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== Selecting This article outlines the criteria that bettors should consider when choosing an online betting site. Each sportsbook yields different advantages and disadvantages that players should be aware of prior to making a deposit. This guide covers determining betting site ==availability, deposit methods, withdrawal time, and the type of lines.

Here Online gambling laws force betting sites to have restrictions on which countries or states they can accept customers from. Before a bettor can begin comparing betting sites it is recommended that they draft a concise list of steps all options available to take when choosing your first betting site:their region. A list of accepted countries and states should be available in the sportsbook's terms of service.

# Create a list of every betting site available in your country or state.# Research each site's reputation to ensure they are legitimate.# Check which sportsbooks offer your preferred deposit and withdrawal methods.# Determine if the betting site offers sharp or square lines. === Availability === Many online sportsbooks only accept customers from certain countries (or states). The first step to choosing a betting site is to draft a list of eligible options available in your region. Betting Wiki includes a table of available countries on each sportsbook's respective wiki page:. State-by-state restrictions will also be specified.

=== Reputation === After determining all betting sites available in your country it's time to verify each sportsbook's reputation. With plenty of options on the market players should not feel pressured to give their business to sites with a history of dishonest practices. A quick internet search should reveal any major incidents that have occurred in a sportsbook's past. Bettors should be aware that most betting site reviews do not highlight negative events in a bookmaker's history as their websites are partnered with the sportsbooks. As a result posts made on message boards and social media are often the best source of honest information. Betting Wiki aims to maintain a list of any concerning incidents on a sportsbook's respective wiki page.

Only use betting == Payments == Betting sites that have a clean reputationoffer customers different methods of depositing and withdrawing funds. Bettors can narrow down their list of potential sportsbooks based on their preferred payment methods. Researching the history Players should also be aware of a sportsbook will reveal any past incidents additional fees that have occurred. Betting Wiki aims might be charged to list any concerning events in the history section of process a sportsbook's respective wiki pagedeposit or withdrawal.

Each betting site offers customers different ways of Deposits through credit card are the most frequently used funding their accountsmethod among sports bettors. Most sportsbooks accept credit card deposits, while others Betting sites also offer convenient alternatives such as direct alternative options including bank transfers , cryptocurrencies, and cryptocurrencymoney orders. Before deciding on The majority of sportsbooks offer discrete deposits which means it will not show up as a betting site ensure that on your desired deposit method is offeredcredit card or bank statement. Bettors Before selecting a bookmaker players should also make themselves be aware of their available deposit methods, as well as if there are any limits or additional processing fees associated with that payment option.

Betting Wiki maintains an updated a table on with each sportsbookbetting site's deposit methods on their respective wiki page displaying offered deposit methods, minimum . This table also includes the limits and maximum limits, as well as processing feesassociated with each method.An example of which can be found below:

!colspan="6"|Example Sportsbook Deposit Methods (USD)

Before proceeding to make depositing into a deposit it is crucial that bettors are betting site players must be aware of a sportsbook's withdrawal policies. Verify Bettors should verify that your their preferred payout method is offered. Similar to the previous section it is also important to note , as well as the fees, processing time, and limits fees associated with each it. The most common withdrawal optionmethod is through check but many sportsbooks offer faster payout options through cryptocurrency or bank transfer. Similar to deposits most sportsbook withdrawals are discrete which means it will not be indicated that the funds are coming from a betting site when received.

Detailed information on Betting Wiki maintains a detailed summary of each sportsbook's withdrawal options will be made available policies on their respective wiki page. This includes payout methods, processing time, associated fees, and limits:

==Betting Markets = Sharp or Square = The things people bet on are called betting markets. Understanding how the market works and how each sportsbook handles them is necessary to generating long term profit. This section will provide a brief introduction to betting markets, the concepts of square and sharp lines, and how to evaluate how each prospective betting site views the market. === How markets originate === Contrary to popular belief betting lines and odds to not originate in Las Vegas. Offshore betting sites that take a large amount of wagers such as [[BetCRIS]] are the first to release [[opening line]]s. These lines are released with low initial [[limit]]s and adjusted based on early action. In general the majority of players who bet into early markets are sharper bettors who have identified an advantage. When a betting market is young it is at it's lowest expected efficiency. This means that the line available at the sportsbook is believed to have the largest deviation from a fair line (a theoretical line set with perfect information). Identifying these advantages and betting accordingly is the key to profitable sports betting. Opening lines are adjusted based on this early action. As they become more efficient limits are slowly raised. === Lines === As the lines originated by the large offshore betting sites settle other sportsbooks clone them. This includes casinos with physical locations in Las Vegas. Because these offshore betting sites have a significantly larger handle their lines yield the most accurate reflection of the current market. Some sportsbooks use exact mirrors of the lines, while others adjust them slightly based on the betting tendencies of their respective customers. This introduces the concept of sharp and square betting sites.

