Legal Kentucky Betting

Kentucky isn’t home to any professional teams, but the Bluegrass State is known for its top-level high school football and its nationally-relevant University of Kentucky Wildcats basketball team. While you cannot find legal Kentucky betting odds on the former, you can definitely find plenty of odds on the latter. And Kentucky residents absolutely do, turning a handle of over $1 billion each year on the Wildcats basketball team and football team. Of course, it’s not just college ball that’s popular at the sportsbooks serving KY. Indeed, as in all other states, it’s the NFL that accounts for the lion’s share of Kentucky wagers placed, with most of that action going towards the surrogate home teams of the Cincinnati Bengals and the Dallas Cowboys.

If you’re looking to bet on any of these teams (or any others), you currently have only one option to do so legally, safely, and conveniently: offshore sportsbooks that offer Kentucky sports betting. Fortunately, there is no shortage of A-rated overseas sports betting sites for KY residents, and all of them have action on the aforesaid Wildcats clubs as well as the entire NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and all kinds of other national and international leagues. The best such services accepting KY customers are Bovada, BetOnline, SportsBetting, MyBookie, and a sel ect few others. Joining these is free, and you’ll always get the freshest Kentucky betting odds for all your favorite collegiate and professional sports.

Of course, if you’ve never wagered before and are looking for a primer to help you get started with betting on Kentucky sports, you’re in the right place. Here, we cover the various basic wager types you’re going to come across at your sportsbook(s) of choice, including straights, spreads, totals, props, and futures, and we’re going to briefly explain how each one works.

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Current Kentucky Betting Odds

• 2021/2022 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Champion: +1200
• 2021/2022 NCAA College Football Playoff National Champion: +12,500

Kentucky Straight-Up Bets

Betting Kentucky straight-up is the easiest thing to do, and it’s the type of wager best suited to beginners, simply because it teaches you all the basics. In US sports betting, everything starts with the moneyline, and this bet is a straight moneyline wager. (Note: Every wager type has an associated moneyline, and they all work the same way. You can view the moneyline as the “price tag” for the wager you wish to make.) The only difference is that with a straight bet, the price tag represents the odds themselves. Consider the following matchup:

• Tennessee -185 at Kentucky +225

In this example, Tennessee is the favorite, as denoted by the negative moneyline, while Kentucky is the underdog, which is represented by the positive moneyline. A wager of $185 on Tennessee pays out $100, while a $100 wager on Kentucky pays out $225. This is the moneyline format. To reiterate, a negative moneyline number shows how much you must bet to win $100, while a positive moneyline number shows how much you will win on a $100 bet.

Kentucky Spread Bets

Spread bets should be the most familiar bet types to you, as they’re the ones most often cited by the mainstream sports media. Both sides of a spread will typically have the same moneyline (between -105 and -115 in most cases), which is the associated price of the wager. However, the operative number to be concerned with in a Kentucky spread bet is the spread number. That’s shown below:

• Kentucky -9.5 (-110) at Indiana +9.5 (-110)

Again, negative spread numbers indicate the favorite, while positives indicate the underdog. Here, Kentucky is favored to win by 9.5 points, and you can read it as Kentucky “giving” (or subtracting) 9.5 points from its total. Indiana, as the underdog, then “gets” those 9.5 points added to its total. This, if you wager on Kentucky to win this game, they have to beat Indiana by at least 10 points. Meanwhile, a wager on Indiana wins if the club wins outright or loses by 9 or fewer points. This handicapping system accounts for perceived talent differences in the teams, enticing more bettors to wager on both sides.

Kentucky Totals Bets

Totals bets are the final of the “big three” wager types on Kentucky sports (and all sports in general). Unlike the first two types, totals – aka over/under bets – do not rely on winners and losers. Rather, you’re wagering on how many combined points both teams will score by the end of the game. Here’s how a Kentucky totals bet might look at your sportsbook:

• Louisville at Kentucky O/U 156.5 (-110)

The sportsbook has assigned the over/under, or O/U, at 156.5 points. If you take the “over,” you are betting that the final score will combine to surpass that number. If you take the under, you are betting that the final score will fall short of that number. Let’s say you take the “under” and the final score is 79-57. The combined score of 136 is lower than 156.5, and you’d win the bet!

Kentucky Player & Team Prop Bets

Proposition bets, more commonly called prop bets, are not always available en masse for many matchups, but you can usually find at least a few just before game-time. Typically, props will be offered for both players and teams, though a huge contest or tournament might also have game props. Player and team props are similar in concept. For the former, you can bet on things like how many shots the starting point guard will make or how many TDs the QB will throw. For the latter, you can put money on things like how many rebounds the team will get or how many total yards from scrimmage the offense will rack up.

Game props, which you usually only find in championship or rivalry games, include things like the color of shoes that the anthem singer will wear, how many minutes the anthem will last, which team will win the coin toss, which team will score first, and so on. The biggest games of all might even have broadcast odds, where you can wager on commercials and commentators and more.

Kentucky Futures Bets

Futures bets are like props, except they apply to a longer length of time than a single game. The most common Kentucky futures odds regard the Wildcat Men’s Basketball team, as they are perennial championship contenders. Usually, before the NCAAM season gets underway, you can find the Wildcats atop most betting boards, usually tending in the top 5 teams to with the championship. Futures can also be player-centric, allowing you to bet on which players will win which prestigious year-end rewards, including March Madness’ MOP. As a general rule, the earlier you place your futures bet, the bigger the field and the better the payout.

Kentucky Live Betting

Live betting is the newest, most engrossing way to wager on Kentucky sports. If you’re a huge Wildcats fan or Louisville homer, watching their games is already exciting. However, with live wagering – aka in-game betting – you can actually place main-line wagers (and various prop bets) as they change in real-time to reflect the live pace of the game. Live betting adds literally hundreds of wagering opportunities to every game, and most reputable offshore books will have live betting on all major US sports, including the vast majority of all Wildcats basketball games.

Kentucky Mobile Betting

If live betting is the most exciting way to wager on Kentucky, mobile betting is the most convenient. Mobile betting allows you to wager on your favorite matchups no matter where you are in Kentucky or outside of the state, because you can use your iPhone or Android handset (or tablet) to place your wagers. All you need is a mobile device with a modern web browser and an active Internet connection, and you wager on all things Kentucky sports, regardless of whatever other activities are on the daily docket.

While you won’t find any dedicated sports betting apps for these offshore books in the App Store or on Google Play, that’s actually a good thing. Not only do you have to mess with downloads and updates, but you are assured that security rollouts don’t have to go through these companies’ curation processes, so your wagering will always be maximally secure.