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Learning how sports betting odds work can be intimidating at first, but our guide will teach you how to read odds in no time! This primer is designed for beginners who are curious about common wagering practices and terms.

An in-depth look at betting the moneyline, including what is the moneyline, examples of moneyline betting and how to handicap moneyline wagers. 1X2 is a three-way bet type that includes the draw option. 1X2 is a common sports betting term where the selections are: “1”. Sports betting guide introducing how to read odds and wager on sports. Moneyline, point spread, and over under bets are explained. Learn how to gamble! In this case, instead of betting the moneyline (and having the Sharks to win outright), you are now getting. What Does Over/Under Mean in Sports Betting.

Learn to Bet on Sports & Gamble Online & Offline

For starters, you will need somewhere to place bets. If you are in Vegas, great! You can bet at one of the sportsbooks in their casinos. As more and more states pass laws to legalize sports betting, you will also be able to place wagers at local casinos in your area. You could also find a local bookie to bet through, but we recommend betting online.

How Online Betting Works

We have an excellent list of the top places to bet online (that take U.S. customers). If you are looking to maximize your first deposit, we also have a great comparison of the best sportsbooks signup bonuses for you. Once you’ve read the primer below on reading the odds, you will have no problem navigating these sites.

Las Vegas Sports Betting at the Ticket Window

Betting sports in Vegas is likely going to be the option with the biggest learning curve. You will understand the odds after reading this article, but there are a few other rules and common practices you want to be familiar with that are specific to Vegas.

Many books now offer their own betting apps that make this process a little bit easier, however, the drawbacks are that you must make a deposit upfront for how much you want to bet with, plus you don’t get free drink tickets when you place bets on the app. We’ll step through how you would place a bet in person at the ticket window.

Step-by-Step Guide to Placing Sports Wagers in Vegas

“I’ll take number 403, Cowboys -8, for $110 straight up.”

1. Use the rotation number/numbers and the name of the team/teams you want to bet on. The rotation number appears to the left of each team (see image above) and is used as a unique identifier so that there is no confusion about what you want.
2. State the amount you would like to bet. This is how much you are wagering, not how much you want to win. Most books use -110 odds (more on this later), so if you want to win $100, you’d state $110 as your wager amount.
3. Indicate the type of bet you are placing. For individual bets, just say “straight” or “straight up”, otherwise you will need to explain that you are taking a parlay or some other bet type.
4. Repeat as necessary.

How to Read Sports Betting Lines

There are nearly infinite ways to bet sports. If you can think of something to bet on, there is a good chance you can find somewhere to bet on it. What we are going to focus on is the most common types of wagers: point spreads, over/unders (totals), and money lines.

What Does the Plus (+) and Minus (-) Mean in Sports Betting?

One of the first and most important aspects of sports betting every new player must learn is what the different symbols mean. A plus or a minus can mean different things in different situations. They are used for both point spread and money line betting, as well as for the price/juice of each bet.

This is explained in more detail below, but the most important thing to be aware of is that negative numbers represent favorites, while positive numbers represent underdogs. The same is true whether you are looking at a spread or a moneyline, but how these numbers are used is very different. You also need to know that prices on spreads/totals do not impact who/what is favored, it is used to determine how much the bet pays out. Read on for the complete explanation of each of these concepts.

Point Spreads Explained

The point spread is the projected number of points that separate two teams. A game with a spread will have a favorite (the team expected to win) and an underdog (the team expected to lose). A favorite “gives” points and is identified with a minus sign next to their point spread. The underdog “gets” points and is identified with a plus sign next to their point spread.

In the example above, the point spread is 7 points. Patriots are favored by 7 points against the Jets.

If you bet on the Jets +7, they must either win the game outright or lose by 6 points or less. If they lose by exactly 7 points, the bet is considered a push and is canceled.

If you bet on the Patriots -7, they must win the game outright by more than 7 points. If they win by exactly 7 points, it’s a push.

Bet Prices: What Does -110 Mean? If I Bet $100, What do I Win?

The 3-digit numbers to the far right are the listed prices for these bets. This is also called the odds, vig, or juice. An easy way to think of it is the amount you must risk to win $100 on this wager. In our example, -110 means you must risk $110 if you want to win $100. -110 is pretty standard, but you will find different options. We will cover those in more depth when we talk about money lines. The price of the bet has no impact on which team is favored. Only the plus or minus on the point spread matters. This is handled differently when you bet strictly on the moneyline.

What is the Money Line? (How Moneyline Betting Works)

A moneyline bet is on a team to win the game outright (without a point spread) at an adjusted cost. Just like with point spread betting, the favorite will have negative odds, while the underdog will have positive odds. The difference here is in the price or payout depending on which team you take.

What Does The Moneyline Mean In Sports Betting Parlay

A favorite (e.g. Patriots -280) on the money line works just like our bet price example above. In our new example, the Patriots are listed at -280, meaning you would need to risk $280 for a return of $100 on them. It follows that a winning bet on the Pats pays $100 (plus your initial investment of $280 back). This added risk is why betting the spread is usually more popular, especially on favorites.

