Money Line Betting: What Does The Money Line Mean

Money Line Betting

For beginning sports bettors, money lines can be intimidating, but once you understand the essentials , they’re just as easy to use as the point spread. While point spread bets are not solely determined by which team wins with margin of victory coming into play, money line wagers are only settled based on who wins.

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How A Money Line Bet Works

The best way to explain the money line is to show an example of it in action, so let’s look at a hypothetical baseball game between the Mets and the Dodgers. With baseball and combat sports being the most frequently bet sports on the money line, they are sound examples. When looking at the odds for the game, the bettor will see something similar to:

New York Mets +130

Los Angeles Dodgers -140

In this instance, the Dodgers are the favored team, as signified by the – (minus) sign in front of the 140, while the Mets are the underdogs, as designated by the + (plus) sign in front of the 130. These numbers mean that those wishing to bet on the favorite, the Dodgers, will have to risk $140 to win $100, while those wanting to wager on the underdog, the Mets, will risk $100 to win $130. Again, you don’t have to wager that much money; odds are typically given on the basis of $100 wagers for the reason of simplifying things. The proportions wagered and to win stay the same regardless of the amount of the bet.

As the odds of the favorite winning become greater, the difference between the odds on the favorite and the odds on the underdog will become more pronounced. For example, if the Dodgers are playing the Twins, we might see the following:

Minnesota Twins +190

Los Angeles Dodgers -220

In this case, a bettor would be required to risk $220 to win $100 if they were betting on the Dodgers, while Minnesota bettors would be risking $100 to win $190.

Another Example

The difference between the two will continue to climb as the disparity between the favorite and the underdog increases. Combat sports use money line odds as well, and we sometimes see much higher figures. In an MMA/UFC match, it wouldn’t be unusual to see odds such as:

Valentina Shevchenko -1100

Lauren Murphy +700

Here, those betting on Shevchenko must risk $1,100 to win $100, while those taking Murphy are risking $100 to win $700.

The reason for the shift in the difference between the odds is that bookmakers typically only make money on money line wagering when the underdog wins. In point spread betting, the sportsbook hopes to have an equal amount of money wagered on each team, which will guarantee a profit. In money-line betting, the oddsmaker realizes that more people will wager on the favorite and can only hope to have enough wagered on the underdog to cover their potential losses on the favorite.

Using the Shevchenko vs Murphy fight as an example, a sportsbook expects more money to be wagered on Shevchenko, as she has a much greater chance of winning the fight than Murphy. If 20 bettors collectively wager $22,000 on Shevchenko, the bookmaker hopes to receive $2,000 in wagers on Murphy from 20 other bettors.  If Shevhcenko wins as expected, the bookmaker will have the $2,000 on hand from the losing Murphy bettors and pay off the winners ($100 will go to the 20 bettors). However, if Murphy pulls off the upset and wins, the bookmaker will take the $22,000 from the losing Flanagan bettors and pay off $14,000 to the winning Mathews bettors and still have $8,000 of the handle for its efforts.

Money line betting is generally offered on all sporting events, even those that use the point spread, such as football and basketball.  A 3-point favorite in an NBA game will likely be in the neighborhood of a -160 favorite on the money line. The underdog will be around +140. You can always bet either way; the money line simply gives the bettor another option in deciding whether or not to make a wager.