Dissection of a Bet

Exploring different bet types

Jose Garay
Sep 4, 2018 · 3 min read
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Betting is staking money on a prediction. However, there exist many different bet types for players to experiment with. We’ll take a look at these types of bets by organizing them into 4 categories:

  • Time when the bet is placed
  • Money that can be made with the bet
  • Combinations made between bets
  • Outcome arrangement

The names assigned to each kind have been discussed by our team as the easiest ones to refer to in the future, and might receive different names in other systems.

⏰ Time

A betting event can either have a starting date and time, like a football match, or a deadline that says when they close, like an event ending December 31st at midnight. Both have a final date and time that specifies when is the last time you can place a bet.

In consequence, there are two types of bet regarding time:

  • Previous bets: these are bets that were placed before the event starts, in the case of a live event like a basketball game, or before the deadline is reached in the rest.
  • Live bets: these are bets that can only happen if the event in question has a definite starting time. They are placed after this starting point, and before the live event’s ending.
Betting timeline of an event where you can only bet before the deadline (top) and an event where you can make previous & live bets (bottom)

💰 Money

When you bet, you’re staking money on a prediction that will generate a return if you predict correctly. How this return is computed can change depending on the nature of the event you’re betting at.

  • Mutual bets: these are bets placed at events where all money staked is distributed amongst the winners who predicted the outcome correctly. When you make a mutual bet, your forecasted profit if you are right depends on how much money is staked on the opposite outcome, and will vary over time until no more bets can be placed.
  • Bookie bets: a bookie or bookkeeper is a party (person, company, DAO…) that acts as a house; it will offer fixed odds to players on every outcome. Therefore, bookie bets let players know the exact profit they will make if they’re predicting correctly.

🔡 Combinations

Bets can be made separately, or combining different predictions in a few ways possible in order to maximize possible profits.

  • Single bet: a bet placed on one selection. Example: Bitconnect hits mainnet before May 1st 2019.
  • Accumulator bet: a bet is placed on more than one selection, and it is only won if they’re all correct. Example: Cavs beat Warriors & John McAfee wins the presidential elections & Vettel is first in F1 race.
  • Full Cover bet: all possible accumulated bets across a number of events. Example: 1) Cavs beat Warriors & John McAfee wins the presidential elections, 2) Cavs beat Warriors & Vettel is first in F1 race, 3) John McAfee wins the presidential elections & Vettel is first in F1 race, 4) Cavs beat Warriors & John McAfee wins the presidential elections & Vettel is first in F1 race. A Full Cover with Singles would include also single bets on the chosen selections.

⚖ Outcome

All events where predictions can be made have an outcome. This outcome can be arranged differently depending on the nature of the event we’re betting at.

  • Match bet: the event has a single correct outcome. Example: betting on whether the price of BTC exceed $10,000 before January 1st (Yes/No)
  • Rank bet: the possible outcomes will finish in a certain order when the event ends. Example: betting on who will be 1st, 2nd and 3rd in a FPV drone race.

These are basic bet type distinctions we are taking into account to develop a smart contract protocol to make betting unstoppable, with modules so that each type of bet and the possible combinations between them make it very easy for anyone to develop a betting platform on Ethereum. You can see the ongoing development and contribute to the project’s Core layer right now!

If you have any questions or suggestions, make sure to ping us on Twitter.

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