What Is a Prop Bet? Player Props, Game Props and How They Pay

Every Sunday someone in your group chat stops caring who wins the game the second they bet the over on a tight end's receiving yards. That's a prop bet: a wager on a specific event within a game, like a player's stats or who scores first, rather than on the final score.

Prop is short for proposition, and a proposition bet can be almost anything a sportsbook can measure and grade: will the quarterback throw for more than 245.5 yards, will a forward score 25 points, will a running back find the end zone. You can win a prop bet while your team gets blown out, and lose one in a game you called perfectly.

How prop bets work

A prop has a line and a price, just like a point spread or a total. Most player props are over/under bets on a number with a half point on it, so there's no tie. Here's a typical one:

Bet $10 on the over at -115 and he needs 246 yards or more. If he gets there, you win $8.70 and get your $10 back. If he throws for 245, the under wins. The prices aren't the same on both sides because the sportsbook thinks the over is a little more likely. At -115 you need to win about 53.5% of the time to break even, a bit more than the 52.4% you need at the usual -110. If those numbers look like a foreign language, our guide on how to read American odds sorts it out in five minutes.

Some props aren't over/unders. An anytime touchdown prop is a yes bet at one price, like +120. Bet $10 and you win $12 if the player scores at any point in the game. Soccer and hockey have the same idea with a player to score a goal.

Many books also post props during the game as part of live betting. Those lines move after almost every play, so the number you saw a minute ago may already be gone.

Types of prop bets

Sportsbooks sort their prop markets in a few ways. The names change a little from book to book, but you'll see these three everywhere.

Player props

Player prop bets are the biggest part of the menu at most sportsbooks. A player prop is a bet on one player's numbers in one game. In the NFL that's passing yards, rushing yards, receiving yards, receptions and touchdowns. In the NBA it's points, rebounds, assists, threes made, and combos like points plus rebounds plus assists. Baseball has strikeouts for a pitcher and hits or total bases for a batter; hockey has shots on goal and points.

Game props

Game props are about the game rather than one player. Which team scores first, whether there's a score in the final two minutes of the half, whether the game goes to overtime, the longest touchdown of the day. These tend to come with fatter prices, and some of them are close to a coin flip with juice on top.

Team props

A team prop is a bet on one team: its total points, how many field goals it kicks, whether it scores in every quarter. A team total is really just an over/under bet on one side of the scoreboard.

Super Bowl prop bets are their own event. Books post hundreds of them that week, from every player prop you can think of to novelty stuff like the coin toss or the length of the anthem. Some sportsbooks offer the novelty ones, and plenty of US books leave the wackier ones off the board. They're fun. They're also where a lot of people give money away for a laugh, which is fine as long as you know that's what you're doing.

Prop bets vs. futures

People mix these two up. A prop is settled when the game ends. A futures bet, like who wins the MVP or how many games a team wins this season, takes months to settle. Some books file season-long player numbers under "season props," which only adds to the confusion. If your money is tied up until spring, it's a future. More on those in what a futures bet is.

Why people love betting props

Props let you bet what you actually know. Maybe you have no idea who wins Bills vs. Dolphins, but you've watched every snap of a receiver who's been getting nine targets a game. A prop lets you bet that opinion and nothing else.

They also make bad games watchable. A 31-10 blowout in the fourth quarter is dead air for a moneyline bettor and must-see TV if you need 14 more rushing yards from the backup running back.

Sportsbooks set lines on hundreds of players every week, and they can't price every one of them as sharply as they price the point spread of a prime-time game. That's where sports bettors who do their homework find value. It's also why books often limit how much you can bet on props.

The catch: the juice and the hype

Props usually carry more vig than a main spread or total. A standard side is -110 both ways. Props are often -115 and -115, or -120 on one side, so the house takes a bigger cut of every bet. A few cents per bet doesn't feel like much, but over a season of props it adds up fast. Our guide to implied probability in betting shows how to see exactly how much a price is asking of you.

The other trap is the over. Fans like rooting for things to happen, so most bettors lean toward overs on players they like. Books know it and shade those lines up. If you find yourself betting the over on every star player every week, you're betting like the crowd, and the crowd pays for everyone's free drinks.

How to bet props smarter

A prop betting strategy doesn't have to be fancy. The bettors who do well with props tend to do the same handful of things.

Start with the player's role. His usage, like targets, carries, shots or minutes, tells you more than his name does. A receiver whose quarterback just got hurt is a different player this week, even if the line hasn't fully caught up.

Read the injury report all the way down. When a starter is out, someone else gets his touches. The backup's numbers are often where the softest line of the week sits.

Look at the matchup and the game script. A running back on a team favored by 10 should see a lot of fourth-quarter carries. A quarterback on a big underdog may throw more than usual because his team is chasing points.

Shop the number. One book might have a receiver at 54.5 yards and another at 51.5. Three yards doesn't sound like much until he finishes with 53.

Keep a record, too. Track your props apart from your sides, totals and moneyline bets. Plenty of people find out they're good at one and burning money on the other.

Props in a parlay

Most big sportsbooks let you stack props from one game into a same game parlay, like a quarterback's over on passing yards plus his top receiver to score. Those payouts look huge, but the legs are tied together and the book prices that in, usually with extra margin. We'd rather see you bet two props you like as two straight bets than glue four of them together because the payout looked pretty. The straight bet guide explains why singles are where most bettors should live.

Prop bets on Paid2Bet

On Paid2Bet, NFL and NBA player props have their own Player Props tab on each sport's Bet page. To place a prop bet, tap a game to see its props grouped by player, then tap a price and the bet slip shows exactly what it pays. NFL props cover passing, rushing and receiving yards, receptions and anytime touchdowns; NBA props cover points, rebounds, assists, threes and points plus rebounds plus assists. We only post a prop when we can grade it from the official box score.

Over/unders are graded on the final box score: higher wins, lower loses, and landing right on the number is a push. An anytime touchdown counts a rushing, receiving or return touchdown the player scored himself, not one he threw. If the player doesn't play, the bet is refunded like a push. Props are single bets here, so they can't go into a parlay or a teaser. The full rules are on the rules page.

Our advice for your first few props: pick one player you know cold, check his last few games and the injury report, and bet it with a free balance before you ever put real money behind a hunch. You'll learn fast whether your eye for players is as good as you think.

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