Sports betting is becoming more popular, especially since it’s now legal in eight states. But if you’re hoping to turn a profit, you need to understand the game and how it works. You can use a variety of strategies to improve your odds, but the best approach is to apply calculation to your wagers. This method is called value betting and it will help you make a more profitable long-term bet.

The first thing to understand is how sports betting odds work. Odds are calculated by dividing the probability that an event will happen by the likelihood that the bet will win. This is why the odds on certain teams and players are higher or lower than others. The difference is the bookmaker’s margin, which reflects their cost of making the bets. The lower the margin, the better the odds for a bettors.

A sportsbook’s main goal is to maximize the amount of money that they can make on each bet. To do this, they must balance the bets that people are placing with their own analysis of the game. They also need to adjust their odds based on the popularity of certain bets. The more bets on a particular team, the higher their odds will be. This is because the betting public is influenced by the hype and media coverage surrounding a game.

Understanding how to find value bets is crucial in sports betting. This is an advanced strategy that involves analyzing the data for a particular sport or tournament and finding bets with positive expected value. This is done by calculating the odds of an outcome and comparing them with the odds set by a sportsbook. The bettor will then place bets on those outcomes that have the highest probability of winning, which will result in a greater profit than if they placed a bet on an outcome with a low probability of occurring.

In addition to studying the statistics for a particular sport, professional bettors spend countless hours watching film and scouting each team. They know every player on the field, court or ice, their strengths and weaknesses, how they play against specific opponents and even read local team beat reporters for any information that could give them an edge. This research removes the guesswork from each bet and makes them much more profitable in the long run.

In addition to standard bets like moneylines, spreads and parlays, there are also prop bets that allow you to have a vested interest in more specific aspects of a game, such as how many points a player will score or how many rounds a fight will last. However, it’s important to remember that these bets are based on probabilities, so they don’t always pay out as much as bets on more likely events. Likewise, bets on less-likely events are riskier and should only be made with funds that you can afford to lose. A good rule of thumb is to risk 1% to 5% of your bankroll per play.