What Is Micro Betting?

If you are one of the millions who has tried live betting or in-play betting, chances are you've also come across micro betting. Micro bets are the small bets you can place on individual events that take place in the middle of a sporting event, which don't usually rely on the winner or loser of the game. Micro bets are also usually settled moments after they're placed.

The speed of micro bets, and the continual cycle of the bets as one is settled and a new one is offered, is the key element that makes micro betting different from traditional prop bets. Let's take a look at this type of bet in more detail.

How Does Micro Betting Work?

As each new play happens in a game, there are new micro bets to choose from. It's live betting, but instead of having bets that settle at the quarter, half, or inning, micro bets settle as soon as the play is over. New odds are calculated and new bets are listed; they remain available to wager until the next play. And so it goes for the duration of the game.

Back in the days of sitting in a retail sportsbook to place your bets, micro betting wasn't possible. But as technology has gone from strength to strength, the speed at which odds can be calculated has made these types of small bets possible and popular.

You might not be interested in the specifics of what goes into real-time data processing. But it's thanks to that that you can now bet on the outcome of individual at-bats, trips to the free throw line, and an upcoming fourth-down conversion.

Popular Sports for Micro Betting

NFL Micro Bets

The NFL is the most popular sport to bet on in the United States, with nearly a third of American adults placing an NFL bet each year. And when it comes to micro bets, the NFL has one of the largest markets.

You are probably familiar with NFL prop bets. You can wager on which players score touchdowns, rushing and receiving yards totals, and which quarterback will outduel the other. Almost all of these bets will be settled at the end of the quarter, half, or game. Micro bets break down those prop bets even further, and often settle by the end of the next play or the current drive.

Common NFL micro bets include:

• Run/Pass play call for the next play

• 1st down conversion on the next play

• Complete or incomplete for the next pass

• Drive result: touchdown, field goal, missed field goal, punt, or turnover

For example, the Pittsburgh Steelers are facing a 3rd-and-8, and you bet on them converting the first down because it pays +375. A completed 12-yard pass wins your bet, which is immediately settled, and within seconds you can place another bet on whether the Steelers will run the ball or throw a pass on first down.

As a regular NFL viewer, you know how little time you have to bet on the make-or-miss of a field goal from when you first see the team lining up to attempt the kick. The time you have to decide whether a third down will be converted after a failed second down can be seconds.

NBA Micro Bets

The NBA gives you micro bets every night of the week. But it's important to note that the speed of the NBA actually works against it in terms of its suitability for micro betting. Even so, there are a number of exciting NBA micro bet markets that you can play:

• Next basket: two-pointer or three-pointer

• Next player to make a free throw

• Made or missed free throw on this trip to the line

• Next player or team to pick up a foul

Let's say there are 10 players on the court at any one time, but it's Nikola Jokic taking more than 40% of the free throws. You bet on him to be the next player to make a free throw because it's paying +175.

Or the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics are both really hot from outside, and it's now late in the game and the Warriors trail by 10 points. The next basket is more likely to be a three-pointer in the closing minutes, so that becomes your micro bet.

The fast-break nature of NBA basketball can leave you only a handful of seconds between each micro bet. But there are enough events available to play, making NBA micro betting one engaging way to watch basketball.

MLB Micro Bets

The Major League Baseball micro betting market is one of the largest available because of the large number of possible outcomes for each at-bat. The game is also slower, which gives you far more time to place bets on the small individual events that make up micro betting.

MLB micro betting markets include:

• At-bat result: strikeout, ground out, fly out, error, base hit, or home run

• Pitch type: fastball, curveball, or slider

• Pitch result: strike, ball, out, or hit

• Team to score this inning

• Batter to get a hit this inning

• Batter to get an RBI this inning

• Number of strikeouts for individual pitcher or team this inning

For example, starting pitcher Spencer Strider is one of the best strikeout pitchers in baseball. Kyle Schwarber strikes out as much as any batter. When the two face each other in a game, betting on the result being a strikeout is likely going to be a very safe bet.

The addition of the pitch clock in 2023 did change things for baseball micro betting. With the time between pitches as little as 15 seconds, you'd have to be super quick to get in a next-pitch micro bet. But there are still long at-bats and pitching mound visits that allow you to give this bet type a shot.

Micro betting and baseball are a match made in Heaven. Or is it Iowa?

NHL Micro Bets

The majority of the action in the NHL doesn't yield a result. Skating, passing, hitting — it all happens very fast, and it is hard to quantify into a bet that can be settled by a sportsbook. So the NHL provides fewer micro betting markets, but there are still some that are fun to play:

• Next player or team shot on goal

• Next goalie save

• Next score

• Time of next goal

• Next penalty

• Result of power play: goal scored or not scored

For example, The Tampa Bay Lightning score on 28% of their power plays and the Washington Capitals kill their penalties 79% of the time. As soon as the penalty is called on the Caps, odds are posted for whichever option you want to bet, whether that's for the power play goal or for the penalty to be killed.

A lot of the micro betting markets in the NHL take longer to settle because of the nature of the sport. But if you like betting on hockey, chances are you'll also like NHL micro bets.

Are Micro Bets Worth It?

Pros of Micro Betting

One reason people love micro betting is because it can keep you fully engaged for the entire duration of whichever game you're watching. You're constantly active and analyzing the next wager, and then moving on to the next wager after that.

Micro betting also often comes with much smaller minimum bets than other bet types. This allows you to experiment with different betting strategies, or just familiarize yourself with sports betting in general without having to put down a significant amount of money.

Finally, micro betting allows you to follow trends as they happen. A particular shooter is hot, one team is running the ball at will — these are things that you can wager on right now that you couldn't have taken advantage of with a pre-game bet.

Cons of Micro Betting

In micro betting, because of the speed associated with each play and each bet, being accurate in your evaluation of the best can be challenging. The bet is up and, before you know it, it's gone. If you think you'd find that frustrating, you might prefer a different bet type.

Many bettors tend to also focus their pregame preparation on wins and losses. Team A is at home, Team B is on a hot streak, Quarterback A is really good in the fourth quarter, and so on. This is useful, but only to a point. Since micro betting markets have nothing to do with the final outcome of the game, much of the pregame preparation you might be used to doing may not be relevant as far as the micro bets go.

Micro Betting Strategy

There is very little time between micro bets, and even less time to research which side of these bets are best. So when you do your betting preparation for the game, be thorough. Don't wait until the game starts to know that a team's tendencies are on third down. Make sure you know who the best three-point shooters are on a team, so you can then take notice when those players are in the game.

Be as informed as possible on the types of micro bets you are likely to see, and which players and teams do best within those bets.

Don't get caught up in the speed of the game or the large number of possible bets. Only bet on events that you have a chance of winning. And don't try to bet on everything. Find games and teams you know well and focus on those.