What Does A Money Line Mean

4/12/2022

What Does A Negative Money Line Mean
What Does A Money Line Bet Mean
What Does A Positive Money Line Mean

In the world of sports betting, a money line bet is simply betting on which team you expect to win. It doesn’t have anything to do with a spread. You may also see a money line bet listed as “Money Line” or “ML” in different spaces.

Money lines are represented in negative and positive values.

What Does Money Line Mean In Betting: Betting Agency: Usatoday Betting Lines. What Does Money Line Mean In Betting. Money line (Money lines) A type of bet in which you must only pick the winner of a game straight up, not dependent on what the 'Sides' of the game are. If your team is listed at -265, you must bet $265 to win $100. A similar bet to the Money Line in baseball is the Run Line. This has a fixed 1.5 spread. As the favourite is always starting with a -1.5 handicap, it brings the odds closer to evens for both teams, but there is still some value if you know your MLB. With money lines, remember that plus signs mean underdogs and minus signs mean favorites. North Carolina is an underdog at +135 and since they are the underdog, you make more than you bet if they win. A bet on North Carolina would pay $135 for every $100 you bet. When betting on favorites to simply win, you won’t be getting as much as you bet. A money line is a wager on the natural result of a game or event. In other words, the score or outcome is unadjusted. This is different from spread betting where the sportsbook adjusts the score to determine the winner. Money lines, often written moneylines or money-lines, are also called American odds due to their popularity with US bookmakers.

Negative money line: -145, -220, or anything similar

When you see a minus (-) sign in front of a price, it shows you that team is the favorite to win the game.

That number also indicates how much money you need to bet/spend in order to win $100.

For example, a -220 money line means you need to bet $220 in order to win $100 provided the team you bet on actually does win.

What Does A Negative Money Line Mean

Heavy favorites are known in sports betting as a “chalk” pick. A heavy favorite usually has a number pushing +300 or more. Here, you’re wagering a lot on the favorite to win a little. Don’t assume that a heavy favorite, or chalk pick, is a guaranteed winner…

Positive money line: +145, +220, or anything similar

When you see a plus (+) sign in front of a price, it shows you that team is the underdog. Higher numbers like +400, +500, +5000, etc. represent how much of an underdog the team is in the game. The higher the number the more likely the team is expected to lose in the eyes of the oddsmakers.

What Does A Money Line Bet Mean

The number also indicates how much money would win in comparison to every $100 you wager.

For example, a +150 money line means you would win $150 for each $100 wager you place should that team win the game.

Money line examples:

Lets use an NFL example here:

New England Patriots -240

Miami Dolphins +220

What Does A Positive Money Line Mean

To bet the New England Patriots to win on the money line, you would need to spend $240 on the bet for a chance to win $100 if the Patriots beat the Dolphins. Your return would be $340 – the original $240 stake (bet) and the $100 bet profit.

To bet the Miami Dolphins to win on the money line, you would spend $100 on the bet for a chance to win $220 if the Dolphins, as the underdog, beat the Patriots. Your return would be $320 – the original $100 stake (bet) and the $220 profit.

In both situations, it doesn’t matter if the team you bet on wins by one point or 100 points. You’re purely betting on the team you believe will win the game. As Al Davis said, “Just win, baby.” That’s exactly what you’d be looking for out of your selection. It doesn’t have to be pretty, it just has to happen or your original stake is lost.

At the Online Gambling Paper we always stride in helping bettors by explaining the basic sports betting terminology in the simplest way possible. Here we will look at the term 'money line', its variations, mistaken meanings and more. As usual examples will be provided to help you better understand what money line means in sports betting. So let's begin without wasting any more time.

The term 'money line' will be seen in sports betting mostly in the United States and it's often referred to as 'American odds' (although this is a mistake, read last paragraph). It usually takes the form of a plus '+' or minus '-' sign, followed by a three digit number, for example, -110. The simplest explanation of the money line term in sports betting is - the odds on an outright (or straight-up) outcome of a game or other sporting event. This makes money line the best bet for beginners, since you simply bet on who will win the game, period. Here is an example, at the online sportsbook Bookmaker, the money line on the NFL game Broncos @ Patriots is as follows: Denver +145, New England -165. This means that the money line odds on Denver to win the game, without any other conditions, such as point spread, straight-up are +145 and the money line on the Patriots to win the game is -165. Here would be a great time to explain what these numbers (or 'lines') mean:

Calculating the American odds, or money line odds, is very simple, although to a foreign or a beginner bettor it would be a complete gibberish. This is how you calculate the money line - if there is a plus sign '+' in front of the number, the number shows how much money you will win for every $100 you wager, if your bet is a winner. For example, if the Denver Broncos win the game, you will win $145 for every $100 wagered, i.e. if you bet $200 you will win $290. And if the sign if front of the money line odds is minus '-', the number shows how much you have to bet in order to win $100. Looking at the above example, if the Patriots win the game you will have to bet $165 to win $100, i.e. if you bet $165 on the Pats to win the game and they do, your money will go from $165 to $265 (the $165 you initially wagered + the $100 won). By looking at the money line odds you can easily spot the favorite and the underdog - the favorite team holds money line odds beginning with minus and the underdog holds odds beginning with plus. There is one other form the money line odds can take, that being 'EVEN', often posted by the sportsbooks as 'EV'. This simply means that you will get paid even money on your bet. For example, if the money line odds on the Broncos were listed as 'EVEN' you will get $100 for every $100 bet, or $150 for every $150, etc.

Now that you know how the money line works in sports betting, here would be the perfect place to clear a confusion often ran into by people new to betting or to the American system of betting odds. It's very important to make a clear distinction between 'money line' and just 'line'. As we already explained, 'money line' is a form of bet, relating to the straight-up outcome of the game. In this aspect, money line is similar to 'point spread' or 'total'. On the other side, 'line' is the payout on the bet, i.e. how much you will win if your bet is a winner. In this regard, 'line' is similar to 'odds', the form for calculating payout in the U.K. (fractional) or 'coefficient', the form for calculating payouts in Europe, also called 'decimal'. I know it got overly complicated all of a sudden so let's look at an example once again. The image below has been taken from the online sportsbook BodogLife and shows part of their NFL betting sheet. To show you the difference between 'money line' the bet and 'line' the form of calculating the payout, we have circled 'money line' with red and some of the 'lines' with blue:

As you can see, the Titans line on the point spread is -115 or how much you will win if the team covers the spread, while the money line on the Titians is -400 or how much you will win if the Titans win the game.