BaseballAfter decades of state-wide bans, the US Supreme Court finally allowed online betting outside of Nevada. The entire process took a turn after the court permitted single-game waging for all sports, including baseball. It’s one of the most popular sports all over the US. And now, you can bet on any of the 162 games during the season as well as the playoffs.

However, the rules are not the same in every state. I decided to make things a little easier for you, so I rounded up all states that allow single-game betting to explain how it works in your part of the country.

But before we can get into details, let me explain how sports betting became legal in the first place. Here’s a short review of the information you will find in this article:

Let’s not waste more time and dig deeper into the world of online MLB betting. I will share a few tips on the way for all of you who are looking to place your first bet on a Major League Baseball game. With a little tactical thinking and a bit of luck, you should see some great results in no time.

Top Baseball Betting Sites

1
BetOnline

50% up to $1000

(T&C apply. 18+)
50% Welcome Bonus

A MINIMUM deposit of $55.00 is required to qualify for the bonus.
You will receive a 50% bonus on your qualifying first deposit only.
Deposits via Skrill and Neteller do not qualify for this bonus.
The maximum bonus per deposit is $1,000.00.
There is a 10x (ten times) rollover requirement associated with this promotion.
In order to receive a bonus you must use promo code BOL1000 in the cashier while making your deposit.
You must use any existing free plays already in your account before claiming any new free plays.
All free plays expire in 30 days unless otherwise stated. At the 30 day mark, any unused free plays will disappear from your account.

Click here for full terms and conditions

Panama
  • Many markets and lines on American sports
  • Up to $3.500 in deposit bonuses
2
Bovada

50% up to $250

(T&C apply. 18+)
Kahnawake Gaming Commission
  • US-friendly site
  • Great odds

What Does MLB Say About Betting on Baseball Games?

MLB is one of the most popular sports leagues in the US. It used to be one of the most popular sports to bet on, but a massive story in 1919 known as the “Black Sox Scandal” led to a nation-wide ban on betting.

Major League Baseball is also affected by the PASPA rejection that opened the door for sports betting. It includes integrity fees to the league, and the rules are quite strict. The 100-year ban is slowly being lifted, and we are bound to see more betting options soon. The MLB has joined the New Jersey lawsuit, allowing a few different types of betting on baseball games throughout the season.

The Money lines

Ok, so, you want to place a bet on your favourite MLB team. You can choose between a few methods, including total betting, prop betting, future betting, live betting, and so on. I think that the most popular way of MLB betting is Money line betting. If you are new to online betting, let me explain how it works.

The odds for Money line betting can either be positive or negative. The positive odds are available when you want to place a bet on the underdog. The odds tell you how much money you can expect on a $100 bet. So, if the odds are +155, you win 155 dollars on a $100 bet. You can also bet on negative odds, but only on the team with higher chances of winning the game.

The odds tell you how much money you need to bet to get $100 in return. So, if the odds are, let’s say, -170, you need to place a 170 dollar bet to win 100 bucks. You can increase the base to more than 100 dollars if you want a bigger payout, but the proportions will stay the same.

Understanding Dime lines

You must have heard about dime line betting. You will be hearing that a lot when betting on baseball games, so it’s vital that you understand how it works. Well, dime line betting is somewhat of a standard in baseball betting. The betting odds are best for dime line betting.

I always go for websites that offer a 10-cent line (dime line) betting rather than the ones with a bigger difference between the positive and negative odds. If the difference in cents is more than a dime, the odds are lower. With that said, let’s see what the different types of betting have to offer.

How to bet on Baseball

The new sports betting laws have torn down the bans in many US states, leaving you with a few different methods for betting on baseball games. I already covered Money line betting that allows you to place bets on the teams you think will win the game, but you can also place bets on other factors.

First Five Innings

The first few months of the season are often bumpy for many MLB teams. They need some time to get into the groove with new players, managers, build up team chemistry, and so on. All of those factors can and will affect your betting strategy because you won’t be able to make predictions so accurately.

So, the best thing to do during this bumpy part of the season is to bet on the first five innings of a game. It works pretty much the same as Money line betting, but you can only bet on the first five innings, and not the entire game.

Run lines

Run line betting is not as popular as Money line betting, but it does offer you a little more breathing room. Let’s take a game between the Yankees and the Red Sox as an example. The Yankees have a -1.5 point spread while the Red Sox have a +1.5 point spread.

That means that you will lose your bet if the Yankees win by one run. If you placed the bet on the Red Sox, you win. The number tells you that the Yankees are the favourite in the game and that the team needs to cover the 1.5 spread as favourites.

The Red Sox odds are +1.5, telling you that they are the underdog in the game. If you placed your bet on a +1.5 odds, you would win if the underdog wins the game, or if they lose by less than 1.5 runs. I place my bets on Run lines all the time.

Total Betting

In total betting, you don’t pick the winning team. The factor that determines whether you win or lose is the total number of runs made by both teams. You can find this method on most online betting sites.

You place your bet on the number of runs, choosing if the total number of runs will be above or below the bookmaker’s predictions. Let’s say that the offer is nine runs. You place a bet on less than nine, and you win the money if both teams have fewer runs together. It’s one of the easiest methods for MLB betting.

