Understanding Money Line Bets

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Money Line Bets - online sports betting strategy and guide

Understanding Money Line Bets

Let’s talk money line bets. So not all bets are created equally, and this is very accurate in this instance. Many people first encounter a money line and are quite confused by the numbers that are shown instead of points spread.

Games such as Baseball and Hockey use this kind of bet quite regularly as they are low scoring games. Spread betting can work in these games but the odds take on a complex set of calculations and this can be quite dangerous for bookies.

Money line odds are actually the most basic to understand in a sports betting situation, all you are really doing is choosing the outcome of a match and selecting the team that you think is going to win.

That’s a very basic explanation but as always, there is a little more to it than that. It generally requires that the match needs to have completed fully.

Games such as Hockey and Basketball are quite common to have money line bets, but games like football or rugby are not suited.

That is because football offers a win, loss and draw and as such the third option throws the system out. So if you’re looking for some NRL bets, you should consider a few other betting options.

Basketball betting - online sports betting

How does it work?

Let us use imaginary examples to illustrate the point. We have $100 to bet on an upcoming game and we wish to place it as a money line bet. In this imaginary event we have 2 teams, Team A and Team B.

Team A are the favourites here with -120 odds and Team B are the underdogs with +150. To take these odds into account correctly we must try and determine what our potential payout will be.

If we bet our $100 on Team B, the underdogs, we will be paid out $150 plus the $100 dollars that we wagered. The negative value of the favourites, Team A means something different to the first example.

In this instance, the bet requires that $120 wagered against -120 will win the lucky punter $100 plus the $120 that was wagered. So in our example, the $100 that we bet on -120 will win us $80 plus our wagered $100.

For the bet to be successful, the match must complete and it can run into over time with no issues. Also be aware that some regions will show their odds in decimals and some in fractions.

Be sure to use a converting tool if you are unfamiliar with the format that the odds are being displayed as.

In Summary

So as we said previously, the betting premise is very simple: choose a winner for the match or game. That game must be complete and can run into overtime and will still be a valid bet.

The favourite will show a negative odds rating and the underdog will show a positive value. The underdog will provide the greater dividend and the favourite will give a lower payout.

It is quite clear: money line bets are really simple to understand. Once the odds are clear to you then all you have to do is pick your favourite team to win and you are well on your way.

All that is left for you to do is to find a match that you fancy and place a wager to test it out.