Official betting is the term used to describe bets placed on games that are deemed “official” by a sportsbook. Most of these bets require the game to reach a certain point or finish, for example, one pitch thrown for pitchers and one plate appearance for position players. If the game does not meet these criteria, the bet will have no action and will result in a refund for the bettor.

In addition to placing bets on an entire match, players can also place player props, which are individual-specific wagers based on performance. These bets are typically capped at a set amount of money, or in some cases may have no limits at all. The odds on these bets are determined by the sportsbook’s return rate and are a function of the amount of money wagered on the particular outcome.

Professional gambler Joseph Sullivan paid eight members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox team (Oscar Felsch, Arnold Gandil, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Fred McMullin, Charles Risberg, George Weaver, and Claude Williams) around 10,000 dollars each to fix the World Series, one of the biggest sporting scandals in history. The players involved were banned from baseball for life.

Nevada has long been the most popular US state for legal sports betting, with retail and online bookmakers like William Hill and MGM Resorts International operating multiple sportsbooks in Las Vegas. But other states are quickly catching up. Colorado and New Hampshire both approved legal sports gambling in 2019 and rolled out their first books in 2021. Colorado’s online sportsbooks are tethered to casinos and offer a minimum of four and up to 12 sportsbooks. New Hampshire’s online sportsbooks are available through DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetRivers.