Why Betting on Future Events Can Be More Rewarding

people with binoculars looking into the distanceTo some people, ante-post betting, or futures betting, is something that looks a little risky and in comparison to in-the-moment betting, it is. After all, you must wait for a longer period of time before your wager is settled, and various things can change within that timeframe that may affect your future bet. The further in advance you place a bet the more uncertainty there is in the market and this can mean you can get better odds on the eventual winner than betting nearer the time but at the same time the chances of something happening that could scupper your bet also increases (an injury, non runner, dramatic drop in form, etc).

Even though this is the case, for some people placing a bet on something happening in the future can be more rewarding. We are not simply taking about financially rewarding here. Although, of course, an ante-post bet with bigger odds would result in a bigger payout if it wins.  Rather, placing bets in the future can be more emotionally rewarding for many people and that isn’t necessarily about the bet winning.  Many people are driven more by the anticipation of a bet coming in than the actual eventual result.  Therefore, betting further into the future can maximise that anticipation while at the same time potentially saving you money by placing less short term bets.

Some people enjoy the thrill of the wager, rather than the eventual outcome. It’s the lead up to the end result that can often be the most rewarding for some gamblers. And whether that wager is a winning one or a losing one by the time it is settled makes little difference in this respect. Instead, everything that has led up to that point has provided the enjoyment factor that players have been seeking.

Positives and Negatives

Pros

Pros TickAs with anything, there are both positives and negatives to placing wagers on future events. It differs to traditional betting for obvious reasons – primarily that you need to wait for the outcome of a season or a race that is taking place several weeks or months ahead of the current time, for example.

The best part about betting on futures in the vast majority of cases is that the odds are usually a lot higher than bets closer to the time. This is due to the fact that the number of options available to select from and the period of time between the bet being placed and the outcome being decided is often extensive. Therefore, a small bet with the potential for a large payoff can actually ensure that you experience betting excitement throughout an entire season, whilst also eliminating the threat of sometimes wasteful recreational sports bets.

Placing an informed and savvy futures wager also offers you the chance to hedge and lock in a certain amount of profit as the season draws to a close and it becomes a lot clearer how the league or division will finish.  In fact, most people who call themselves ‘professional’ gamblers often bet on ante-post markets hoping odds will shorted so they can lay the same outcome on an exchange to make a profit, known as back-to-lay betting.

Ultimately many people are loss averse by nature, meaning the pleasure from a gain is less than the pain from an equivalent loss.  Therefore, placing less bets and picking wagers in that last longer can effectively mean you can get more longer term emotional reward by following that bet over time and less pain from loss if it does lose in the end.  The longer time period can also help you be more rational about the eventual outcome, not allowing yourself to allow specific moods to influence your betting.

Cons

disadvantages consOn the negative side of things, liquidity issues can arise, due to the fact that your funds are tied up for a significant amount of time in the wager. Furthermore, predicting a winner from so far ahead of the competition is a difficult task to undertake. It’s a lot harder to choose between a mass of teams with a futures bet than it is to choose between two teams playing a single match against one another on a game day. It is also key to note that bookies tend to maintain a higher profit in most futures markets, especially when more than two options are present. Bookmakers inherit a higher risk with futures markets in the same way that you, the bettor, do. This is therefore priced into the market.

Saying that if your plan is to place ante-post bets to win then as with all betting you need to do your research.  Ultimately you will find the best value if you can spot markets that are weak, i.e. the odds offered to you are better than the true odds of that scenario occurring.  The longer into the future you bet the more chance there is to find this value as bookies can only price markets on available information.

Even though there is a negative side to engaging in futures betting though, they provide ongoing thrills. And this is one of the main benefits of betting on them – you get to enjoy your gambling experience for more than just a single day or game. As long as the team or selection that you have wagered on remains in the relevant competition, you still get to reap the rewards.

For example, let’s say that you place a futures bet on Manchester City to win the entire Premier League. Every game that the team participates in is now something that you will be enthralled with, because it directly relates to that futures wager. The outcome of each match will determine City’s position on the leader board, and the obvious aim here is for the team to be at the top of the league by the time the season comes to an end.

You will be looking for them to remain in at least the top three or four teams throughout the course of that. It’s quite the thrill to see the team move up and down in the rankings, and you get a jolt of excitement every time it moves upwards towards the number one position. That’s the whole thing with futures – they provide long-lasting entertainment and enjoyment. Imagine experiencing those feelings multiple times over every time Manchester City plays a game but without needing to place individual bets on each match.

A Futures Bet That Could Have Netted a Cool Payout

basketball player slam dunkVarious people over the years have won by placing futures bets. And not always on sporting events, either. Sometimes they can be created on simple every day life outcomes, and result in bettors winning. One example of a sports futures bet that took place in 2019 saw a player rewarded with a huge payout.

