Official betting is a type of sports betting that involves a wager placed by the sportsbook on a game’s outcome. It is regulated by The Football Association (FA), which is responsible for making sure that betting on soccer matches is handled fairly and that no one associated with a club has any influence over the outcome of a match. In addition to regulating the activity of players and managers, the FA also regulates the betting activities of clubs at lower levels of men’s and women’s league systems.

In baseball, a betting scandal known as the 1919 Black Sox Scandal occurred when a professional gambler paid eight members of the Chicago White Sox (Oscar Felsch, Arnold Gandil, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Fred McMullin, Charles Risberg, George Weaver, and Claude Williams) to fix a World Series matchup against the Cincinnati Reds. The incident is considered to be one of the most famous betting scandals in the history of professional sports and those involved were permanently banned from playing baseball.

In 2022, Iowa and Oregon legalized sports betting and the first online and retail sportsbooks began taking bets. The state’s laws allow for betting on pro and college sports but restrictions involving in-state collegiate games and player prop bets are in place. A sportsbook may decline a bet or refund a bet for a number of reasons, such as an erroneous scoring decision that is later reversed by the official scorer. The sportsbook will usually post these changes on its website, although the original bet is still considered a win.