Futures bets are one of the most fun and possibly most lucrative bets, you can make!
What is a future bet?
A future bet is a bet on an event that will happen at the end of a season, usually on which team/player will win the championship.
Common future bets are which team will win the Super Bowl, who will win the Heisman, or which team will win the NHL Championship.
When can you place a future bet?
Future bets can be placed at any time, including before the season starts to the eve of the championship game.
The odds for a given team or event can swing dramatically throughout the season, based on how likely the oddsmakers think the event will happen. So you think your Chicago Bears have a great team and are getting great odds before the season, put a future bet down in July before Vegas finds out how good they are!
How much money can I win from a future bet?
A lot! The key is placing your bet when the odds for an event are higher than expected, and Vegas doesn’t think it’s likely to happen.
We bet on the Toronto Raptors to win the NBA Championship, all the way back in July 2018, when there were only rumors that Kawhi was going there, and we got 75-1 odds!!! The odds went way down throughout the season, as Toronto eventually had the 2nd highest record in the league, but our odds were locked in. When they won, our $13 bet turned into $1000!
Another example: a St. Louis Blues fan won $100,000 on a $400 bet when they won the title after getting 250-1 odds in January when they were the worst team in the league. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/13/st-louis-blues-fan-wins-100000-on-a-400-stanley-cup-bet.html
Ok, I’m sold, where should I place my futures bet?
Great, now the key is to get the best odds possible by shopping different sports books. For example, if you want to bet the Dolphins to win the 2020 Super Bowl, you can bet MyBookie at 125-1, but why would you do that, when you could bet 5Dimes at 330-1! That’s a difference of $205 on a $1 bet, so it’s really important you find the best odds.
Luckily, we’ve done the heavy lifting for you and have our recommendations directly on our home page. We’ve linked to several online sportsbooks where you can bet the best odds to maximize your payout.
Also, make sure you keep checking the odds throughout the year, as they’ll change drastically based on how each team is doing. Teams getting off to a slow start might have inflated odds, like the Blues, and are worth taking a stab at.