When you place a bet on sports, you’re putting money behind an outcome of your choice. If you’re betting on the winner of a game, that’s called a moneyline bet. If you’re predicting how many points a team will win or lose by, those are spread bets. You can also place multiple bets in one, known as a parlay. Regardless of how you place your bets, you should always make sure you’re placing them with money you can afford to lose. This is called bankroll management and it’s a key factor in successful sports betting.

A good rule of thumb is to only wager a certain percentage of your overall bankroll on each game. For example, if you have a bankroll of $1,000, you might want to bet 1%-5% of that on each individual game. That’s because most people lose more than they win, and it’s best to only risk what you can afford to lose.

Sports betting is a multi-billion industry, and while more people bet on sports than ever before, most bettors still lose. But if you’re smart and do your homework, you can be among the few who come out on top. To start, you’ll need to know how to read odds and the different ways to bet on sports. In addition, you should understand the importance of managing your bankroll and do your research.

Oddsmakers are in charge of setting the lines for a particular event and they’re constantly changing them based on new information they receive. They may change the line for a specific team based on the current state of their injury reports or if they think a big bet is coming in on one side of the board and need to shift the line to balance things out.

Another reason why lines can change is because of how long a game lasts. For example, NFL games last nine innings while NHL and college hockey games are played in four quarters or three periods. This will influence how far a line moves because if a team starts to score late in the fourth quarter, the line will move toward the over.

Pro bettors spend countless hours watching and studying the game film, scouting each team for strengths, weaknesses, tendencies and coaching styles. They’re also reading local team beat reporters and looking for any other piece of relevant information that could help them gain an edge over their opponents.