What is a prop bet?
Prop bets have many different forms, with the most popular being player prop bets. Player prop bets allow you to bet on the performance of individual players in a game.
Using the NBA as an example, much like a totals bet, but instead of total points you are better on whether a player will go over a predetermined amount of points, rebounds, assists, or three pointers made. Player prop bets also put two players against each other, and you can bet on who will score, rebound, or assist more out of the pairing.
How to bet on prop bets
| Anthony Davis – Player Points | |
| o30.5 (-115) | u30.5 (-115) |
In the example given, you are betting whether you think Anthony Davis will score over or under 30.5 points in his game on that day.
You have two choices
- Anthony Davis will score 31 or more points, and you bet on the o30.5 market, having to place a $115 bet to profit $100 ($215 total return).
- Anthony Davis will score 30 points or less, and you bet on the u30.5 market, having to place a $115 bet to profit $100 ($215 total return).
The same happens in every sport, with NFL having player prop bets for passing, receiving and rushing yards, as well as player touchdowns, MLB having player prop bets for total hits, strikeouts and home runs, among all the other sports.
Team prop bets
Team prop bets include markets such as
- First team to score
- Race to a certain amount of points or goals.
| Which team will score first? | |
| Patriots (-130) | Dolphins (+125) |
In a game with New England playing against division rivals Miami, and the bookmakers think that the Patriots are -130 favourites to score first in this contest.
One way to trick this market is to wait and see the coin toss at the start of the game and see which team will be on offence first, and quickly place a bet on this team before the market changes or closes.
Exotic prop bets
Super Bowl prop bets are extremely popular, as bookmakers often create more markets for the biggest game on the American sporting calendar. Most players will have performance markets, including over/unders on passing, rushing, receiving yards and touchdowns.
You can even bet on
- Distance of longest field goal
- Time of first touchdown
- First play of the game
- Player to score the first touchdown
- Total receptions
- Total sacks, and even
- Length of the National Anthem
| First Play of the Game | ||
| Pass (-105) | Run (-115) | Sack (+115) |
You can see an example of an exotic prop bet that might be on offer in the Super Bowl. You can bet on what you think the first play of the game will be, with the odds adjusted accordingly, based on the likelihood of each event occurring.
Our NFL experts provide an in depth analysis of every NFL game of the season, and give you the best picks and predictions for all games, including the Super Bowl, which includes these exotic prop bets.
Best prop bets
Some sportsbooks will allow you to pick your own player prop bet lines, which increased or decreased odds. Using the Anthony Davis example from before, you could change his points line to 24.5 and receive -200 odds to bet over instead of the -115 on offer for 30.5, but is also a much safer bet and could be worth the increased stake for the $100 profit.
Can you parlay prop bets? And where to bet on prop bets.
Most bookmakers will allow prop bets, with FanDuel being the best for player prop bets, even allowing you to parlay prop bets from the same or multiple games together. Most other bookmakers don’t allow you to parlay prop bets, but will still allow you to be on prop markets.
Parlaying prop bets is a good way to pick one or two prop bets from multiple games across a day’s play, increasing the odds in a parlay and watching intently as your bets play out.
Bookmakers don’t spend much time when creating lines and odds for prop bets, so there are plenty of opportunities to catch them out on bets that provide good value to the punter.
Our experts do hours of research on all games of every sport, every day of the year, finding value and providing their best prop bets along with their best picks and predictions in other markets so that you can become a winner. Check out their picks and predictions for all sports, including NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, College Football, College Basketball, UFC, Tennis, Golf, Soccer, Horse Racing and eSports.
Now you have answered the tough question of ‘what is a prop bet?’ so you can start betting now with the help of our experts, or if you would like some more information on some other betting styles, check out the betting guides pages for moneyline, spread, over/under, parlay and futures betting.
