Betting Glossary
This is the plain-English reference for the words you’ll meet on a bet slip, in a tipster’s post or in a market name you didn’t recognise. Each term gets one straight line — no padding — and where there’s a full guide on the topic, it’s linked so you can go deeper. Skim it once and the rest of betting stops sounding like a foreign language.
The A–Z of betting terms
Accumulator (acca) — Several selections combined into one bet, where every leg must win and the odds multiply. Big payouts, long odds against you — the accumulators guide shows the maths.
Ante-post — A bet placed well before an event, often for a longer price, with the risk that your selection withdraws before it runs.
Asian handicap — A handicap that removes the draw, splitting a fixture into two outcomes. Covered in the handicap betting guide.
Banker — The selection in a multi-bet you’re most confident about, often used as the anchor leg or as the fixed pick in a system bet.
Cash out — Settling a bet early for a value the bookmaker offers before the event ends, locking in a partial win or cutting a loss.
Decimal odds — The South African standard format, where the price already includes your stake. Odds of 3.50 turn R100 into R350. See how odds work.
Double — An accumulator with exactly two legs; a treble has three.
Each-way — One bet split in two: half on the win, half on the place. Common in horse racing and golf, where finishing near the top still pays.
Edge — Any genuine advantage you hold over the posted price, usually from knowing more about a market than the line reflects.
Even money — Odds of 2.00: win and you double your stake. Often written as “evens”.
Fixed odds — A price locked the moment you bet, so your return is set regardless of how the market moves afterward.
Handicap — A virtual head start or deficit applied to level a mismatch. The full market is in the handicap betting guide.
Implied probability — The chance an outcome the odds represent: 1 divided by the decimal price. Odds of 2.00 imply 50%. Comparing it to your own read is how you find value.
In-play (live betting) — Betting on an event while it’s happening, with odds that move in real time as the action unfolds.
Margin (overround) — The bookmaker’s built-in edge, the reason the implied probabilities of a market add up to more than 100%. This is how the house wins long-term — the single most important word here.
Nap — A tipster’s single most-confident selection of the day.
Odds — The price of an outcome, expressing both the payout and the implied chance.
Outright — A bet on the overall winner of a competition rather than a single match, usually taken early for a bigger price.
Over/under (totals) — A bet on the combined score against a set line, with no need to pick a winner. See over/under betting.
Place — A finish high enough to pay out on an each-way bet, even without winning.
Price — Another word for the odds on a selection.
Push — A result that lands exactly on a whole-number line, returning your stake with no win or loss.
Single — A bet on one selection only — the simplest bet there is and the best place to start.
Stake — The amount of money you put on a bet.
System bet — A structured multi-bet that covers several combinations, so you can still win even if one leg loses.
Tote (pari-mutuel) — A pool system, common in racing, where all stakes go into a pool and the odds are set by how the money is split rather than fixed in advance.
Value — A bet where the odds offered are bigger than the true chance of the outcome. Finding value, not picking winners, is what beats the margin over time.
Void — A bet that can’t be settled — a postponed match, a withdrawn player — with the stake returned.
How to actually use this
Two terms here are worth more than the rest: margin explains why the house wins, and value explains the only way you fight back. Everything else is mechanics. Once you can read a price as an implied probability and spot when it’s generous, the market names stop mattering and the maths starts. All of these markets are live at Scorebet — and the deep guides above take any one of them as far as you want to go.
Frequently asked
What is the most important betting term for a beginner to know?
Margin — the bookmaker's built-in edge baked into every price. Once you understand that the odds are shaded in the house's favour, every other term makes more sense, because it tells you why winning long-term is hard.
What does push or void mean in betting?
Both mean your stake is returned with no win or loss. A push happens when a result lands exactly on a whole-number line; a void happens when a bet can't be settled, such as a postponed match or a withdrawn player.
What is implied probability?
It's the chance of an outcome that the odds represent, found by dividing 1 by the decimal price. Odds of 2.00 imply a 50% chance; comparing that to your own estimate is how you spot value.
What does the term steam or a steamer mean?
A steamer is a selection whose price is shortening fast across the market as a lot of money piles in, often sharp money reacting to news. 'Steam' is that rapid move itself. It matters because by the time you spot a steamer the value has usually already gone — the price has moved to reflect what the smart money knows.
What is the vig or juice in betting?
Vig, short for vigorish, and juice are slang for the same thing as the margin or overround — the bookmaker's built-in cut on a market. They're American terms you'll see in betting talk; a market with low vig is one where the book's edge is thin and the prices are closer to fair.