Underdogs (e.g. Jets +240) work a bit differently. Instead showing how much you need to risk to win $100, this line tells you how much you stand to win on a $100 wager. That means if you bet $100 on the Jets, and they win, you would win $240. If the Jets lose, you are only out your original $100 wager.

Totals: What Over/Under Means in Sports Betting

The terms “total” and “over/under” are synonymous when placing wagers. This type of bet is on the sum of the points scored by both teams in a game. The bookie sets the number for the total, then you predict whether they will score more or less points than the set number.

The over/under in this example has been set at 42.5. If you project the Jets and Patriots to combine to score more than 42.5 points, you would place a wager on the over. If you think they will score less than 42.5 points, you would bet the under. Let’s say the final score of this game is Patriots 27, Jets 24. Which bet would lose and which bet would win? The sum of all points scored is 27 + 24 = 51, so an over bet wins and an under bet loses.

You may also note the bet price is not -110 like we have seen before. It is common practice by sportsbooks to adjust prices on or around key numbers for spreads and totals, especially in football.

Understanding Sports Betting

We hope this short beginner’s guide to understanding and interpreting odds will give you the confidence to get out there and start making winning bets. Our experts are here to help you on this journey, so do not hesitate to contact us with any questions you have about sports betting! We have only scratched the surface on reading betting lines, but this is an excellent place to start.

One sport that has a few extra quirks is golf. I wrote up a guide to golf betting that explains these unique features so you can feel comfortable wagering on PGA events too.

Sports Betting Guide

Despite the fact that many punters are completely unfamiliar with its name, it is still one of the most common types of bets out there. Let’s find out more about what benefits it gives you, who it works and what can you do to increase your chances for success.

What Does Money Line Mean In Basketball Betting

What is moneyline?

First things first, let us clarify that it is not a new betting top or something that you would never come across. The situation looks rather more simple. Moneyline betting is nothing else as a form of a winner market betting, where instead of traditional 1X2 format you only have to back either team/player A win or team/player B win. In other words, it is the most simple and common way to place a sports bet. Looks familiar now?

What Does The Moneyline Mean In Sports Betting Picks

How does it work?

Since we already know what moneyline is, let’s talk more about how does it work and why does it exist. First of all the need for something like moneyline came up from sports like American football, basketball, baseball, volleyball and even MMA. Although some of these disciplines have the draw option, the majority of their events like NBA or NFL games cannot end in a tie game. That is exactly why this type of bets is a predominant one for the aforementioned markets (followed handicaps & over/under). Let’s not forget that popular markets like football do also offer moneylines. Obviously, football punters are more used to the traditional 1X2 betting, however, you can also find plenty of betting options without the draw. In such cases, the prices are adjusted, hence given only two options, and in the case of a draw, the stake will be voided and fully returned to you.

When placing your moneyline bets, you do not have to worry about anything but your backed team/player winning the event. It doesn’t matter if your team/player wins by 1 goal or scores 40 points more. A win is a win, and that is what only matters on this market, which is, again, great if you are either unfamiliar with Asian/European handicaps or do not feel confident about betting on the Over/Under goals/points market. Despite their differences, these markets are all tightly related. Well, at least, they should be. By monitoring all of them, you can get a better idea about the market and what is going on. Sometimes it helps to find a bookmaker’s mistake, and sometimes it just makes more sense to place a handicap bet or vice versa.

What is the difference between the moneyline and 1X2 markets?

While the difference between these two types of bets might seem to be really small, the effect it has on the odds you get is quite substantial. Not only it decreases the number of outcomes that the action will take on, which mitigates the risk, but also the odds will be looking a bit different, hence there is no draw option (in case of which you will not lose but get your stake back). This key difference is very important since many punters tend not to pay enough attention, placing a bet on a 1X2 market instead of a regular moneyline one and vice versa. Simply double-check whether or not the market you are placing your wager on has the third outcome (draw), in order to avoid any further misunderstanding.

Please, take a look at the following examples. The following markets are taken from the offers of some of the top online bookmakers. Therefore, it should only make it easier for you to recognise how do they look on the website, and, most importantly, be able to tell them apart from traditional 1X2 betting.

When should you bet on moneyline?

Since you are more or less familiar with what moneyline markets are, how do they work and how to tell them apart from the traditional 1X2 markets, you might want to place a wager. Well, what is the best way to do so..?

What Does The Moneyline Mean In Sports Betting Today

Depending on your attitude towards betting, you can either bet for fun or give it some extra effort and take a more serious approach. Once again, if you are serious about your betting, then you might need to spend some extra time looking for value. The key here is to look for the team that is according to your research is somewhat underestimated by the oddsmakers and take advantage of that difference.

While moneyline is very simple and one of the most common types of bets, it does not mean it is easy to make profits betting on it. Long-term profitability if a tough craft to master, but there are plenty of complex and rather more simplified betting models that will help you achieve your goal.

Last but not least, never stick solely to one market, which in our case is moneyline. Differentiate your betting routine, explore more options. By limiting yourself to only one type of bets, you are not doing yourself a favour! The illusion that you’re mitigating the risk will quickly hurt your budget. Try checking out all the available markets to find and then exploit the mistakes bookies make.

What Is The Moneyline Mean In Sports Betting

We hope this guide will help you get more familiar with moneyline betting and only bring you satisfactory results.