ACCOUNTANT: Bookmaker.

ACROSS THE BOARD: Taking one team in all of your bets or taking every team available.

ACTION: A bet or wager of any kind is deemed Action if valid. In baseball, action means the bet is live even if there is a pitching change. For an If Bet, action means the wager continues on to the subsequent component if the precedent bet is a win, tie, and no action or if the game is cancelled.

AGAINST THE SPREAD (ATS): One of two ways of betting sides. Points are subtracted from the favorite or added to the underdog when the actual game is finished. The new score is then used to determine the outcome for wagering purposes. More specifically, ATS is when a wager is placed on the underdog, thus taking the points rather than taking the favorite and giving up, or laying, points.

ANGLE: Using information from specific situations in past games in order to predict the outcome of future games.

ARBITRAGE: Hedging a wager on one team by taking advantage of an offsetting line on the other team at another book. This leaves the bettor with a low but usually no-risk payout on the game.

BACK DOOR COVER: When a team usually out of the game scores meaningless points to cover the spread; a matador.

BALANCED (ACTION): When the amount of wagers on both sides of an event is even and a bookie does not have to move lines, he can just collect the juice.

BANKROLL: The funds you have available for wagering.

BETTOR: Someone who places or has a bet. A 'Punter' in the UK.

BOARD: List of available bets.

BOOK: A person or company that accepts wagers.

BOOKIE: The person who takes the bets from clients.

BOOKMAKER: A person or company that accepts bets against the lines created by linesmakers or oddsmakers; a book.

BUCK: $100

BUY (POINTS): A player pays an additional price to receive half a point or more in his favor on a pointspread game.

CHALK: The favorite to win the event.

CHALK PLAYER: Someone who usually only plays the favored team, rarely betting on the underdogs.

CHERRY PICK: Wagering only on games where a big edge is perceived on the part of the bettor.

CIRCLED GAME: A game with lower than usual betting limits; usually due to injury, inclement weather conditions, or other uncertainty that creates atypical predictive circumstances.

CLOSING LINE: The final list of point spreads offered before game time.

COVER: To win a Pointspread wager by the requisite number of points. To do so is ‘to cover.’

DIME: $1000

DIME LINE: A 10-cent line offered by player-friendly books on baseball in place of the otherwise standard 20-cent line, giving the player an extra $10 on every underdog winning wager.

DIVIDEND: The agreed payout or return on any wager.

DOG: Underdog. The team not favored to win straight up. You will know the underdog as it will have a positive sign or no sign at all in front of the odds given for that team.

DOG PLAYER: One who bets mostly on dogs.

DOLLAR: $100

DOUBLE OR NOTHING: An even-money bet; a bet that pays off exactly the amount wagered.

EARLY LINE: The first line posted for a game.

EDGE: An advantage, real or perceived, when it comes to a wager.

EVEN MONEY: A wager that is dollar for dollar, with no juice or vigorish.

EXOTIC: Any wager other than a straight bet or, arguably, parlays. Exotics include Round Robins, Propositions and Teasers, among others.

EXPOSURE: The maximum amount of money a sportsbook stands to lose on a game.

FADE: To bet against.

FAVORITE: The team expected to win. The attached odds show the level of expectation.

FIFTY CENTS: $50

FRONT RUNNER: One who follows betting lines on a computer, betting in the same direction of line moves. If a he bets quickly, he can get the better number at a slow sportsbook.

FUTURES: Bets placed, or odds posted, on the outcome of a future event. Futures are usually on major events such as the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup or Kentucky Derby. In return for the chance of better odds, punters risk the fact that stakes are not returned if their selection pulls out or is cancelled.

GAMBLE: To risk something, usually money, on the outcome of a game.

GETTING DOWN: Making a wager or bet. 

HALF-A-DOLLAR: $50

HANDICAP: PointSpread.

HANDICAPPER: One who studies, rates and often wagers on sporting events and/or races, often selling their expertise.

HANDICAPPING: Predicting the outcome of an event/contest.

HEDGE: Placing wagers on both sides of an event in order to arbitrage, which is to cut losses or guarantee winning at least a minimal amount of money on the event.

HOLD: The percentage the house wins.

HOOK: A half point in a Pointspread.

HOUSE: See BOOK.

IF BET: A selection of straight wagers on the same ticket where each leg of the wager is conditional on the outcome of the previous play on the ticket.

IN & OUT TEASER: In and Out Teaser (See also "Teaser" below) - An "in and out teaser" is when the player picks the favorite, underdog, over and under of the same game. For example: Washington +3 1/2, Philly -3 1/2. An in and out teaser would have a player take both Washington and Philly, and tease both, to increase the odds of winning the wager. So, if you teased both teams by 7 points, you would have: Washington +10 1/2, Philly +3 1/2. So long as the spread is covered, your wager will be a win.

INDEX BETTING: Spread betting.

IN THE RED: Odds on.

JUICE: The commission, or vigorish, earned by the bookie on losing wagers.

KEY NUMBERS: Numbers that arise often in sports and affect wagering outcomes more than most other numbers, such as a 3 in football because almost 20% of all NFL games end with a 3-point differential.

LAYING ODDS: “Laying Odds” means that you are wagering more money than you will win if your wager comes through. In such an instance a bettor believes himself to have a better than 50% chance of winning his bet.

LAYING POINTS: Betting on the Pointspread favorite by giving up points.

LAYING THE PRICE: Laying Odds.

LENGTHEN: The opposite of 'Shorten'. Referred to odds getting longer, that is, more attractive to the bettor.

LIMIT: The maximum amount a bookmaker will allow you to bet before he changes the odds and/or the points.

LINE: The odds or point spread on a particular event for wagering purposes.

