Open spots wagering is an excellent tactic in many forms of sports wagering. A great wagerer can use this tactic for their parlay wagers, and it allows them to leave a few open spots on their slip. In other words, you place a typical parlay wager, but by selecting the open spots option, you get to keep a few spots open and then fill them with different selections later on.
Punters typically use this form of parlay wagering on all sorts of sports, which is why you’ll also see a good selection of tennis betting tips mentioning them. The same is true for many other sports, and you’ll get to use this option on various online sports wagering sites today.
If you want to give it a shot, you only need to head over to moneyline and pick a site that works for you. On the sportsbook of your choice, you can then create an account, make a deposit, and start making your first open spots parlays.
However, before you get into this form of wagering, you need to know that it’s not an easy strategy to use. You’ll need time and practice to master it, but above all, you’ll first need to read up on it and learn how to implement it in your overall wagering strategy. So, keep reading because we’ll tell you all of that and more.
How to Place an Open Spot Wager in a Sportsbook?
You start by visiting your sportsbook. Naturally, the sports wagering site has to offer open spots for its parlays, and if it doesn’t, make sure you find one that does.
Once you’re on the site, you can prepare a typical parlay as you usually do with the selections you want to make. But in this case, you need to make one selection, and then you have to choose the number of open spots you wish to fill later on.
And that’s it.
Now, the benefit of this method is likely already apparent to some experienced punters who are already seeing ways of using open spots to their advantage.
But let’s clarify in the following section.
How to Use Open Spots in Your Wagering Strategy to Your Advantage
With open parlays, you get to win parlays easier, as you’ll have enough time to find new opportunities as they appear. For example, there might not be good selections that would complete your parlay at the moment, but there could be later on.
Moreover, you might be waiting for a match you know you can wager on effectively or a specific wagering market that opens later in the day or the next day. By leaving a few open spots in your parlay, you can add the selections once they become available.
Similarly, if you want to parlay a heavy moneyline and you don’t have enough of them at the moment, leaving a few open spots and waiting is a good choice. They can stay open for as long as 90 days, giving you plenty of time.
And of course, these parlays tend to pay a lot more than regular bets, so you can effectively place only a few dollars on each and hope to get paid 40 or 50 to 1 once you win. The betting odds still multiply, making these wagers a lot better than regular ones.
You can use this in any sport, but some are more recommended than others. For instance, college basketball is a good choice, but so is college football, football (soccer), tennis, American football, and regular basketball.
Open spots wagers can be used in other ways as well, but you should know that sometimes they are not worth it. This is the case when you’re not an experienced punter and when you don’t have a plan upfront. It’s not beneficial to create open spot bets just for the sake of making them — you need to have a plan. If you don’t, it’s better to make regular bets instead of placing each as a selection in a parlay wager. The profits are lower, of course, but more assured.
Terms to Consider When Making an Open Spot Wager
As you can see, open spot bets are fairly straightforward. They are as complex to predict and win as most parlays are, but that doesn’t make them hard to understand.
However, there are still a couple of essential terms and conditions you need to know before you start placing them. Like all bets, they come with a few stipulations, and the most important ones are:
- You can only leave open spots on parlays, not on teasers.
- You can’t use open spot wagering on live wagers.
- Each parlay can have a maximum of two open spots.
- You need to make one selection to make an open spot parlay.
- The number of open spots needs to be selected when creating the wager, and you have to fill all of them eventually.
- Open spots can remain open for up to 90 days, after which they will be considered a loss, making you lose the entire wager.
- Wagers are always final, so if you fill in an open spot once, you won’t be able to change it later on.
- Once you fill an open spot, the total possible payout will change accordingly.