Prop Betting

Prop betting provides you with a wide range of betting options, but instead of placing bets on the total score or the number of runs, you can bet on other factors. Prop Betting is popular during the playoffs or the World Series.

You can place bets on game details such as the team that will score first, or maybe if you expect a run during the first inning.

You can also place bets on the number of pitcher strike-outs, the total number of home runs, and many other game details. Prop betting is not the easiest method because you have to do a lot of homework to be able to make the right bets.

However, if you’re passionate about baseball as I am, you will get the hang of it in no time.

Live Betting

Live betting is popular for many sports all over the world, but it’s not the best method for prematch MLB betting. The 20-cent lines kill the odds, lowering your chances of winning, but you can make up for that with live betting.

The odds are constantly adjusted in real-time as the game takes place. You can place your bet while watching the game on TV. Imagine your favorite batter as he takes the stand.

You can bet on the outcome by guessing what will happen next. He can either strike out or walk, or reach the base by hitting the ball, and any other outcome you can imagine. Live betting also includes bets on run lines, totals, and Money lines as well.

You have plenty of options there, so you should be able to make some money if you know what to expect from a certain team or player. If the bet doesn’t come in, you can place another one on the next batter and repeat the process until the end of a game.

Future Betting

Future betting is popular for all sports, including baseball. It allows you to bet on a team’s future standings. You place your bets on the number of wins a team will make in the future.

You can bet on the entire season or the World Series, but you can also bet on the team you think will win the American and National league.

Some websites allow you to bet on teams you think will rank as the best in their division. Sometimes you can even place bets on teams you think will reach the playoffs.

You will have to wait longer to see if you won or not, but the odds are usually very high. You can win a lot of money by placing bets at the very beginning of the season.

How to Pick the Best MLB Betting Site

Now that you know what MLB bets are available and how they work, you have to find the website with the best odds. There are dozens of popular betting sites, so finding the best one can be a little tricky. When I’m picking the site for myself, I look for these factors:

  1. Appealing odds
  2. A wide range of betting options
  3. Excellent customer support

These three factors should be enough to ensure that the site is legit and that you will get your winnings on time. However, even that is not enough when betting on baseball.

Every team has 162 games during the regular season, and when you multiply that with the number of teams, that’s 2,430 games every year. That’s a lot of games and number crunching for every bookmaker, which is why most websites post MLB lines a day before each game.

You can recognise a good betting site with MLB lines that stretch further than just a day before the game. That may not seem like an important factor, but that’s where you are wrong. Longer lines always help me to get a feel for a team and place my bets accordingly.

You need to be smart when placing a wager, and the more information you can use, the better. That’s probably one of the reasons why low-rated sites don’t post long MLB lines.

Using Your Mobile Phone to Place Bets

If you are passionate about MLB betting like me, you need to stay in the loop at all times. Sure, you can place online bets on any site using a computer, but I use only the ones that support mobile phone betting.

That makes it easier to place bets whenever you have a few minutes to spare. I usually do it while I commute or drink coffee at Starbucks.

Even though many websites offer mobile phone betting, some of them are very hard to navigate. Always go with the website that has a beautiful design that allows you to review all bets and odds right away.

Mobile phone betting makes placing bets a lot easier, but you shouldn’t rush into wagers just because you can. Take your time, plan every wager, and the results will follow.

The Importance of Good Customer Support

Placing bets on good odds is one thing, but you can’t really know what to expect from any website until you win big. The internet is full of scams and all kinds of shady offers, so the site you use must have an active customer support structure.

Even the best betting websites run into some problems with certain clients, which is why they offer customer support that takes care of all issues as soon as possible.

The fact that an online betting service offers customer support in the first place tells you that they take their bettors seriously and that the service is 100% safe.

Online Sports Betting – the Basics

Sports betting used to be a complicated process. You had to go to the track or to the local betting store to place your bets directly, but online betting made things much more accessible. Today, you can place bets on your mobile phone in most countries of the world. There are some rules and regulations you have to know before you can do that.

First, you have to be at least 18 years old. The rules are almost the same in every country, but it’s not enforced in most third-world countries where kids start betting when they turn 12. The US has strict laws that apply to everyone, and there’s no workaround.

In Nevada, for example, every player has to create an account in a sportsbook. They have to be at least 21 years old, and they have to provide a copy of their ID to complete the process.

The creation process takes the most time, but once your profile has been authenticated, betting is the easy part. You just have to log in using your credentials, and you are ready to start betting. Find the type of bet you want, and you will get a list of available sports and games to bet on.

It’s very straightforward when you get used to how it works. Making bets that will return your money is what’s difficult.

If you’re looking for a way to start betting on MLB games, you should first do your homework. The recent ban lift has made the option available in many US states, but some states are still in the process of legalising online gambling. So, you need to check the current laws of the state you are living in, register to a trusted betting website, provide proof of your identity, and only then can you start betting.

You need to spend quite some time following every detail of the teams you bet on if you want to raise the chances of winning a bet. If you think you have what it takes, start betting with smaller amounts of money, and raise the stakes as you go. I will always be here to give you advice on the best betting websites.

Did you try online MLB betting before? What do you think about it? I would like to see what you guys have to say, so leave a comment below.