A Future bet is a type of wager on the outcome of a special event or tournament format event. You are only required to select the winner of the event or tournament. Future bets are often made before a season or tournament begins and could be bet on almost a year in advance of the actual event. Popular future bets include who will win the Super Bowl and World Series Winner.
Future wagers are not limited to just the leagues championships. Some other popular future bets include which team will win their conference tournament, which college football team will win the conference and even who will be the next president of the United States.
Typically any type of sporting event that is going to be lined by the bookmakers will have future odds posted. Each and every week during the golf and auto racing seasons you can place a futures bet on who will win the PGA tournament or upcoming NASCAR race.
Future Bets are more lucrative the farther in advance you place your bet because of the uncertainty of the bet, nevertheless, these are also harder bets to make because you have no idea if the team or player you are betting on will suffer injuries or set-backs that are unforeseen. However, these injuries can also be used to your advantage; if you see a player struggling on the league’s best team and this player looks injured you can place your money on another team in the same division to overtake them in their position if you were betting on the division winner. Or go a step further and pick a team that now has an easier road to win the title, in turn creating a lot of value and possibly winning you a nice sum of money.
A recent team that would be a perfect example of a future bet that would have made you a lot of money at the beginning of the season was the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays. When the season started the Rays were 30-1 to win the AL East and 60-1 to win the AL. What those odds mean is the for a $100 bet you would have made $3000 for the AL East Division Crown and $6000 for the AL pennant. However, these future odds can change almost daily. For instance those starting odds decreased to almost even money by September. The odds for the AL East crown were 1.5-1, which would have paid you $150 for a $100 bet. Not as lucrative as the aforementioned 30-1 bet.
Futures can be a very fun bet especially if one of your favorite teams is a long shot and a simple $100 dollars will make your entire season more interesting and very lucrative if your team does better than expected and shocks the world a la the 1999 St. Louis Rams who went from worst team in the league to Super Bowl champions in just 12 short months. The odds of that team winning the Super Bowl that year were 300-1, an almost unprecedented number for an NFL team in the parity rich league.
Long story short, if you have a feeling about a team and how they will perform this year or have a feeling about your favorite golfer having a big weekend and overcoming Tiger to win a major tournament then go place a bet that will last you longer than any other bet in a casino. So take the plunge, you just might hit that big payday!
