Sport betting

 Sport betting 

Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and betting on the result. The frequency of sports betting varies by culture, with the vast majority of bets being placed on football, basketball, baseball, hockey, track cycling, auto racing, mixed martial arts, and boxing, both at the amateur and professional levels. Sports betting can also extend to non-sporting events, such as reality TV contests and political elections, and non-human contests such as horse racing, greyhound racing, and underground and illegal cockfighting. It is not uncommon for sports betting websites to offer bets on entertainment events such as the Grammy Awards, the Oscars, and the Emmy Awards.

Sports Betting place their bets legally, through a bookmaker/sports betting company, or illegally through private companies. The term "book" is a reference to the books used by wage brokers to keep track of bets, payments, and debts. Many legal sportsbooks are located online, operated over the Internet from jurisdictions separate from the customers they serve, usually to circumvent various gambling laws (such as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act 2006 in the United States) in select markets, such as Las Vegas, Nevada, or on gaming cruises through self-service kiosks. They accept bets "in advance", which means that the bettor must pay the sportsbook before placing the bet. 

There have been several sports betting scandals, affecting the integrity of sporting events through various acts, including point shaving (players affect the score by missing shots), point fixing (a player's action is fixed), bad decisions by officials at key moments, and general match-fixing (the overall result of the event is fixed). Examples include the 1919 World Series, former baseball player Pete Rose's alleged (and later admitted) illegal gambling, and former NBA referee Tim Donaghy.