What is Prop Betting? Prop Betting Explained in 2 minutes
Mike Goodpaster Last Verified
19/04/2026
What is Prop Betting?
A prop – or proposition – bet is a wager on something happening or not happening during an event and usually does not affect the final outcome.
How is Prop Betting used in Sports Betting?
Prop betting is particularly popular in sports betting and is sometimes seen as a fun and entertaining way to bet. An example of a prop bet would be who will score first in a match between Spurs and Arsenal. For this bet it doesn’t matter who goes on to win the match, just who gets the first goal. If Spurs score first but win, draw or lose the match it doesn’t make any difference – if a bettor selected them to score the first goal they would win.
Although prop bets are sometimes regarded as not as serious as the outrights on win bets there is a lot of value to be found in them due to the fact that bookmakers do not always take as much time on the odds as they do for the final outcome bets. Experienced bettors will know that they can do their research to discover where these value bets can be found. If a bookie has priced an over on the LA Lakers scoring 100 points in a match too high and they are regularly posting high scores in their games the bettor may be able to make some money.
Did You Know...
There are really two kinds of prop bet – fun and skilled. Bookmakers will not present them in such a way so bettors will need to do their research, but finding the skilled prop bets can be a good way of making money. A fun prop bet would be whether the coin toss for the Super Bowl is heads or tails. The skilled prop bet would be whether Tom Brady will score more than 1.5 touchdowns.
