Definition of Limit

What does the term "limit" mean in the world of sports betting? What is meant by a limit?

Bookies and sports books want your money, and they will essentially let you wager an unlimited amount of money if you choose. There are people in Las Vegas who will bet millions of dollars on a single game.

Sports books, however, don't want to expose themselves to a big loss, so they will shift the lines in order to make sure that a single result won't result in too big of a loss for them.

For that reason, sports books will implement "limits" - if you want to go over that limit, this means that the line will move in the opposite direction that you want.





Let's say that you want to wager $150,000 on the New England Patriots at -3 1/2.

The sports book might say - we'll accept $100,000 at -3 1/2, but if you want to wager the additional $50,000, the line will move to -4.

In this case, the "limit" is $100,000 - if you want to wager more, you will have to accept a slightly worse line.

This is how lines move in Las Vegas - a bunch of money comes in on one side and the sports books adjust the line to balance out the action.