What is Pointsbetting at PointsBet Sportsbook? How Does Pointsbetting Work

What is PointsBetting?

PointsBetting is a very unique market of betting that rewards you the more you are right and penalizes you the more you’re wrong. Currently, PointsBet is the only sportsbook that offers this betting market. The essence of PointsBetting is pretty straightforward; your profit is determined by how much you win your bet. This upside profit possibility also carries a huge downside risk. If you end up losing the bet, you will then lose the amount by which you missed the bet. 

How does PointsBetting Work?

PointsBetting follows this simple formula: Profit/Loss = (Result – Expected Result) x Original Stake.

Let’s jump into a quick example:

The Bet: You placed a $10 bet on Over 212 total points in an NBA game.

Result: That game finishes at 222 total points.

Profit: If we follow the formula above, first we determine by how many points the bet won: 222 – 212 = 10 points. We then multiply that by your stake in the bet: 10 x $10. You will profit $100 on that bet.

What happens if that game finished short of your bet at 202 total points? (202-212) x $10 = -$100. In this scenario, you will LOSE $100. PointsBetting is the only market you can lose more money than your original stake in the bet. 

PointsBetting Stop-Loss

As you can see above, PointsBetting is a very high-risk, high-reward proposition. However, PointsBet offers a Stop-Loss feature, which allows you to limit your risk exposure on these bets. If you bet with a stop-loss, your loss (and winnings!) will be capped at the multiplier you set at the time of placing the bet. 

Let’s go back to the example above:

The Bet: If you placed a $10 bet on Over 212 total points with a stop-loss at 15x (meaning five times your original stake)

Result: The game finishes and the total ended at 192.

Loss: The normal PointsBetting equation now becomes only part of figuring out your profit/loss. If you follow the original equation, your loss would be $200; (192-212) x $10 = -$200. However, with your 5x stop loss, your loss would only be $150 (15 x $10) as opposed to $200, if you didn’t bet with a stop-loss.

On the flip side, if that game ended at 222 points, your winnings would be capped at $150 as well. 

Types of Bets you can make PointsBetting

In addition to total points, you can bet on a variety of different markets with PointsBetting, including Points Spread, Player Props and their new feature; Multipliers.

Point Spread:

LA Rams -4 vs. SF 49ers

• Let’s say you place a $20 bet on LAR to cover the 4-point spread. You will win $20 for every point the Rams cover the spread by. If LAR wins by 10 points, you will profit by $120. If the Rams win but fail to cover the spread, or lose outright, you will lose money. If the score winds up SF 20-18 LAR, even though the Rams lost by two, you will lose $120 since they lost by 6 points relative to the spread.

Player Props:

Joel Embiid o/u 43 PRA

• In this scenario, you bet $15 on Joel Embiid over 43 Points, Rebounds, Assists. Player props such as this one will work very similarly to the total points bet from above. You’ll $15 for every point, rebound or assist he gets over 43; or lose $15 for every increment under 43. 

Finishing Position:

Jordan Spieth to finish 15th or better at the Masters

• While most books offer finishing position markets, PointsBetting takes it a step further. If you bet Spieth to have a better finishing position than 15 and he finishes in first, you would win 15x your money. This bet would be extremely high risk, though, as the bet’s upside is capped at 1st place. If Spieth were to not make the cut, and finish at 50, you would lose 35x your money. This is where stop-loss features become incredibly important. 

Multipliers:

Rams Team Total  x 49ers Team Total

• As if PointsBetting wasn’t new enough, PointsBet has already come up with a variation of the market. There are many different types of bets you can make, but they are all centered around multiplications (hence the name). For example, the O/U here is set at 576 (the consensus O/U is 48). If the game ends 28 – 24, you would win a staggering 96x your money. 
• While it looks complicated, the math is simple, if you break it down: 28 x 24 = 672, take that minus 576 and you have 96x. In reality, the consensus over only hit by 4 points, if you placed a normal bet. But with multipliers that 4x profit would turn into 96x. Of course, this holds true if you lose the bet. Each point short of the over, will turn into huge losses. 

PointsBetting Strategies

Now that we understand what PointsBetting is and what bets we can make, we must ask; how can PointsBetting be profitable for me? The first rule always is to make sure you are placing positive expected value (+EV) bets. As we discussed above, losses on Points Bets can add up quickly, so having a strategy rooted in placing mathematically profitable bets is essential. Once you identify a +EV bet, using OddsJams +EV page and calculators, there are still extra considerations you may want to account for while PointsBetting. 

A leading guiding principle here is to stay away from unders. Typically, unders can have a high EV percentage (because the public loves overs). However, too many flukey things can happen in the course of a game that could favor the over. Imagine having an under bet and the game goes into overtime! That would be a tough beat, and if you don’t have a stop-loss in place the downside risk is endless as the game could go into double or triple OT.

If you’re a regular on the +EV page, you’ll see that player props always have a high variance between books. This makes props a great target for PointsBetting. +EV betting can help identify a situation where a player is primed for a bust out performance, and a good PointsBetting candidate for the day. Of course, prop bets are prone to flukes, just like under bets. You’ll want to ensure you have a stop loss on this bet. You don’t want injury or other unlikely scenarios to ruin your bankroll on just one bet. 

The concept of pointsbetting is still very new in the legal US market. PointsBet is rapidly expanding their operations to legal sports betting states across the US. Right now, they are the only book offering points betting. But, as its popularity expands in the US, look out for other books offering similar, if not identical, markets on their platforms. No matter what market you place your pointsbet on, remember to always bet Positive EV!

Happy Betting!