patrick-mahomes-kansas-city-chiefs
Imagn Images

It's been years in the making, but with online sports betting now legal and set to launch in Missouri on December 1. With 10 online sportsbooks expected to go live that day, now is the time to become familiar with some of the most common phrases around Missouri sports betting. Terms such as spread, money line, over/under, bonus bets and profit boosts are in the everyday vocabulary for those making sports bets around the nation. You'll want to know each of these terms and how to use them to your advantage before the December 1 launch date, and with pre-registration beginning on November 17.

Missouri sports betting promos during pre-registration

Missouri sports bettors cannot officially place bets until December 1, but the pre-registration process begins on Monday, November 17. Missouri residents can download various sportsbook apps, create accounts and make initial deposits. 

Here are some sports betting terms you'll want to become familiar with:

Bet and Get

"Bet and Get" is a popular first-time deposit promotion where a new user deposits and bets a certain amount of money and receives bonus bets. Sportsbooks will sometimes only give the bonus based on the wager's result.

No Sweat Bet

A "No Sweat Bet" often comes with a sportsbook allowing new users to make a larger first-time sports bet with the safety net of getting bonus bets if it loses. For example, if your first bet is for $100 on the Chiefs to win and they lose, you could receive $100 back in bonus bets. If you wagered $10 and the Chiefs lost, you'd receive $10 back.

Profit boosts

Profit boosts are one of the most popular promotions given on a daily or weekly basis at nearly every sportsbook. They can be found in the rewards tab at specific betting apps, or often displayed at the top of the home page. A profit boost increases the payout of your wager. For example, if you wager $11 on Missouri to cover a spread at -110 odds, you would profit $10. However, if there was a 30% profit boost attached to that specific wager, now your $10 profit becomes $13. Profit boost tokens are often given with parlays and same-game parlays.

Bonus Bets

"Bonus bets" differ from cash because they can not be withdrawn. Also, if you win a bet with a bonus bet, you do not receive the stake in payment. For example, if you had a $5 bonus bet on the Chiefs to win at +100 odds and they won, you would receive $5 in cash that could be withdrawn or used for future sports bets as cash. Bonus bets are nice because you are not risking your own money, however, you do not get that stake back, which is important to note.

Money line

Betting the money line is simply making sports bets on which team you think will win the game. For a team like the Chiefs, who are often the favorites, you may see them as a -200 favorite, which means you would need to risk $200 to win $100. But they simply need to win the game for you to win your sports bet. Underdogs often come at plus-money odds. For example, if Missouri State is a +250 underdog, a $100 bet wins $250.

Spread

A spread is a way to even the odds between a favorite and an underdog. For a favorite, a team must win by more than the spread for the sports bets to win, and for an underdog, the team needs to either win the game or lose by fewer than the point spread to win the bet. For example, if the Chiefs are listed at -7.5 and you bet the spread, that means they are the favorite and the Chiefs would need to win by at least eight points to win the bet. If the Chiefs are listed at +3.5, they are the underdog and would win the bet if they lose by 1, 2, or 3 points, or if they win the game outright. These typically come at -110 odds, so it is closer to a 50/50 chance than betting the money line for a sports bet.

Over/Under

The over/under is the amount of points, runs, or goals that will be scored in a contest. If the St. Louis Blues vs. New York Rangers game has an over/under of 5.5, they'd need to combine for six goals for the Over to hit. If they combine for five goals or fewer, the Under wins. The same concept goes for Kansas City Royals games for runs scored in baseball, or Kansas City Chiefs or Missouri Tigers football or basketball games for total points.

Props

Props bets can be made on a game or a specific player. Some popular team or game props revolve around a specific team's over/under point total. For example, if the Chiefs have a team total of 23.5 points, they would need to score 24 points for the Over to cash. Player props are very popular bets as well, especially around star players. The Chiefs have two of the biggest stars in sports in Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, and you could wager on Mahomes' passing yards or Kelce's receiving yards totals. Props also have alternative odds, where if you expect a player to go well beyond their over/under, you could increase your payout significantly by exploring those options.

Parlays

A parlay is a combination of multiple bets into a single wager to increase your parlay. Every leg of the parlay needs to win for the bet to cash, which makes it more difficult, but also generates a larger payout if you win. Missouri sports bettors could parlay teams such as the Chiefs, Blues and Missouri basketball program to win all on the same day or same weekend with a single wager. 

Same-Game Parlays

A same-game parlay is the same concept as a traditional parlay, however, all of your legs come from a singular game. This can be especially popular in football, allowing users to create a narrative about a game's outcome. For example, you could wager the Chiefs to win, Patrick Mahomes to throw 3+ touchdowns and Travis Kelce to catch a touchdown in one same-game parlay bet.

SGP+ or SGPx

These allow users to create a single-game same-game parlay and combine it with either another single bet or a same-game parlay from another contest to make your payout even larger. For these wagers, users can build a same-game parlay of the Blues to win with Over 5.5 goals, with a singular bet of Rashee Rice to score an anytime touchdown to build a SGP+ from two games in one sports bet.