Are you the type of person who likes to swim against the current? Eat your dessert before the entrée? Wear a flannel shirt and crocs to a formal wedding?
Anyone can fire up their online Maryland sportsbook to bet the moneyline, point spread, or create a parlay for the NFL, NBA, and so on. But what about the unusual events that are eligible in the sports wagering catalog? Maryland allows many lesser-known betting opportunities for sports bettors.
In this article we celebrate being different, as we choose five sports bets that are permitted by the wagering catalog in Maryland.
Be advised that while the bets listed below are specifically allowed by the wagering catalog, that does not mean sportsbooks will list odds for them.
NFL Prop Bet: Combined jersey numbers of all touchdown scorers
Betting on the NFL in Maryland will be tremendously popular, as it is across the nation. Americans love football. But why stick to outcomes and player props like passing yards, when you can lay some money down on an oddball thing like uniform numbers?
With this bet, you pick the over/under on the sum of the uniform numbers for the players who score touchdowns. Be mindful: you may need to break out the calculator app on your mobile phone for this one. Or find your abacus, or even take off your socks to count those little piggies.
MLB live bet: Will the next pitch be X MPH or faster?
Live betting is one of the quickest-growing ways to wager on sports. What’s great about live betting are the odds you can find in real-time, to leverage your betting funds. With this bet, don’t worry about which team will win, which player will smack a home run, or which inning will produce the most runs. Nope, just predict the speed of the next pitch. Will it be over or under X miles per hour?
Keep an eye on the radar gun (usually the pitch speed is shown on the scroll at the bottom of the screen of the MLB broadcast). You can find historical pitch speed data for major league pitchers from MLB Statcast. Simply enter a pitcher’s name into the search field and access information about his pitch types, velocity, and much more.
PGA Bet: Betting the Albatross
Birdies, bogies, bunkers. Golf has a language all its own. One of the most thrilling terms you can use on the links is “albatross,” which is three-under-par in a single golf hole. For example, recording a 2 on a par-5, or a hole-in-one on a par-4. It’s an extremely unusual play (in fact, Tiger Woods has never bagged an albatross in tournament play).
In Maryland, you can bet on whether any player will card an albatross in a PGA event, or how many (over/under) there may be in a tournament.
Will an NFL coach use all his timeouts?
Few things irk football fans more than a coach who can’t manage the clock. Probably because all of us have a watch and a clock hanging in our homes, we think we could handle time better than the head coach of our favorite team.
If an NFL coaches misuses his timeouts (we’re looking at you Matt LaFleur, who according to this chart calls the most unnecessary TOs in the NFL), fans will boo loudly in the stadium and throw things at their TV.
Now you can bet on whether a head coach will use the full allotment of his timeouts with this betting option in Maryland. To find this wager, access the specific NFL game and seek “prop bets.” You could make money on the boneheaded (or genius) moves your coach makes going forward.
Specified nationality of players selected in the NHL Draft in X Round
Sports is such big business in modern times that the professional drafts are huge stories which demand long news cycles and countless words and hours of speculation and coverage. The “mock draft” has become a staple of every news outlet.
The National Hockey League is arguably the most international game among the popular team sports leagues. Players from countries all over Europe, even the middle east, and of course the US and Canada, help create a tapestry of talent on the ice.
The NHL Draft is held in June each year. This year’s event will take place June 28-29 in Nashville.
Sports bettors in Maryland can wager on the nationality of a player selected in a specific round and spot. For example, you could bet that the fifth player chosen in the first round is from Sweden. Or Poland. Just be sure to crack open your atlas.
What is a Wagering Catalog?
The Maryland State Lottery and Gaming Control Agency regulates sports betting, and it’s required to establish an Approved Catalog of Events and Wagers. The catalog has more than 1,100 specific bets that consumers can place wagers on in the state.
If you have questions about what legal bets you can place, consult the website for the MSLGCA.
