How To Read A Money Line

How much money comes in the door (revenue). How much the money coming through the door costs (cost of revenue). How much the company spends to run (operating costs). How much or how little money is left after we subtract costs (profit). To get this information, you will need to take a look at a company's income statement. The rotation number if often referred to as the number or the rotation mark, moneyline becomes line, point spread is called the spread, and over/under becomes the total. When you come down to it, these are the major terms that can be lumped under the heading odds. 45: WAGE PERIOD: The amount of money earned in this LES that is subject to State Income Tax Withholding (SITW). WAGE YTD: This is the total amount of money earned so far this year subject to SITW. The – and + on a sports betting line indicates both your prospective payout and whether you're betting on the favorite or the underdog. Negative numbers signify the favorite on the betting line. The negative number indicates how much you'd need to bet to win $100.

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When you think about sports betting, the first wager type that comes to mind is probably the moneyline. The moneyline bet is a straight-up wager on who wins a game, fight, or any other matchup.

This money belongs to the shareholders, who may be private owners or public investors. Alone, the balance sheet doesn't provide information on trends, which is why you need to examine other financial statements, including income and cash flow statements, to fully comprehend a company's financial position.

The term ‘moneyline' might sound like a sort of foreign language. That's okay! We were all rookie bettors who had to ask questions at some point.

We'll break down moneyline bets and walk you through everything you need to know about them.

The Moneyline Made Easy

You've already learned how to read and interpret the three types of odds you'll encounter, so let's move onto the elements of sporting events you can bet on.

When making a moneyline bet, you're simply selecting the outright winner of a single game.

When making a fundamental moneyline bet, you're simply selecting the outright winner of a single game. This is the most straightforward bet you can make. There are no other contingencies.

Here's an example of the moneyline bet in action:

To place your bet, all you need to do is click on the moneyline number attached to the team you believe is going to win the game. If you think Anaheim will win, click on the +135. If you like Nashville, click on the -135.

From here, your pick will be added to a bet slip where you be asked to enter the amount you wish to risk on your moneyline wager. So, how can you tell how to calculate your payout on the moneyline?

Breaking Down the Moneyline

How To Read A Money Line Bet

The numbers next to each team on the moneyline are American odds which:

• indicate each team's implied probability
• determine how much money you would win, based on your wager.

The team that has a '+' sign on next to their odds is the underdog, while the team with '-' next to their odds number is seen by your sportsbook as the favorite.

In some cases, both teams will have '-' signs next to them. In this case, the team with the number farther from zero should be regarded as the favorite (eg. -120 would be the favorite over -105).

Because the bet will be harder to win, you will always receive a higher payout when you bet the underdog on the moneyline. Of course, the risk of losing such a bet is also substantially higher.

Winning Moneyline Bets

At this stage, you might be wondering how you can win moneyline bets. Let's revisit the Anaheim (+135) vs. Nashville (-135) moneyline example.

If you bet $100 on Anaheim at +135 moneyline odds and they win the game, you win $135 for a total payout of $235. On the flip side, you need to successfully wager $135 on Nashville to win $100 for a potential payout of $235.

When it comes to moneyline betting, the lines with a plus symbol tell you the amount of money you'd win on a $100 wager, while odds with the minus sign indicate the amount you need to bet to win $100.

Moneyline wagering is a relatively easy concept to understand once you get the hang of it.

Popular Sports with Moneyline Odds

You can find moneyline line odds for virtually any sport, including some of the following leagues:

• NFL
• NBA
• MLB
• NHL
• UFC

Moneyline odds will look similar across the board. The positive number indicates the betting favorite, and the negative number is assigned to the underdog.

Handicapping your Bet

Handicapping is an important part of strategizing your moneyline bets. Travers stakes trifecta payout. If you see moneyline odds for a team, and you believe they have a good chance of winning, then you're already familiar with the concept of handicapping.

Using analytical research, key betting trends, or any other knowledge that might eliminate any guessing in a bet is called handicapping. Handicapping assigns an advantage to a team based on available evidence and statistics rather than a gut instinct.

Beating the oddsmakers is a tough task, but the more research and handicapping you do on betting lines, the better chance you have at padding your bankroll.

