In a legal context, official betting is a bet placed on a game that meets a minimum number of criteria established by a sport’s governing body. This includes valid scores and results and the correct venue for a game.
When a bet reaches these standards, it’s considered an official bet and is eligible for payout. There are a variety of types of bets, including straight bets and parlays. There are also prop bets, or proposition bets, which are bets on events that may happen during a game but don’t directly relate to the final score of the contest. For example, a bet on how many touchdowns Patrick Mahomes will throw in a game or how long the national anthem will last at the Super Bowl are both examples of prop bets.
Despite the initial hiccups, most states have now launched legal sports betting. In Maryland, bettors can place bets online and in-person at a dozen licensed operators. In New Jersey, a similar number of licensed sportsbooks have gone live. And in Washington, DC lawmakers have been pushing for a legal framework that allows at least four and up to 12 online sportsbooks to operate. But those efforts have been complicated by language in the state’s law that requires sportsbooks to purchase official league data on “commercially reasonable terms” and use it only for Tier 2 bets, or wagers with a lower maximum win amount. This restriction has caused confusion in the market, as some operators have found it difficult to acquire the data they need at a competitive price.