Proposition bets

What are ‘Proposition Bets’?

A proposition bet is a type of bet which does not involve wagering on the final outcome of an event or competition. They are usually offered as side or sub bets by high street and online bookmakers and cover a broad spectrum of possibilities within the event itself.

‘Proposition Bets’ Explained

Proposition bets originated in the United States thanks to the growing demand for betting options within baseball. Rather than simply being able to place a wager on the outcome of a match, bettors were able to stake on markets such as the number of pitches thrown by a pitcher, the number of strikeouts, total runs scored and total home runs.Soccer and tennis markets are now among the most widely used proposition bet opportunities available to gamblers. It's not uncommon to see more than 100 additional sub-markets available for a mainstream soccer match which can include first goalscorer, the total number of corners, first throw in and more. The same can be said of tennis, which has seen an emphatic increase in popularity within betting circles. The total number of aces, games played and even next point winner markets are available through exchanges and traditional bookmakers alike.This hugely successful method of increasing the popularity of the betting market led to an explosion of similar proposition bets within the gambling industry, traversing into NFL and NBA before expanding into European sports.Proposition bets aren't just limited to the sports arena. Side bets are available on a huge range of casino table games such as poker, craps and blackjack. At many real world poker tables, it's possible to bet on everything from which cards will make up the flop to which card will be the river. Blackjack tables often allow additional bets on whether a player will be dealt a 20 in their hole cards and even the insurance on offer against a dealer blackjack could be seen as a proposition bet in itself.