to win Super Bowl 55 in August after they went 5-11 the previous season would make you look smarter than the average bettor if they can pull it off. Which leads to another reason the futures bet is popular. If you take a chance, you can win some big money.

The odds to win the World Series would look something like below (though it would include all 30 teams): 

New York Yankees      +300

L.A. Dodgers          +300   

Houston Astros      +900

Minnesota Twins    +1500

New York Mets    +1700

Atlanta Braves        +1700

These futures odds have the Yankees and Dodgers as the co-favorites to win the championship. But if you believe in February that the Braves have had a strong offseason and you expect them to put it all together and be a force in October, you can lay down your money and get a 17-to-1 payout. 

And if the odds drop to +900 by August, your +1700 odds are locked in and you can tell your friends you were on that bandwagon months ago. If you happen to think the Detroit Tigers (+100000) can come out of nowhere and win the Series, then you really have a story to tell (and $1000 for every dollar you put up).

Another reason futures betting is so popular is that it draws in the average fan. If you are a fan of, say, the St, Louis Cardinals, why not drop 50 bucks on them at +2800 to win the World Series? If they get to the Series and you have money riding on them from a small bet you made in April, you’ll be even more ecstatic if they win. And you’ll be $1,400 richer.