Within the realm of the online gambling world, gamblers often underuse the “futures” bet.  A “futures” bet is a wager on a sporting activity whose outcome will not be determined until some future point in time.  There are several advantages of placing a futures bet in an online sports gambling forum.  First of all, the wager will pique your interest on the team or event throughout the entire duration of the season.  The second key advantage of the futures bet is that the odds are usually quite inviting for the gambler.

For example, let’s say that you placed a wager in September on the Pittsburgh Steelers repeating as Super Bowl Champs of the National Football League.  Some online sports gambling sites had the Steelers as high as 8-1 odds.  If you were to place a wager on the Steelers today, you’d be lucky to get odds at 5-1.  Since you want to keep an eye on your investment, you will be following the games of the Steelers with avid interest, which will make you a sharper bettor on the weekly games on all the N.F.L. teams.

In April, the Guru told you on this site to make an online sports gambling wager at your favourite online sports gambling site on the New York Yankees for World Champs for 2009.  This wager represented a futures bet since the outcome would not be decided until eight months later.  The Guru was able to take the Yankees at 4-1 odds on a particular online sports gambling site.  Eight months later, the $250 wager on the Yankees returned $1,000.

The online sports gambling sites have already posted odds for next year on the World Champions of Major League Baseball.  Some of the teams you might consider include the Philadelphia Phillies, the runners-up to the Yankees this season, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets.  Of course, the New York Yankees have a history of building upon one championship with several others. 

If history repeats itself, the Yankees will repeat as champions of the baseball world next year.  You can probably get them at 3-1 odds in your preferred online sports gambling site, but I would look around to see if any other site lists the Yankees at 4-1 odds.  If you can get them at that price, take them!

You also still have time to place a futures wager on the Los Angeles Lakers to repeat as N.B.A. Champs, and the New York Giants (great odds) as N.F.L. Super Bowl Champs.