

Over time, chalky has spread out from horse racing, and chalk-related slang has come to be used in all sports. This term dates back to at least the 1950s, which suggests chalk and chalky date back even further. In horse race slang, a “ chalk eater” is a gambler who always bets on the favorite horse.

Eventually, the favorite horse’s name would be a smudge of chalk. The story goes that the oddsmaker would constantly have to erase the favorite horse to lower their odds so they wouldn’t lose money. The favorite horse was listed first with the other horses listed beneath. The most popular story goes that horse track oddsmakers used to keep track of the betting on a chalkboard. It is unknown when exactly the term chalk was first coined, although it is commonly thought that it comes from horse racing. If a person picks “all chalk, ” they pick all of the favorites. It means a person tends to pick all the favorites or their picks are heavily slanted toward the favorites. In sports betting, always betting on the chalk won’t win a lot of money because the payout for a favorite winning is low.Ĭhalky is an adjective version of the slang chalk. The team/player that the oddsmaker thinks is most likely to lose is called the underdog. This group or individual is also known as the favorite. In sports betting, the chalk is the team, person, or animal that the oddsmaker thinks is most likely to win.
