An over/under bet is a wager in sports betting in which a bookmaker or a sportsbook sets a line for the number of goals or points that could be scored throughout the entire duration of the game and punters have to take a pick on whether the game will see more points/goals scored or less.
It is a very attractive prospect in sports betting to bet on the over/under points or goals total of a game and many punters believe there is more value to be found in these type of bets. It has found favour with punters over time because often punters will not find the match odds attractive and will instead prefer to bet on the total amount of points won or goals scored.
Overs/Unders betting has gained popularity over the last few years and is currently one of the most popular bets for events in sports such as soccer, tennis and especially college basketball in the United States.
Usually when two teams are set to face off in a match, bookmakers intensively research both teams, their history, team shape, previous results for the same fixture and a truckload of other factors before they come up with the odds for the game.
In soccer for example the most common bet is over or under 2.5 goals to be scored in a match. Punters new to these bets may find the point 5 confusing as you can’t have half a goal but it’s actually there to make it clear whether the bet has won or not.
So if you’ve bet on over 2.5 goals and there are 3 goals it’s clear that you’ve won. This opposed to betting on over 2 goals and there being 2 goals scored could leave some punters possibly confused as to whether they won or not.
Overs/Unders point totals are usually released at the same time for the combined score of the fixture. Once the total is out, the onus is on a punter to decide whether the total amount of points scored, goals in case of soccer, would be more or less than the total predicted by the bookmaker. The punter who bets on the right side at the end of the day would get paid, as simple as that.
Nowadays you can also make Over/Under type bets in play with most bookmakers and exchanges.