Outright betting - Explanation & Examples

The most common bets in sports betting are on event winners, such as predicting the match winner or the total points scored in a match, as well as various spread markets for an event. However, before all the sports events and possible markets gained popularity in the betting industry, people primarily bet on outright winners or who would emerge victorious in the entire competition. Most of the US bookies are using the term Futures for outright betting. Most commonly, these types of competitions involved different races, with horse races eventually becoming the most popular among them.

Short outrights

Even though a horse race is just a single event or race, placing a bet on the winner of the event can be considered outright, even though it is a relatively simple event. We may categorize it as a short outright. The same applies to a Formula 1 race during the weekend.

Mid Length Outrights

A mid-length outright could be a tennis tournament, involving betting on the winner of the entire competition.

As of the time of writing this article, the Australian Open is underway, and this can also be considered a short outright, as you don't have to wait for the entire season to conclude to obtain the results.

Long outrights

When we talk about outrights, most bettors will likely associate it with the league winner bet. These are long outright bets that are updated as the league progresses throughout the season. For instance, an example would be predicting the winner of the Premier League for the 2024/25 season, which may be available in the betting market several months before the league commences. In some cases, bettors can even place bets for multiple seasons in advance.

In Play outrights

With the Australian Open tournament currently underway, you can still place bets on the potential winner of the tournament. As some matches are currently being played, the odds don't close but are updated as soon as they are influenced by the results of the ongoing matches. This would be considered a form of in-play betting.

Betting advice

Instead of placing a bet on outrights and waiting for the season to finish, we would recommend using them in a slightly different manner. Particularly, if you possess valuable information, such as the absence of a key player from a specific team due to injury for the entire season, you might anticipate that the team's performance will be negatively affected without the player.

Some soft bookmakers tend to have a delay in adjusting odds and not considering the information above compared to sharp bookmakers. You can indeed target value bets offered through outrights and use them for cashouts as soon as the odds are adjusted. However, be cautious of limitations and potential bans, so choose your stakes and methods wisely.