Sports Betting Lingo – Bettors Slang

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Bookmakers and bettors have had their own “Lingo” or “Slang” for many years. Much of this slang came about as a means to hide their activities from law enforcement.

A bettor might call his bookie and once read the lines say, “Ok, give me a dime on the Jets -2 and a nickel on the Vikings +5”. Our bettor just wagered one thousand dollars on the Jets and five hundred dollars on the Vikings.

Or perhaps a player may introduce a new bettor to a bookie. He might say, “yeah, Joey is ok. He’s fat. He’s certainly no desperado”.

In English, he just told the bookie Joey has plenty of money and will be no problem paying up when he loses.

Below is our definitive list of betting lingo and slang words. Give them a read. Have a few laughs. Some of them may even entertain the old timers!

Betting Lingo and Bookmakers Slang – A Definitive List

Action – a bet

Agent– Person who solicits sports bets for a bookmaker

Backer-Someone who supplies a bookmaker with cash (behind the scenes)

Bad beat – a tough loss

Bail out-Trying to get back losses with one bet

Beard – someone who bets for someone else

Beef– Complaint against a book

Bet the limit – To bet the maximum amount allowed by the bookmker

Betting Ring – A syndicate of big money sports bettors who place large bets,wiseguys,etc.etc.

Big Dime – $10,000

Big Nickel – $5,000

Board – The complete agenda of Games on any given day

Bookmaker – Person that takes sports bets

Bottom line – Money owed to a bookmaker by a player

B.M. – A Bookmaker

B.R. – Bankroll

Buck – $100

Bundle – Large bankroll

Bust – Player goes broke

Chalk – favorite

Chalk eater – favorite bettor

Circle Game – limited action accpted due to injuries or weather

C-Note – $100

Clerk – Person who answers phones,deals lines for a bookmaker.Also known as a ticket writer

C.O.D. – Broke

Connected – Connected to organized crime

Cover – to win by more than the spread

Desperado – Gambler who bets big and can’t pay

Dime – $1000

Dollar – $100

Double Sawbuck – Twenty dollars

Dry – broke

Edge – to have an advantage

Fast Company – Smart gamblers

Fat – a person with plenty of money

Figure – amount owed to or by a bookmaker

Fish – A sucker

Getting Down – making a wager

G-Note – $1,000

Half a buck – $50

Handicapper – one who studies sports and predicts the outcome-he does his homework

Handle – total amount of money taken in bets

Hedging – betting the opposite side in order to reduce you original wager

Hook – half a point

Jerk – another word for a push,or tie

Juice – Vigorish

Linemaker – an oddsmaker or pricemaker

Live one – a player with money

Middle – to win both sides of a Game

Mush Artist – gambler who doesn’t pay

Nickel – $500

off the board – bookmakers term for refusing to accept action on a particular Game

Out – bookmaker

Overlay – when the odds of a proposition are in favor of the bettor,not the house

Parlay – a bet on two or more teams,in which the money won on the first Game is then placed on the 2nd and so on.All Games must win for the player to collect.

Past-post – to place a bet after the Game has started

Piece-meal – paying of bookmaker in installments

pigeon – sucker

Pipeline – any method of distributing information

Pipes – Telephone

Player – bettor

Popped – Arrested

Post-up – Having to put money up before being allowed to wager-(offshore accounts are post-up)

Press – to bet larger amounts than usual

Price – the odds or pointspread

Push – Tie,nobody wins,nobody loses

In the red – owing money

Roundball – basketball

Run down – line update

Runner – see beards

Sawbuck – $10

Scalper – one who attempts to profit from differences in odds from book to book.

Score– to win alot of money

Sharp – a wiseguy

Shortstop – a small player

Shylock – loanshark

Side – to win one side of a bet,and tie or push the other-“to catch a side”

Spot Player – a bettor who waits for what he thinks is an unusually favorable situation before making a play

Square – unsophisticated gambler

Steam – Heavy one way action

Take a price – to bet the dog

Tapped out – broke

Trap – a bad bet-looks good,but in reality,isn’t

Value – see overlay-to get the best of it

Welsher – person who doesn’t pay his gambling debts

Wiseguy – successful sports bettor who makes his living betting sports

Vigorish – Bookmakers commission

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