Over Under Bets

An over or under bet is similar to the general total bet, with a slight variation. When placing a total bet, sports bettors are betting on the exact outcome of the points that will be scored in the game. Total bets are placed on the predicted number of points that will be achieved when the scores of both teams are added together.

Over-under bets, or over-under total bets, are also placed on the potential number of points that will be scored by both the sports teams added together. However, the bettor bets on whether the total points will be over the number that the bookmaker predicts, or under the number that the bookmaker predicts.

When this kind of bet is made, the bettor is not concerned with which specific team will win, but rather how both teams will do combined, and the final total score of both sports teams together.

The oddsmaker is the one that decides what point value to assign, and players need to understand that the oddsmaker is an expert that takes all the possible game factors into account when choosing the final total. The point total that is decided by the oddsmaker is carefully considered in order to ensure, as far as possible, that the book will not lose too much money.

Ideally for the sportsbook manager, they would work towards trying to have an even number of bets on each side of the chosen point value for the over-under bets. A number of quantitative statistics are used when setting the point value for the over-under bet, such as the average points scored in past games and win-loss records.

Example over under bet

Cleveland Browns
Pittsburgh Steelers

The total on the game is 37 & 1/2 at BetUS for this week’s game.

This means you can bet the Over which means you think the total number of points scored between both teams will Total above 37 & 1/2 points. If you bet the under, you are betting that the total number of points will be less than the money line.

Common Terminology

Taking the over – means you are betting on the over or over the total.
Taking the under – means you are betting that the score of the game will be under the total line.

Over Under bets can be teased down or up. Over unders can also be included in Parlay bets.