Moneyline Bet Meaning
What is a Money Line or Straight Up Wager?
A Money Line or straight up wager is a bet on the outright winner of the game or event, without any point spread odds. A Money Line better doesn't have to worry about a team winning or losing by a certain number of points.
If you are unsure, just bet the point spread bet and take the easy money. If you are confident, though, aim for the big win with the moneyline bet. Something else you can do is to bet both the moneyline bet and the point spread bet. Here is what your profit would look like under three different scenarios if your betting budget were $200. Definition of Moneyline Betting Bet is made on outright winner. A positive number denotes the underdog. A negative number denotes the favorite.
- Mar 29, 2020 Also know as a “straight up” bet, moneyline wagers require bettors to pick which side will win outright. Moneyline favorites will always have negative odds while the underdog side receives a plus.
- Sep 11, 2018 Moneyline Uses Besides baseball and hockey, moneylines are used for betting on other sports where a point spread becomes irrelevant, such as auto racing, boxing, soccer, and tennis. While there are margins of victory in some of these, they are so small that it would be impossible to create a point spread for every game.
Oddsmakers still determine a favorite and an underdog by the overall strength of the competitor, but the odds given are based on the amount of money that needs to be put up in order to place the bet.
Example:
The bettor will receive odds that resemble these:
Colts –140
Bears +120
The (-) symbolizes which team is the favorite and the (+) indicates which team is the underdog. So in the above example, the Colts are the favorite and the Bears are the underdog. All the bettor is wagering on is who he or she thinks will win the game.
If one were to bet on the Colts, he or she would have to risk $140 to win $100 (or $105 to win $75; $70 to win $50, etc). If one were to bet on the Bears, he or she would only have to risk $83.33 to win $100 (or $62.50 to win $75; $41.67 to win $50, etc).
So while the Colts are the favorite to win the game, one would have to risk more money if they wanted to bet on them.
Everyone makes moneyline bets without even knowing it. Even non-gamblers make moneyline bets. Betting the moneyline for a game is possibly the most simple way to wager on sports. Bettors just choose a player or team to win. If the bettor chooses the winning side, the sportsbook will pay the amount due. It’s really that simple.
There’s no point spread with a moneyline bet. Bettors are just picking the winning side. While placing a wager is simple, trying to understand how the moneyline pays might be a bit complicated. Both sides of each moneyline wager are paid on a different schedule and that could make this kind of bet confusing.
The favorite team or player on the moneyline is the team that’s expected to win. This side of the bet usually listed with a minus (-) sign. The underdog team or player on the moneyline is the team that’s expected to lose. This side of the moneyline is usually listed with a plus (+) sign. These signs signify how either side of the wager will pay. The minus side will pay less than original wager while the plus side will pay more than the original wager.
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How Do You Bet The Moneyline
Example of a moneyline wager
Low scoring sports like baseball, soccer, and hockey are usually bet on using a moneyline. But they are also popular in football. The best way to explain how moneyline bets are paid is with an actual example. Let’s use the upcoming Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an example.
The easiest way to understand moneyline wagers is by using a $100 bet. Using the above example, the moneyline on the underdog Buccaneers opened at +148 (currently ). At +148 odds, a $100 wager would pay $148 in profit if the Buccaneers won the game (for a total payout of $248). Bettors often like picking underdogs because they are usually “plus” money. This side of the moneyline bet pays out more money per unit than a wager on the favorite.
In this example, the moneyline on the favorite Chiefs opened at -176 (currently ). At -176 odds, a bettor would need to wager $176 to win $100. Since the favorite is considered the team with the better chance to win, a winning wager will usually pay out less than the original amount wagered.
Looking deeper into moneyline wagers
The two sides of each moneyline wager are essentially the opposite of each other. When wagering on the favorite it’s easiest to work from the dollar amount that will return a win of $100. When wagering on an underdog it’s easiest to understand how the moneyline pays based on how much a $100 wager will pay.
How Do Money Line Bets Work
Understanding how a moneyline wager pays isn’t simple but it’s not very complicated. That said, it might take running through a few examples before fully grasping the payouts. Moneylines for football and basketball games are often tied to the point spread. When a game has a large point spread it usually has a large moneyline. Both are separate bets but are shown together in a sports wagering app screen and in a brick and mortar sportsbook.
As seen above, lines and odds may be different at various sportsbooks so consider this just an example of point spread line and a moneyline.
Moneyline Bet Calculator
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Moneyline parlays
Moneyline parlays are growing in popularity. A parlay is a single wager that is comprised of multiple results. The payout for a parlay is greater than an individual wager on each player or game. Underdog moneyline parlays are becoming popular because the payouts can be very large. Moneyline parlays are becoming popular because of the perceived ease of choosing multiple favorites to win. Choosing one winner is difficult and multiple winners at the same time is even more difficult.