Futures Betting: What is a Futures Bet?

Most bettors are comfortable with short-term pre-match bets, and plenty of sports fans have already tried live, in-play betting. But what about futures betting — wagers that don't resolve in a few minutes or even a few hours, but weeks or months down the road? In this futures betting guide for beginners, we'll answer the core question — what is a futures bet — walk through how futures odds work, compare futures to outright and prop bets, and share a practical futures betting strategy you can actually use.

What is a Futures Bet?

A futures bet is a wager on an outcome that will only be settled far in the future — often weeks, months, or even a full season away. The classic example is picking a team to win an entire competition before it even starts. Betting on a national team to lift the FIFA World Cup, on a franchise to win the Super Bowl, or on a roster to take home the League of Legends World Championship are all textbook examples of futures betting. Other popular futures markets include a specific player winning an MVP award, a golfer winning a major, or various prop bets tied to long-term outcomes.

Bookmakers occasionally also offer "futures negatives" — betting on a team not to win a tournament. These markets are rare and usually only appear when there's an overwhelming favorite in the field.

Futures Bet Example

Futures markets are especially common in football, so let's look at how they typically appear on a sportsbook. The table below is an illustrative example of an outright futures market for a major continental club tournament — the actual teams, odds, and cut-off dates will differ depending on the season and bookmaker, so always check current listings before betting.

The first thing you'll notice is that futures odds run much higher than short-term match odds, where favorites often sit between 1.01 and 2.00. Underdog futures odds, meanwhile, can be enormous. The second thing to notice is the wait: a tournament-winner futures bet like this one might not settle for two, three, or more months after you place it — so your bankroll is tied up until the very end.

How Do Futures Bets Work?

So how do futures bets work in practice? When you place a futures bet, the sportsbook locks in your odds at that moment, and your stake sits untouched until the market resolves — win, lose, or (rarely) push. A few things make futures bets behave differently from a normal match bet:

• The odds move over time. As results come in, injuries happen, or rosters change, the sportsbook adjusts the odds for everyone still in the market — but your original odds stay locked once you've placed the bet.
• You can usually add to your position. Nothing stops you from betting on the same outcome again later at a different price, effectively averaging your odds.
• Settlement can take a while. A season-winner futures bet only pays out once the season (or tournament) is fully decided.
• Some books offer cash-out. If your futures bet is offered with a cash-out option, you can lock in a partial profit or cut a loss before the market resolves, instead of hedging manually (more on that below).

Futures Odds Explained: How to Read Futures Odds

If you're new to this, futures odds explained simply means understanding what a number like 13.0 or +2000 actually pays out. Here's how to read futures odds and work out your return, whether you're using decimal or American formats.

Decimal odds: multiply your stake by the odds to get your total return (profit + stake back).

Payout = Stake × Decimal Odds

Example: a $50 bet at 13.0 odds returns $650 total ($600 profit + your $50 stake).

American odds: a positive number (e.g. +2000) shows the profit on a $100 stake; a negative number (e.g. -150) shows how much you need to stake to profit $100.

Payout on positive odds = Stake × (American Odds ÷ 100) + Stake

Example: $100 at +2000 pays $2,000 profit, plus your $100 stake back — $2,100 total.

There's no need for a dedicated futures bet payout calculator — the two formulas above cover decimal and American odds. Most sportsbooks also show your potential payout automatically as soon as you enter a stake, so you can double-check the math before confirming.

Futures Bet vs Outright Bet: What's the Difference?

You'll often see "futures" and "outrights" used interchangeably, and on most bookmakers they do overlap heavily — but they're not technically identical.

What does outright mean in betting? An outright bet is a wager on who will win an entire competition, tournament, or league outright — no draws, no ties, one clear winner. It's the most common type of futures bet, which is exactly why many sportsbooks label their entire futures section simply "Outrights."

The difference is that futures is the broader category. It includes outright winner bets, but also things like top goal-scorer, MVP, most wins in the regular season, or a team failing to make the playoffs. In short: every outright bet is a futures bet, but not every futures bet is an outright bet.

Future Bet vs Prop Bet: What's the Difference?

Another common point of confusion is future bet vs prop bet. Both can involve long odds and both can be fun "for entertainment" wagers, but they measure different things:

• Futures bets are tied to a broad, long-term outcome — who wins the league, the tournament, or the championship.
• Prop bets (proposition bets) are tied to a specific occurrence, which can be as short as a single play in a single game (will the first score be a touchdown?) or as long-term as a season stat (will a player score 30+ goals this season?).

The overlap happens with "season-long props," like a player's total touchdown count — technically a prop bet, but resolved on a futures-like timeline. If you want the full breakdown, check our dedicated prop betting guide.

How To Bet Futures

It's rare for a sports betting site to have a standalone "Futures" tab on its homepage. In most cases, futures markets are tucked inside the page for a specific league or event. Here's how to find and place one:

1. Navigate to the sport of your choice.
2. Find the event or competition you want. Futures bets can open before an entire event begins, or before a specific stage of it (for example, before the group stage or before the playoffs) — so plan your timing accordingly.
3. Look for the "Outrights" or "Futures" tab. Outrights is a subset of futures betting, but on many books it's the only futures market offered — which is why the tab is often just labeled "Outrights."
4. Place your bet and wait. Waiting is, surprisingly, the hardest part — many futures bets take weeks or months to resolve.

