Official betting involves the betting of games that have been officially recognized by the sports organization. There are a number of different types of official bets, including props, moneyline wagers and live in-play wagers.

BetMGM, a renowned US online gambling operator, has been appointed as the first official sports betting partner of the Boston Red Sox. This multi-year relationship will see the brand use MLB branding and category designations in their Sportsbook, Daily Fantasy and FanDuel Faceoff platforms.

Aside from the obvious, there are a few things you need to know before placing an official bet on any sport. For starters, you’ll need to do your research and make sure the team or player you’re betting on is in the starting lineup.

You’ll also want to look at game props involving statistical totals for a particular game, as well as player props. In most cases, game props become official if the game has reached a certain number of innings or if specific extra innings count towards wagers.

The only exception is for MLB player props, which will have action if a player has at least one pitch and one plate appearance during the game. Unless specified extra innings count towards the wager, these bets will not have action and will likely result in a refund.

Lawmakers have backed a move to require sportsbooks to use official league data in some states, though it remains unclear if the cost is commercially reasonable or even worth the effort. While unofficial data has been sufficient for grading in-play wagers in Nevada, this is not the case for many US markets, and a mandated source of data could have serious implications for operators.