It was in Las Vegas that a 30-year-old man chose to place two separate futures bets on college basketball. Two teams were selected as his choices to win the 2019 title, with one of them being on Wisconsin at 100-1 and the other on Texas Tech at 200-1 (despite the team’s odds having opened at 40-1). The bettor really wanted to place more than his $1,500 on Texas Tech, but it was declined by the director of the sportsbook, John Murray. Knowing the gambler had taken out many futures positions through the SuperBook platform in the past, he limited the player’s wager.

The punter settled for the $1,500 maximum bet at 200-1 odds, and four months later, his wager was one single game away from being a winner. Despite an offer from Dez Bryant, as well as a secondary one for $125,000 from PropSwap, the gambler let the original futures bet ride. Unfortunately, as it turns out, Texas Tech lost that final game to Virginia, meaning that his $1.5k futures wager was lost.

This didn’t seem to phase the man in any way, though. He spoke to ESPN following the loss and said that futures betting is “something that I do for fun”, mentioning that college basketball is one of his favourite sports to wager on. His decision to do this is because of the large variety of teams involved in such, and the long odds that are involved, rather than the ones available on individual games. This gambler has not stopped at simply taking bets out for himself, either. As if in some way of proving he is not out for financial gain from the wagers, he has given away multiple futures bets as both wedding and birthday gifts to others!

Instead, the idea of getting to have multiple thrills from seeing how an event will affect a futures bet is the thrill he needs. And this is the case for many people, although not many of them consider passing the bets on to others as gifts, it can be said. Therefore, ultimately, if you like the anticipation of winning more so than winning itself, placing a wager on a futures bet is probably a better route to take for you.

Why Do Some People Like the Anticipation of Gambling?

anticipated word dictionary definedPeople in this world are different in all aspects. Some people enjoy gambling, others do not. And some people are looking for a winning wager, while others are simply interested in the excitement gained from having a bet in play. None of these mindsets is correct and none are incorrect. It’s just the way that some people are.

But why is it that some gamblers enjoy the anticipation of a bet’s outcome, rather than the actual outcome itself? Well, the Society for Neuroscience conducted a study in 2017 which determined that anticipation helps pathological gamblers hold out for the potential larger rewards. Pathological gambling is, of course, a behavioural addiction, which is associated with the preference for a smaller but more immediate reward over something larger gained in the future. It is thought that the brain’s nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) are responsible for encoding how the rewards are valued. That’s all scientific mumbo-jumbo to most of us, though.

Within the study, Antonius Wiehler and his colleagues took 24 pathological gamblers and 24 healthy men and provided them with a choice between immediate monetary rewards or a larger reward provided at a later time. At the same time, they were all reminded of a future personal event happening, like a vacation somewhere. Through this study, it was found that thinking of the future personal event could shift the reward preference and the associated representation in the brains of pathological gamblers.

In this respect, it would seem that those gamblers who already get a strong enjoyment from the anticipation of a big reward rather than the reward itself, have the associated representation of reward preference already. Brain activity whilst thinking of the future event was very much similar in both the pathological gamblers and the healthy men during the research. It would also seem that interventions that enhance the general value of future rewards could also be somewhat effective in reducing the impulses experienced by compulsive gamblers.  In effect, uncertainty is its own reward.

Studies have also suggested that reward and emotion are dependent on one another. Yet there are also discrepancies regarding the interaction between both of these. Anticipating a reward can often provide a much more heightened sense of emotion than when a person gets a reward. Which is why some people really get to grips with futures betting – because the heightened emotions come in waves, rather than for a brief period of time. With a futures bet, you get a strong emotional experience whenever your selected team or player is in action, because it is linked directly to the anticipation of a reward in the end.

Think about Christmas, for example. It is common for people to get ultimately excited in the days leading up to Christmas Day. Why? Because they are anticipating what gifts they will receive from their loved ones. That thrill does not necessarily stick around during the time when the presents are being opened, nor does it specifically return after that time. Instead, it is the build up to that moment that gives people much more of a “festive feeling” in many cases. This same feeling can be attributed to many bettors who partake in futures bets. And that’s simply because of the potential for a reward to come at the end, rather than actually receiving such.

A Stronger Reward System?

negative and positive thinking conceptCan betting on future events can be a lot more rewarding? Well, for some people, absolutely. Because not only are the odds often greater for a futures bet (often resulting in larger payouts in the end, if it is a winning wager), but there is a longer timeframe within which to anticipate that payout. Think of it as being the countdown to a holiday, for example. If you’re going away on holiday in two weeks, you start looking forward to it in those weeks leading up to it. That anticipation of getting to step aboard a plane and travel to another country and destination is exciting, isn’t it?

Whether or not futures betting is a strong reward system than other sports betting is something that will differ from person to person. Yet it can certainly be said that it exists as such for some gamblers. Emotions and reward are so strongly linked that it is only natural to expect that some players can get a lot more out of the anticipation of rewards than reaching the end of a wager and seeing the result come to fruition.