Futures Betting Markets by Sport

Futures markets look a little different depending on the sport. Here's a quick rundown of what to expect:

• Football/Soccer: league title winners, cup and continental tournament winners, top goal-scorer (Golden Boot), team to be relegated.
• American Football: Super Bowl winner, conference winner, division winner, MVP, Offensive/Defensive Rookie of the Year, regular-season win totals.
• Basketball: championship winner, conference winner, MVP, Rookie of the Year, Coach of the Year.
• Esports (League of Legends, CS, Dota 2): World Championship / Major winner, regional league winner, MVP of the event.
• Tennis: Grand Slam tournament winner, year-end world number one.
• Golf: major championship winner, Player of the Year, Ryder Cup / team event winner.
• Motorsport: Drivers' Championship winner, Constructors' Championship winner.

Futures Betting Strategy

Because futures bets involve so many moving parts and such a long resolution window, they're harder to get right than a standard pre-match bet. If you don't want to waste time and money, it pays to build a real futures betting strategy. Here are the two pillars most experienced bettors rely on.

How to Hedge a Futures Bet

Hedging is a strategy that limits your risk by betting on more than one possible outcome in the same market. It works especially well in sports where the field of realistic contenders narrows as the season goes on — American football futures are a classic example, since betting on multiple conference or division contenders early lets you hedge as the playoff picture becomes clearer.

Hedge Futures Bet Example: Team A carries long odds of +2000 to win the championship after some roster uncertainty. Putting down $100 on Team A would net a $2,000 profit if they go all the way — $2,100 total returned.

At the same time, a bettor could hedge by also backing Team B at +500, where a $100 stake pays $500 profit — $600 total returned.

The math is straightforward: if Team A wins, the bettor nets $2,000 (Team A profit) minus the $100 lost on Team B = $1,900 net profit. If Team B wins instead, the bettor nets $500 (Team B profit) minus the $100 lost on Team A = $400 net profit. Either way, the bettor walks away in profit — that's the whole point of hedging.

You can see why learning how to hedge a futures bet is such a valuable part of any sports betting strategy — used well, it can take most of the risk out of a long-term wager.

Remember: in American odds, a negative number tells you the stake needed to win $100, while a positive number tells you the profit on a $100 stake. Learn more in our full guide to betting odds.

When to Bet Futures: Timing and Odds Movement

Knowing when to bet futures is arguably more important than picking the "right" team. Just like in financial markets, timing in futures betting means placing your money when you believe the odds are about to move in your favor — before the rest of the market catches on.

This is where futures bet odds movement comes into play. Odds shift constantly as results roll in, as public money piles onto the "hot" team, and as rosters or lineups change. Betting early can lock in long odds on an undervalued team; betting later can confirm real form before you commit — the trade-off is that odds usually shrink the more confident the market becomes.

League of Legends is one of the biggest esports in the world, with major scenes across Europe, North America, China, and beyond. Uniquely, its competitive scene is run directly by the game's developer and publisher, Riot Games.

Betting on the winner of an S-tier regional league is a popular League of Legends futures market, and most of these leagues are split into multiple stages across the year — which makes them a great example of pure timing strategy, since hedging doesn't apply as cleanly to a split-based format. Here's an illustrative walkthrough of how a timing-based bet can play out.

Regional leagues like the LCK are among the most prestigious competitions in League of Legends esports.

Timing Futures Betting Example: Say we want to bet on the regional league champion. One roster we're watching changed several players in the off-season, while its rivals kept their lineups intact — a typical situation at the start of a competitive year.

Most analysts agree this rebuilt roster has the most individual talent in the region, which makes it the betting favorite — reflected in short futures odds early on. But talent alone doesn't guarantee results: team cohesion, travel, and practice time all matter. Betting on this roster to win the title outright before the first split is risky and offers a thin payout, so a patient bettor might pass on odds of 3.5 at this stage. Suppose, in this illustrative scenario, a different, more experienced roster wins the first split instead.

This is exactly where timing futures bets pays off. Public confidence in the rebuilt roster cools off, since bettors tend to overreact to early results — and the odds on that team to win the second split drift out as the "hype" fades. Meanwhile, the roster has had a full split to gel and is now playing to its potential. Betting on them at the improved odds for the second split — and having them go on to win it — is the payoff for reading odds movement correctly instead of chasing the early favorite.

Responsible Futures Betting

Because futures bets tie up your bankroll for weeks or months, it's easy to lose track of how much you actually have in play across different markets. Only bet what you can afford to leave untouched until the market settles, keep track of every open futures position, and treat futures betting as entertainment, not an investment plan. If betting stops feeling fun or starts affecting your finances or wellbeing, reach out to a responsible gambling service in your region for support.

Last updated: July 3, 2026