LINEMAKER: One who establishes the odds on an event.

LINE QUALITY: A line may be normal, circled or sharp. A line would be circled due to injuries, weather or any other factor that causes the bookmaker to think the line may move drastically. Circled lines or circled games have restrictions on the maximum bet that will be accepted. A line would be sharp if the bookmaker expects the line to remain unchanged and there to be lots of wagering on that event. Sharp lines or sharp games have higher betting limits.

LOCK: What seems like a guaranteed winner.

LONG ODDS: Longshot, usually 10:1 odds or greater.

LONGSHOT: A team or horse perceived to be unlikely to win.

MARGIN: The amount a competitor in an event finishes in front of another competitor.

MATADOR: See BACK DOOR COVER.

MIDDLE: To win both sides of the same betting proposition; betting the favorite team at -1.5 with one bookmaker and then taking +3.5 with another bookmaker; the game ends up with the favorite winning by exactly 3 points, you have then "middled the game"; a favorite betting method of "Wise Guys".

MIDDLER: A player that bets both sides of the game.

MONEY LINE: Odds expressed in terms of money. With money odds, whenever there is a minus (-), you must lay that amount to win $100, where there is a plus (+), you get that amount for every $100 wagered.

MOVE THE LINE: See BUY (POINTS).

NICKEL: $500

NICKEL LINE: Wagering line where the juice is 5%.

NO ACTION: A wager where no money is won or lost.

ODDS: The chance, according to a bookmaker, of an outcome occurring.

ODDSMAKER: A person who sets the betting odds and sells them to media outlets without taking action on them.

OFFSHORE: Book that is located or based in a foreign country and not subject to tax or other laws that would normally affect a business and that do almost all of their business via the internet.

OFF THE BOARD: Game or event on which the book will accept no action.

OFFSIDE: When action on an event is not balanced and the outcome could lead to a loss for the book.

ONE DOLLAR: $100

OPENING LINE: The earliest line posted for a particular sporting event.

OVERLAY: When the odds on a proposition are in favor of the bettor rather than the house.

OVER/UNDER: (Also, TOTAL) A bet on whether the total points or goals scored by the two teams will be over or under a specified number.

PARLAY: A sport bet with two or more teams in which all teams must win or cover for the bettor to be successful and receive higher paylay. Or a wager on two or more horse races in which the winnings are carried over to the next race.

PICK, PICK ‘EM or PK: An event where there is no favorite. Evenly matched teams. The money line for a pick is usually not shown and is always set at the standard line for the book for that sport.

PLAYER: Bettor, punter or gambler.

POINT SPREAD: The handicap - points given to an underdog or taken away from a favorite - in order to balance perceived inequalities between the underdog and the favorite. It evens the odds of winning the event once the spread is taken into account in the final score.

PROPOSITION (PROP) BET: a special line offered by the sports book on unique and various topics. These wagers can be on sporting events, politics, pregnancies, pretty much anything, really. The wagers use the money line format of pay off odds and might included who scores the first touchdown in the super bowl, who will win the next presidential election, or who will Jennifer Aniston marry next.

PUPPY: Underdog.

PUNTER: Bettor, player or gambler.

PUSH: For wagering purposes, a tie for whatever reason.

RETURN: Total winnings on a bet.

RUN LINE: A combination Pointspread and Moneyline in baseball.

SCRATCH: Withdraw; cancel.

SHARP: Wise guy; professional gambler.

SHORTEN: The opposite of 'Lengthen'. Referred to odds getting shorter, that is, less attractive to the bettor.

SIDE: To win one side and tie the other. For example, if you lay -2 1/2 and take 3 on the same game and the favorite wins by 3 you have SIDED the book.

SIDES: The names of the two teams playing; the underdog and the favorite.

SINGLE: A Straight bet on one selection to win one race or event, also known as a straight-up bet.

SINGLE ACTION: An "if bet" in sports gambling that is processed only if the precedent bet wins.

SPORTSBOOK: The person, shop or website who accepts bets.

STANDARD LINE: The line at which a money line, attached or otherwise, is set and is presumed to be at if not shown for a game or a spread. Some books have a 20-cent standard line while some player-friendly books, for some sports, offer a dime line as the standard.

STORE: A bookie or sportsbook.

STRAIGHT BET: one wager on the outcome of a single event or game as determined by a known set of odds.

SYSTEM: A method of betting, usually mathematically based, used by a bettor to try to get an advantage by looking for trends from past games in order to more accurately predict the outcome of future games.

TAKING (POINTS): Betting on the underdog and taking the odds or points.

TEASER: A bet involving two or more outcomes in a single wager wherein you adjust the Point spread in your favor in return for reduced odds.

10-CENT LINE: See DIME LINE.

TOTAL(S): Total combined point/runs/goals scored in a game.  In baseball, if either of the two listed starting pitchers does not go, the bet is automatically cancelled. A bet on whether the total points or goals scored by the two teams will be over or under a specified number.

TOUT: One who sells their claimed expertise in sports or horse wagers.

TRENDS: Using the past to predict the future focusing in on only one team.

TRUE ODDS: The real odds of something happening as opposed to what bookies offer.

UNDER: A sports bet in which the bettor guesses that the total points scored by two teams will be under a certain figure.

UNDERDOG: The team perceived to be most likely to lose. Also known as the “DOG.” The team that receives a point start in a handicap.

UNDERLAY: When the odds on a proposition are in favor of the house.

VALUE:  Getting the best odds on a betting proposition; the highest possible edge.  An Overlay.

VIGORISH: See JUICE.

WAGER: To risk something on the outcome of an event.

WISE GUY: A well-informed or knowledgeable handicapper or bettor.

WOOD: Laying points.