📕 Chapter 3: Markets and Odds

🎓 Lesson 1: Markets

🎯 Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will:

Be able to identify a betting market.
Know the difference between main markets and alternate markets.

🧭 Introduction

We’re now moving into the more technical parts of sports betting. Understanding markets is crucial because this is where every single bet takes place. Once you can recognise markets, you’ll find it much easier to navigate your bookmaker and decide where to place your bets.

🙋 What Is a Market?

A sports betting market is simply a category of bet offered on a sporting event. In other words, anything you can bet on is a market, and markets vary from sport to sport.

🧮 Examples:

In football (soccer) you have the Totals (Over/Under) market.
In tennis you have the Handicap Sets market.
In basketball you have the Moneyline market.

Now all markets are not the same. Let’s look at the different types of markets.

⚖️ Types of Markets

A. Main Markets

These are the primary and most popular bet types on an event.

The majority of punters bet in these markets.
Almost all major bookmakers set lines (odds) for them.
On some sites, the main market is highlighted to make it easy to spot.

🧮 Examples of main markets:

Moneyline (1X2)
Main Point Spread / Main Handicap Line
Main Totals Line

B. Alternate Markets

These are variations or extensions of the main markets.

Fewer punters bet in these markets.
They can vary widely from one bookmaker to another.

🧮 Examples of alternate markets:

Double Chance market
Alternate Handicap markets
Composite markets such as “Both Teams to Score and Home Win”

🚀 Call To Action

Take a moment to open your bookmaker account and scroll through the different markets on a sport you know.

Don’t worry if some of them (like Asian Handicap, European Handicap, or Asian Total) don’t make sense yet, understanding the meaning of each market is not really important. For now, focus on recognising what a market is and whether it’s a main or alternate market.

🔁 Recap

A market is simply a category of bet offered on a sporting event.
Main markets are the primary, most popular betting options that every bookmaker offers.
Alternate markets are variations or combinations of main markets that may differ between bookmakers.
You don’t need to master every market right now, just learn to identify them.

🔮 Next Lesson Preview

In the next lesson, you’ll learn how to identify the outcomes inside each market and understand the odds attached to them. This will complete the picture so you can read any betting screen with confidence.

⏭️ Next