Knowledge Base
Glossary
Plain-English definitions for the terminology used across Football Compass.
- American Odds
- A format using positive or negative numbers to show how much you win on a $100 bet or how much you need to stake to win $100.
- Arbitrage
- A method that exploits differences in odds across bookmakers to guarantee a profit regardless of the outcome.
- Asian Handicap
- A handicap that splits the bet across two lines, removing the draw option and reducing the number of possible outcomes.
- Bankroll
- The total amount of money you have set aside for placing bets.
- Both Teams To Score
- A market where you bet on whether each team will manage to score at least one goal during the match.
- Cash Out
- A feature that lets you settle a bet early, locking in a profit or minimizing a loss before the event ends.
- Correct Score
- A bet that requires you to predict the exact final score of a match.
- Decimal Odds
- A format where the odds include your stake; multiply your stake by the decimal to calculate total returns.
- Double Chance
- A bet that covers two of the three possible match outcomes (e.g., home win or draw).
- Expected Value
- The average amount you can expect to win or lose per bet if you repeat the same wager many times.
- First Goal Scorer
- A wager on which player will score the first goal in the game.
- Fractional Odds
- A format showing the profit relative to the stake, expressed as a fraction (e.g., 5/1 means five times the stake in profit).
- Half-Time/Full-Time
- A combined bet that asks you to predict the result at both half‑time and at the end of the match.
- Line
- The set of odds or handicap values offered for a particular betting market.
- Live Betting
- Placing a wager on a match while it is being played, with odds that update as the game unfolds.
- Margin
- The bookmaker’s built‑in profit margin, usually expressed as a percentage over the true odds.
- Market
- A specific betting option or event you can place a wager on, such as “match result” or “total goals”.
- Moneyline
- A bet on which team will win the match, with odds that reflect only the win/draw outcome.
- Odds
- A number that indicates how much you can win relative to your stake, and the implied probability of an outcome.
- Over/Under
- A wager on whether the total number of goals in a match will be higher or lower than a set figure.
- Parlay
- A single bet that combines two or more selections; all must win for the bet to pay out.
- Point Spread
- A handicap applied to a team to make the betting more even, expressed as a number of goals or points.
- Stake
- The amount of money you risk on a bet.
- Value Bet
- A bet where the odds offered are higher than the true probability suggests, giving you a potential long‑term edge.
- Vigorish
- The commission or cut that a bookmaker takes on a bet, usually built into the odds.