Opening/Closing Odds and Line Movement

Online sportsbooks will adjust their moneyline odds as one side gets more of the action from the betting public. This changes the value of your potential return, so it's important to pay attention to line movement and the opening/closing odds.

Let's use the Super Bowl as an example. A team like the Kansas City Chiefs could start as -125 favorites, but as more people bet on them leading up to the Super Bowl, the odds might move to -150 or more. This could have a big impact on your winnings, which is why it's important to find early betting lines that have better value for NFL games.

Experienced sports bettors track the odds very closely, and watching the moneyline is an effective way to gauge what the oddsmakers are thinking. If you find a team you're confident in, and the oddsmakers are moving the lines the other way, then you'll have the edge over the sportsbook if your team wins.

Why Are There Fractions or Decimals on the Moneyline?

This depends on the audience your sportsbook targets. The + and – signs you see are referred to as 'American' odds. As such, American-facing books will almost always represent the moneyline in this format.

Sportsbooks outside of North America sometimes display the moneyline in either a decimal or fractional format. Even so, the moneyline always refers to betting on the winner of the game, regardless of odds format.

If you need a refresher on calculating all types of odds, be sure to check out our guide. This skill is essential to understanding the moneyline and giving you a return on wagers!

Why Is There No Moneyline for My Game?

Sportsbooks don't always offer a moneyline option for a game. Sometimes, they will simply offer totals and spread bets.

For example, many sportsbooks only offer an option to bet on the NFL moneyline if the spread is between 3 and 10 points. If one team is a heavy favorite (and the spread is listed at 14 points or more), many sportsbooks will choose to offer only spread and totals bets. This is an industry-standard, in most cases. However, there are exceptions to this rule at select online sports betting sites.

Other Factors to Consider

Here's a few other things to keep in mind when you're looking at moneyline odds at online betting sites:

How To Read Money Line On Palm

• Shop for the best lines – moneyline odds aren't the same at every sportsbook
• Point spread betting – look at other options like betting the point spread if you're on the fence about a moneyline wager
• Watch the vig – sportsbooks include a fee right in the betting lines, and bookmakers create odds that attract wagers on both sides

Get Closer to the Action

Sports betting is the best way to get more involved with your favorite games, and we have all the knowledge you need to wager with confidence. Check out Betting 101 for more guides that can help you drill the fundamentals.

How To Read A Money Line Wager

Most newspapers and online sports betting sites publish the line on a football or basketball game simply as a single number. In our example we will use Chicago against New York in which Chicago is favored by 4 points versus New York. Some bettors refer to this as the favorite laying 4 points, and the underdog getting 4 points. The spread is typically displayed in the following format:

• Chicago -4
• New York +4

By betting the spread, a sports bettor wagers on the amount of points a team is projected to win or lose by. In the example above, -/+4 is the spread. Since the spread is 4, Chicago must win by 5 or more points to win the bet, while New York can lose by 3 or fewer points to win the bet. If Chicago wins by exactly 4, then the bet is a push and no one wins or loses money.

Often there is a number to the side of the spread, such as Chicago -4 (-110). This is to show how much extra money a bettor must risk on their wager.

The (-110) important for calculating payouts and break-even percentages. Since it is -110, we must bet 1.10 to win 1.00, so for each $1 we want to win, we have to risk $1.10. For example, a sports bettor must risk $11 to win $10, $55 to win $50, $110 to win $100, $1100 to win $1,000 and so forth. If the line is a single number, like in the first example, -110 is simply assumed As you may have noticed, bettors are risking 10% more than they can possibly win from their wager.

There's a technical term for this extra fee: vigorish. The vigorish, also known as 'vig' or 'juice', gives sportsbooks a mathematical advantage, commonly referred to as the house hedge. You have likely seen similar fees for casino games. This how sportsbooks make a profit. Since sportsbooks charge a fee, sports bettors winning only 50% of their bets will likely end up losing money in the long term. Taking into account the vigorish, you need to win not half of your bets but at least 52.4% to break even on traditionally-juiced lines (-110).

