Summer is the sports fan's buffet: grass-court tennis, links golf, Test cricket and a baseball game almost every day. Plenty of people like to add a small stake to a lazy afternoon by the pool. Here is a plain-English guide to the summer calendar and the markets that go with it.
The summer calendar
| Event | When | Popular markets |
|---|---|---|
| Wimbledon | Late June to mid-July | Match winner, set betting, game handicaps, tournament outright |
| The Open Championship | Mid-July | Outright winner, each-way, top-10 finish, head-to-head matchups |
| English cricket summer | May to September | Test match result (including the draw), top batter, The Hundred and T20 matches |
| Major League Baseball | April to October, All-Star break in mid-July | Moneyline, run line, totals, player props |
| Tour de France | July | Overall winner, stage winners, points jersey |
| US Open tennis | Late August to September | As for Wimbledon |
Every few years the FIFA World Cup lands in the middle of all this, as it did in North America in 2026, and takes over every poolside screen.
Odds, in one minute
Odds are prices, and every price implies a probability:
- Decimal odds (common in Europe): 3.00 means a 1-unit stake returns 3 units including the stake. Implied probability = 1 / 3.00 = 33.3%.
- Fractional odds (traditional in the UK): 2/1 is the same as decimal 3.00.
- American odds: +200 means a $100 stake wins $200 (again decimal 3.00); -150 means you stake $150 to win $100 (implied probability 60%).
Add up the implied probabilities of every outcome in a market and you will get more than 100%. The extra is the bookmaker's margin, often called the overround or "vig", and it is how bookmakers make money regardless of who wins.
Tennis: sets, games and bagels
Besides who wins, tennis markets let you bet on the set score, the total number of games and game handicaps. Men's Grand Slam singles are best of five sets, so a strong favourite can be short odds to win but much longer to win in straight sets. A 6-0 set is a "bagel", which our ring and donut float guide explains with a straight face.
Golf: why each-way exists
The Open has a field of more than 150 players, so even the favourite is usually a long price. Each-way bets split your stake into two: one part on the player to win, one on them to finish in the top few places, paid at a fraction of the odds. Top-10 and head-to-head markets offer more modest, more frequent wins.
Cricket: the draw is real
A Test match lasts up to five days and can end in a draw, so a three-way market (team A, team B, draw) is standard. Weather matters enormously, which is why the forecast is the first thing seasoned cricket bettors check. Shorter formats such as T20 and The Hundred produce results in an evening and suit poolside viewing.
Baseball: a game every day
MLB plays 162 games a season, which means there is almost always a game on. The main markets are the moneyline (who wins), the run line (usually a 1.5-run handicap) and totals (combined runs over or under a number). Starting pitchers move the odds more than anything else, so check the line-ups before you bet.
Why betting has "pools"
Poolside betting has a pun built in. Pari-mutuel betting, used at racetracks such as Florida's flamingo-filled Hialeah Park, puts all bets on an event into a pool; the operator takes its cut and the rest is shared among the winners, so the odds are set by the bettors themselves. In Britain, "the pools" meant football pools, where millions of people predicted match results on coupons every week for much of the 20th century. The office sweepstake on a Wimbledon final is its direct descendant; see our beach party guide for how to run one.
Where to watch
In Las Vegas, Circa's Stadium Swim puts a giant screen in front of a terraced pool, a short walk from a huge sportsbook; see our best casino resort pools. Since the US Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on sports betting in 2018, many US states have legalised it, and rules vary from state to state. At home, a waterproof speaker and a shaded screen are all you need. Pair the game with a poolside card game for the slow innings.
