Over/under

What an over/under is

An over/under, or total, is a wager on a number rather than a team. The book sets a line, usually for the combined points both teams score, and the bettor picks whether the final total lands over it or under it. Like the point spread, totals are usually set in half points so there is no tie, and both sides are typically priced near the same odds.

The same structure extends well beyond the final score. Books post totals for a half or a quarter, for one team's points, and for individual statistics, which is where the over/under meets the prop bet. Daily fantasy pick em products use a close cousin of it: more or less against a projection for a player's stat line.

An example

A game's total is set at 44.5. One bettor takes the over at -110, another the under at -110. The game ends 27 to 21, a combined 48, so the over wins. If it had ended 20 to 17, a combined 37, the under would have won. Neither bettor cared who won the game; only the sum mattered.

How Speed Survivor is different

Some Speed Survivor questions look like a total at first glance: "Does the next play go for ten yards or more?" The difference is everything around the question. It is asked live, during the game, and answered yes or no within a short window. Everyone in the contest sees it at the same moment, and there is no price attached. A correct answer earns base points plus a speed bonus for answering fast.

Nobody is on the other side of it. Speed Labs sets the question and takes no position; entrants compete against each other for a pool their entries funded, cuts thin the field, and the survivors split the pot. How it works walks through a contest.