Know The Game
Sports Betting Guide
An important aspect of responsible gambling is understanding how to bet and how to interpret the associated terminology. Spread, moneyline, +110, -120, over/under, parlay, and prop! What does it all mean?! That’s a great question. We promise it’s not too complicated.
BetMGM has everything you need to make an informed decision and maximize your enjoyment. Visit the BetMGM sports betting guide to learn more about gambling terminology and how to wager.
Casino Betting Guide
Our online casino games function similarly to those at a traditional casino. The exciting lights, sounds, and action you know, and love are all here, albeit now on your computer or phone screen.
Before you play, we want you to understand a few basic concepts. These concepts will help ensure you have fun while maintaining the right expectations for your gambling experience.
Randomness
Randomness refers to events happening by chance, without any purposeful plan. In gambling, an assortment of mechanisms ensures a game is unpredictable. Unpredictability is how gambling works. Each game uses randomness by design to make the results both unpredictable and independent from previous or future plays. This randomness ensures the house has an advantage.
Here are some examples of how randomness is built into gambling:
• In sports betting: Even the sharpest sports bettors experience bad beats. Weather, injuries, blown calls, and poor player performances can all contribute to the Unpredictability of sporting event outcomes.
• In slot games: Random number generators provide thousands of numbers per second, determining whether you win or lose. Each spin is independent, random and unrelated to previous or future spins, making it impossible to predict what will happen on each play.
• In blackjack: Approximately six decks of cards are used, and carefully shuffled, making it virtually impossible to know what cards are coming next.
• In craps: When you throw two dice onto the table, it's impossible to control the outcome. That's why they call it "throwing the dice."
No control over outcomes
A series of wins can happen from time to time, and that's all part of the fun. However, past success is not an indicator of future outcomes. You may be "on a roll," but this streak of luck is not guaranteed to continue.
The Gambler's Fallacy
Over the long term, after thousands of spins, a coin will land on heads 50% of the time and on tails 50% of the time. A roulette wheel will pay red as often as it pays black. Over the short term, however, things aren't as stable. When betting on something with a fixed probability, like a coin toss, a slot machine, or most forms of casino wagering, past events do no influence future outcomes. The roulette wheel doesn't remember that it just landed on black 5 times in a row. When it's set spinning again, it has the same odds to land on black or on red as it did in the previous 5 spins.
House Advantage
It’s important to remember that the house (us) has the advantage. While winning is fun and exciting, keep in mind that, over time, the vast majority of people will lose more than they will win. Gambling is a perfectly fine activity, as long as you’re enjoying yourself and not experiencing any ill effects.
House advantage is usually presented as a percentage of a game’s wagers that a gambling service provider expects to keep from players over time. It doesn’t always have to be a large percentage for the house to earn a lot of money, since we’re talking about taking a small amount from many players over time.
For example, the house advantage for someone playing blackjack with basic strategy — which means they understand how to place strategic bets to maximize their likelihood of winning — is approximately 0.5 percent. However, very few gamblers know the ideal moves to make in every situation, so the true house advantage is much higher.
All forms of gambling — slots, poker, blackjack — all favor the house. There’s no trick to it. If you keep playing, you are more likely to walk away with less money than when you started. Even the lottery has a house advantage.
Fact or Myth!
Responsible Gambling Tools
Responsible gambling tools help keep you in the action at a safe and enjoyable level. Think of them as the safety features in your car, or as the coach on the sideline guiding you down the field. We highly encourage you to learn how these tools work and use them to enhance your gambling experience. If you have any questions, please reach out to Customer Care or the GameSense® Advisor team.
• Timeout - if you need a longer break, consider taking a timeout. Request a timeout for any duration from 72 hours to a full year. While on timeout, you will not be able to deposit or wager. You may still log in, withdraw funds, and view your play history.
• Time management - On a daily basis, you can set a specific amount of time you want to spend gambling. Time is measured hourly from the moment you log in, to the moment you log out.
• Deposit limits - You may set a limit on the amount you can deposit on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Once you have hit this limit, you will need to wait until the time period expires before you can deposit additional funds.
• Spending/Loss limits - You may set a limit on the amount you can spend/lose on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Once you have hit this spending/loss limit, you will no longer be able to wager until the time period has expired.
Remember, spending/loss limits only apply to the funds you deposit. These limits do not include the money you win (house money). Please plan accordingly.
Responsible gambling limits can be decreased at any time. You will receive a text notification once a limit has been decreased. Any increase to these limits will become effective only after the time period of the previous limit has expired.