Action Bet
By Kris Lazaro (11/30/2006)
Definition
The term ‘action’ has several meanings in the sports gambling industry. In general, ‘action’ means that a bet made on a game is live and will be graded after the sports event has concluded.
Examples of action
For example, take this phrase describing a person placing a bet, “after John placed his bet on the Steelers for the Superbowl, he really wanted to watch the game because he had action on the Steelers”. Another way the term “action” is used in sports gambling is in baseball. When placing a bet on baseball, the sports gambler can either choose to have the listed pitchers or have “action” associated with his moneyline bet (totals and the runline have default listed pitchers). If the player decides “action”, his bet will be honored even if the pitcher(s) have been changed (standard rules will also apply). If there is a pitching change, and a bet has listed pitchers associated with the ticket, said bet will be “no action” and all the monies will be refunded to the player.
Occurences when there is no action
Most books have similar policies regarding action on bets. In general, a bet will have action in these circumstances
NFL & NCAAF: after 55 minutes of play
NBA: after 43 minutes of play
NCAAB: after 35 minutes of play
NHL: after 55 minutes of play
MLB: moneylines after 5 innings (4.5 innings if home team is winning); totals/runlines after 9 innings (8.5 innings if home team is winning)*
Boxing: after the sound of the bell to start the first round
Tennis: match must be completed (any retirements will void all bets)
Soccer: after 85 minutes have been completed (not including stoppage time)
*in baseball, if the game goes more than 9 innings, but play is stopped due to weather, time, darkness, etc., all bets will have action
Types of action
There are several types of action a sports gambler can bet on in a sportsbook (both in land-based casinos and online)
Straight bets (either on the spread or on the moneyline)
Parlays (choosing 2 or more sides/totals)
Teasers (choosing 2 or more sides/totals with the addition of points to favor the player)
Pleasers (similar to teasers but have bettor odds for the player with the drawback of laying more points on the favorite or giving less points for the underdog).
Round Robin (similar to parlays whereby the player makes multiple 2 team parlay combinations based on the number of sides/totals the player decides to play)
Futures bets
Proposition bets
Summary
In closing, “action” refers to the viability of a sports bet. In can be used in many contexts, but is generally used as an adjective to describe whether a bet on a sports event will be graded as a win or as a loss said sports event has concluded.
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