Josh Appelbaum

Confirmation bias means seeking out information that fits your already held opinion. In other words, bettors are looking for information that tells them what they want to hear. Once they find it, they end the search for more data. This is dangerous because it causes bettors to talk themselves into or out of a bet based on cherry-picked information that may not tell the whole story._x000D_ _x000D_

In Sports Betting, trends are one of the most common go-to sources of information when determining who to bet on, especially for new or casual bettors. They give bettors a brief and easily digestible breakdown of how both teams have been performing recently. By comparing both team's head-to-head trends and looking for situations where one team's trend lines up nicely against the opponent, it increases the confidence level of bettors to pull the trigger and make a pick.

Once new bettors have abandoned their long-held allegiances and learned the pitfalls of betting like a fan, the next step is to block out media hype and bias. This means ignoring the noise and not falling into the trap of betting games based solely on the opinions of sports talking heads. _x000D_

​According to a UNLV Center for Gaming Research study, more than $81 billion was bet on sports in Nevada from 1984 to 2018. Of that $81 billion, Nevada won $3.9 billion. Why does Vegas win so much money? Sure, they set set very accurate and hard to beat lines and of course capitalize on the luck and randomness of betting, but they also hold a built in advantage over bettors based on the rules of the game and overlooked fine print.

We've discussed the three most popular ways to bet on a game: The spread, the moneyline and the total. In this edition of VSiN Betting 101, it's time to discuss the final basic tenet of sports betting that all bettors must know. Consider it the elephant in the room._x000D_ _x000D_ I’m talking about the juice.

Betting on favorites and underdogs to win or cover the spread isn't the only way to bet on a game. In addition to setting the line for favorites and underdogs, oddsmakers also set a line on the cumulative amount of points, goals or runs scored in the game by both teams combined. This is called the total, which is more popularly referred to as the “over/under” or simply the “O/U.” _x000D_ _x000D_