Betting this place has small provinces (7)
I believe the answer is:
spheres
'provinces' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both locations as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'betting this place has small' is the wordplay.
'betting' becomes 'sp'.
'this place' becomes 'here' (here in this location).
'has' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'sp'+'here'+'s'='SPHERES'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for spheres that I've seen before include "Areas" , "balls" , "Globes" .)