Sports betting is a popular pastime for many people. It offers a chance for fans to wager money on the outcome of a game, using their knowledge of the team and players to boost their winnings. Most bettors, however, aren’t professional gamblers, and making a profit isn’t easy.
Those who make their living betting on sports are known as sharps, and they can maintain profitability with diligent research and disciplined bankroll management. But even the best handicappers know that there are no guarantees in this business, and they are likely to suffer losses at some point.
One way to mitigate your losses is to place a futures bet, which is a wager that will be decided at some time in the future. The odds of a futures bet are often higher than those for a straight bet, and the potential payouts are much greater. These bets can be fun and rewarding, but they are not meant to replace a well-rounded betting strategy that takes into account the current and past performance of teams, player injuries, matchups, and other factors.
A common mistake that bettors make is to ignore the importance of context in a sports bet. For example, if you see a plus sign (+) before a team’s odds, that indicates they are the underdog and have a positive expected value. Our brains have been conditioned to think of “plus” as being good and “minus” as bad, but the sports betting world has it the other way around.