Futures betting involves placing a bet on the outcome of an event that will be determined at a later date. The “future” in this sense is relative – it could be in a few days or weeks or months from the moment that the wager is placed. In this regard, futures bets are opposites of single-game wagers that are decided on the same day that the event takes place. Once you understand the ins and outs of futures betting, you could use this wager type to get big wins. To learn more, keep reading.
Futures Betting in Sports
The most popular avenue for placing futures bets are sports. There are countless ways in which you can place wagers on future events – for example betting on who will win the Super Bowl at the start of the season, who will win the NBA championship, the English Premier League, who will be the MVP of a particular team at the end of the season, etc.
There are several reasons why futures bets are so popular in sports:
- It takes a long time to determine whether the player will win a futures bet, making the betting experience enjoyable for a longer time
- Futures bets can be incredibly lucrative, especially if you’re betting against the odds – and you end up winning
- Punters can hedge their bets, meaning that they can bet on different outcomes than the original futures bet if it becomes obvious that it will be close to be a winning bet – so that they can get guaranteed profits in the end
- There are some online sportsbooks that give players free bets – so players can make futures bets without having to pay for it
There are lots of other benefits of making futures bets in sports and you can experience many of them by making such a bet yourself.
How to Make a Futures Bet
It’s usually very easy to make a futures bet at an online sportsbook of your choice. The first thing that you need to do is create an account and make a deposit at the platform. You can then check if there’s a dedicated section for futures bets at the site. Many sportsbooks have this section, so you can easily see all futures bets that you can make regarding various sports events.
However, there are many sportsbooks that don’t have one such dedicated futures bet section. Instead, they’ve opted for the option of giving the players the chance to select a sport to bet on first, and then seeing the list of available future bets for that particular sport. You can then choose which of the available futures bets to take on.
That being said, it’s always important to compare the offers of futures bets at several different sportsbooks. The reason for this is that the odds of futures bets tend to vary between different sportsbooks. Even a slight variation in the odds can result in a big difference for the winning punter at the end.
Hedging the Futures Bet
As mentioned before, one of the biggest benefits of futures bets is that you can hedge them. Of course, to hedge a bet, a certain condition must be met first – the futures bet must be close to winning. Let’s take a hypothetical example of a futures bet on Arsenal F.C. to win the European Champions League. If Arsenal reaches the final, then your futures bet will be close to hitting. But if the other team that has reached the final (say Real Madrid C.F.) wins, then the futures bet goes bust.
This is why it’s advisable, in such a scenario, that the punter wagers a bet that directly conflicts the futures bet – or that Real Madrid will win the final. This way, if Arsenal wins, the player wins the futures bet and gets a handsome payout. If Real Madrid wins, then the player will still get a payout due to the hedge-bet. This way, profits are guaranteed.
Winning Money with Futures Bets
Despite their major advantages, futures bets also have some drawbacks, as well. Some players aren’t comfortable with tying their bets for a long time. Also, bookies have it easier when setting the odds in their favor. That being said, a select group of punters will be invariably drawn to making futures bets, as the payouts can be astounding. Feel free to use free futures bets if such bonuses are available at online sportsbooks – and test your luck. We hope that you’ll get a big payout on your very first futures bet.
