Sports Betting Q&A
Frequently asked questions about sports betting

What are sports betting futures?

Last Updated: Aug 23, 2024
|
Fact Checked By: Hunter Hewitt

A futures bet is a bet on a future event, usually before a season starts. It's one of the easier terms to understand in sports betting because they deal with betting on the future. 

Most sports have the ability to bet on futures because every sport has a future. In the NFL, you can bet on who will win the Super Bowl, who will play in the Super Bowl and who will win each division, among other things. In college football, you can bet on who will win the Heisman and who will win each conference. In soccer, you can bet on who will win the league and who will lead the league in scoring.

An example for Super Bowl odds would look something like this, though the list would go 32 teams deep: 

New England Patriots+500
Kansas City Chiefs+700
Dallas Cowboys+800
San Francisco 49ers+1000
Pittsburgh Steelers+1200

Going further for NFL futures, you can also bet on how many touchdowns or yards a certain player will get. For example, you can make a futures bet on Tom Brady if he will throw for more than 4,500 yards or more than 30 touchdowns. 

Not every sportsbook has an extravagant list for futures bets, but as sports betting grows across the country, the amount of things you can bet on before the season will only grow.

Read More Sports Betting Q&As

More Questions To Read
Yes. Where legal, the Super Bowl is one of the most popular sporting events to bet on in the world, if not the most popular.
A hedge is a method to reduce risk and secure winnings for a specified bet.
If you've never bet before, there are surely a lot of words and phrases you've never heard before and even if you have bet before, you may not know...
Vig, or vigorish, is the cut or amount charged by a sportsbook for taking a bet, also known as juice.
Yes. Tennessee sports betting was legalized in 2019 and launched in 2020.
Yes. Sports betting is legal in North Carolina, but it will be fully operational on March 11, 2024, with pre-registration beginning on March 1, 2024.
Pennsylvania passed legislation to allow sports betting in 2017 and sportsbooks began taking bets in 2019.
Yes. Indiana passed a bill to allow sports betting in 2019 and wagering started in October with online betting opening a couple months later.
Yes, sports betting is legal in the state of Ohio.
Yes. Sports betting is legal and regulated in Arizona as of football season in 2021.
Yes. Pennsylvania passed legislation to allow sports betting in 2017 and sportsbooks began taking bets in 2019.
Yes. Michigan passed legislation to allow sports betting in December 2019 and the first physical sportsbooks opened in March 2020.
Yes, sports betting is live in Massachusetts.
Yes, sports betting is legal in Maryland. It launched on November 23, 2022.
Sports betting is legal in Ohio, and takes bets as of January 1, 2023.
Yes. Sports betting is legal in Virginia and residents began betting via FanDuel in January 2021.
NFL Week 1 odds came out on all the best sportsbooks following the release of the 2024-25 NFL schedule in May.
Yes. Colorado legalized in-person and mobile sports betting in November 2019.
Yes. New Jersey was one of the first states to legalize sports betting and online wagering after the 2018 Supreme Court decision.
Yes, FanDuel pays out real money. Whether you use the DFS portion of the website, sportsbook, or online casino, you will be paid out in real money.
Yes. Illinois passed sports betting legislature in 2019 and launched at legal sportsbooks in March 2020.
Yes. Sports betting can be a career if you make it your full-time job and put in the hours.
Bonus bets in sports betting are often connected to deposits and are also referred to as bonuses.
The plus (+) and minus (-) in sports betting can refer to either the point spread or betting odds.
FanDuel Sportsbook is legal in 22 states. These states are AZ, CO, CT, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TN, VA, VT, WV, WY.