Let'Betting sites that offer lines that accurately reflect the current market are known as [[sharp sportsbook]]s look . These lines mirror the ones currently available at the large offshore betting sites that originated them. Sharp sportsbooks generally offer high betting limits and do not penalize winning bettors. When deciding whether or not to register an example match account at a sharp sportsbook its important to deduce how early their lines are posted. The earlier one can bet into a market the larger the expectancy for their potential advantage. Betting sites that wait for the offshore market to illustrate this conceptsettle before releasing their cloned lines inhibit their customers from having a chance at gaining that edge.  ==== Square sportsbooks ==== A [[moneylinesquare sportsbook]] adjusts the current market lines based on the betting habits of their respective customer base. These betting sites cater to beginner and recreational sports bettors. Because the majority of recreational bettors are more likely to be drawn to the same side of certain betting markets (such as a popular favorite) square bookmakers shade the line to make it less favorable to bet is a on. This puts customers who wager on which team will win that side anyways at an increased disadvantage relative to the matchwidely available market. The Baltimore Ravens  An example of this can be seen below. Although not absolute favorites and New England Patriots both have overs are generally the same odds preferred side of winning recreational bettors. Heading into the 2019-2020 college football National Championship game the LSU Tigers high powered offense seems unstoppable. A sharp betting site is offering LSU [[against the spread]] at -110. For those not familiar with 5 (-109), -215 [[American oddsmoneyline]]odds, this means a $110 risk would yield $100 profit for and a [[total return of $210 if that team were to win]] set at 66.5.

|[[File:PatriotsClemson.png|25px]]|New England PatriotsClemson Tigers| PK +5 (-110)| Over 4966.5 (-110107)| -110+180

|[[File:RavensLSU.png|25px]]|Baltimore RavensLSU Tigers| PK -5 (-110109)| Under 4966.5 (-110113)| -110215

Imagine Sharp betting sites expect to take lots of action on these big games and wishes to offer lines that are as efficient as possible. They do not want knowledgeable sports bettors placing large wagers on sides that a have positive expected value. Square betting sites feature have lower betting sitelimits and can afford to adjust their lines away from the current market. Wagering on LSU's customers wagered a combined $22[[spread]], moneyline,000 on this gameor the [[over]] is relatively less favorable. LSU's spread is now -6 (-115) and moneyline market-225. The ideal scenario for a bookmaker would be total has also been raised to have a total of $11,000 bet on the Patriots and $11,000 on the Ravens67. In this scenario regardless of which team wins they will pay $10,000 to the winners and collect $11,000 from the losers for a net return of $1,0005.

With this in mind one can see how oddsmakers must anticipate how their customers will perceive the lines they set. It is often not optimal for a sportsbook to set a line based strictly on the expected outcome determined by statistics. Bettors often believe certain teams are stronger or weaker than they actually are. In the previous example match assume that the math indicated that on average the Ravens would beat the Patriots by 3.5 points. At the time of writing this guide the Patriots are a team many people frequently bet on. Releasing a spread of 3.5 based strictly on the expected outcome would likely result in a distinct imbalance in money staked. Instead the spread is adjusted to 0.0 (PK) and both teams are given equal betting odds on the moneyline in order to attract net action to the other side.{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; margin: auto;"|- style="background-color:#eaecf0;"|colspan="2"|'''Team'''|'''Spread'''While this has been simplified it provides enough foundation to define the concepts of |'''Total'''square|'' and 'Moneyline'sharp''|-|[[File:Clemson. These terms can be used to describe individual lines or entire betting sitespng|25px]]|Clemson Tigers| +6 (-105)| Over 67. It's important to note that different sportsbooks offer different lines for the same match, adjusted for their respective customer base5 (-105)| +185|-|[[File:LSU.png|25px]]|LSU Tigers| -6 (-115)| Under 67.5 (-115)| -225|}

A [[Savvy readers might have observed the advantage of betting against the line adjustments done by square]] line is one that has a large deviation from sportsbooks. More favorable lines are now available with Clemson +6 (-105), Clemson ML (+185), and the expected outcomeunder 67.5 (-115). Oddsmakers adjust the line While this is true, square betting sites have been known to make limit the side they expect a majority accounts of players who strictly take advantage of their customers' action to be placed on less favourablethe line shading. This is done to attract more bets to includes the other side in an attempt to achieve practice of dealing [[dual lines]]; offering a balance sharper set of actionodds for customers deemed to ''know what they are doing''.

Consequently, If you decide to register an account with a [[sharp]] square betting site understand how to take advantage of their line is one that has a smaller deviation from the expected outcomeadjustments. Betting lines are close Be prepared to have your account limited and move on to what statistics would indicate is the average outcome of the game (if it were to be played many times over a large sample size)next one.

It is common for betting sites ==== Which to exclusively deal sharp or square lines. This is dependent on their respective customer bases' betting habits. Square sportsbooks cater to recreational and novice gamblers. Inexperienced sportsbettors are generally more inclined to bet on the square side of a given market. To take advantage of this oddsmakers shift the line to make it less favorable to bet on. This works to attract more bets to the other side in order to achieve a balance. And if it were to fail, and a majority of bets are still placed on the square side of the game, those bettors would be at an increased disadvantage for having a worse line relative to those available at competing sportsbooks. Those paying close attention might ask themselves why experienced bettors with large bankrolls don't take advantage of square adjustments by betting on the other side. These square sportsbooks generally prevent knowledgable bettors from doing this by restricting access, offering low betting limits, and issuing [[dual line]]s.pick ====

Sharp While betting sites generally have against a square sportsbook's line shading is a more diverse customer basesimple way to generate market advantage bettors will find themselves getting cut off frequently. Novice, intermediate, and experienced sportsbettors allow the site Players who are serious about using sports betting to generate long term profit will eventually need to issue lines that are closer learn how to beat the expected outcomemarket. Even if a large portion This comes in the form of novice and intermediate bettors take the ''square'' side, experienced bettors would balance it out by placing larger wagers betting on early lines at sharper high limit betting sites in an attempt to beat the other sideclosing line.