A common misconception is that, because of this fee, sportsbooks stand to make 10% from the total amount of money bet, also known as the handle. For clarity's sake, the commission charged to sports bettors is actually 5%. Remember, there is action on each side of a betting line. Say the betting handle on New York vs. Chicago is $1100, divided evenly between the two teams. With $550 to win $500 wagered on Chicago -4 (-110) and $550 to win $500 on New York +4 (-110), the sportsbook will profit $50 off this game, or 5%, so long as Chicago does not win by exactly four points. In the case of a push, all money wagered on the spread will be returned to bettors.

While -110 is typical for spreads and totals, in the era of online sports betting, competition among legal US sportbooks often leads to better deals for customers. One no longer needs to risk an extra 10% on every wager. Some US sportsbooks will run promotions where sports bettors only have to risk an extra 5% on most games instead of 10%. In this case, the line would look like:

• Chicago -4 (-105)
• New York +4 (-105)

Card counting strategy chart. One would only risk $105 to win $100 a wager on Chicago winning by 5 or more points. If you win, you still win $100, but if you lose you'll only lose $105 instead of $110. It may seem like a small difference, but that extra $5 can add up over the course of a season.

Sometimes the line will be displayed as a rather larger number to the side of the point spread. Let us look at an example where you would need to wager $120 in order to win $100:

• Chicago -4 (-120)
• New York +4 (-100)

In this case, the bookmaker is getting a lot of action on Chicago. The bookmaker has two choices. Option A) they move the spread to Chicago -4.5/New York +4.5, or B) if they like the current spread, they can stick with Chicago -4 and move the 'juice' instead, hence -120.

Now bettors will risk $120 to win $100 on Chicago -4. On the other hand, those wagering on New York +4 will only risk $100 to win $100 (even money). This is how the bookmaker incentives bettors to wager on New York and balance their sportsbook's betting handle.

You might find one sportsbook with Chicago -4 (-120) and Chicago -4 (-110) at a different sportsbook. This is why it's so important for sports bettors to shop for the best lines across the US sports betting industry. The best way to shop lines is to use our odds comparison tools, which you can find for NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAAB, NCAAF and NHL.

How To Read Nhl Money Lines

In general most bookmakers apply the principle that the difference between betting on the favorite and the underdo is 20 cents. So if the favorite is -115 then the dog is -105. If the favorite is -125, then the dog is +105. And if the favorite is -110, then the dog is -110.

The same principle applies to wagers on the point total (Over/Under) of the game. If the game total is O41 (-120), U41 (-100) then a $120 wager on the over will win $100 while $100 on the Under will win $100. If the line simply states 41, then you are risking 1.10 to win 1.0 whether your bet is on the over or the under. Again, you can minimize the difference between the over and under and favorites and underdogs by using our odds comparison tools to shop lines.

A Moneyline bet is a wager on the outcome of the game regardless of the point spread. So if you bet the moneyline, you are betting on a team to win the game straight up (or outright). Moneyline wagering is more popular for MLB, NHL, golf matchups and combat sports such as the UFC and boxing, but you can also find moneylines for football and basketball. The usual display for a moneyline wager is as follows:

• X Team/Player -200
• Y Team/Player +170

As you can see, the spread disappeared. Now the number to the side of Team/Player is the moneyline. The moneyline is fluid, fluctuating based on the matchup and the amount of money being bet on each side. In this particular example, a sports bettor must risk $200 to win $100 (2-to-1) if they're betting on the favorite to win the game. One may bet $200 to win $100, $150 to win $75, $10 to win $5 and so forth. The bottom line is the same, one has to risk twice as much as they want to win.

A $100 wager on the underdog will net the sports bettor $170 if the underdog pulls off the outright upset. One may bet $100 to win $170, $200 to win $340, etc. The bottom line is the same, a bet on the underdog results in a +170% ROI if the underdog wins.

This principle is universal for moneylines, regardless of the team or sport. If Tiger Woods is -180 vs. Phil Mickelson +160, golf bettors must risk 1.80 to win 1.00 on Tiger. Those betting on Phil will risk 1.00 to win 1.60

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If you're new to sports betting, we hope this page helped answer some important questions. We also have a parlay calculator for your convenience, along with the odds comparison tools mentioned above. Be sure to use all of our sports betting tools and tips to help save you time and money at legal US sportsbooks.

How To Read A Sports Money Line

Note: Lines and scores highlighted in blue signify an update within the last ten minutes. Paddy power international number.