Are you ready to join the action of a sporting event? Gambling on sports was a long-time tradition in England and it was only natural that the colonists would bring their passion with them to the new land. Sports betting has been present in the United States since it’s origins.
If you are ready to enter the world of sports betting you may find it a little complex at first however it is not nearly as intimidating as it may first look. Three of the most popular types of wagers are point spreads, totals (over/under) and moneyline.
So what exactly does moneyline mean and how is it used?
While the point spread is concerned with who wins and by how much, the moneyline is solely interested in who wins. The moneyline can be wagered in just about every sport, however baseball and hockey are the two-team sports that use it as the primary betting option. The main reason is that these two sports results tend to be much lower scoring, with the teams each totaling single digits in runs and goals, respectively. While there are margins of victory, they are so small it would be impossible to create a point spread for every game. In other words, smaller results lead to moneylines becoming the betting option of choice made available by oddsmakers, and larger numbers require them to mainly utilize point spreads.
The best way to explain the money line is to show an example of it in action, so let’s have a look at what is going on now in MLB in one of the fiercest rivalries in sports. Boston vs. New York
Instead of Boston being 1.5-point favorites (meaning they have to win by two runs to win the bet), they are -180 baseball moneyline favorites. The Yankees might be +160 moneyline underdogs. In this case a bettor would be required to risk $180 to win $100 by betting on the Red Sox, while the Yankees bettors would be risking $100 to win $160.
American odds always use a 3 or more digit whole number expressed as either positive or negative. When dealing with a negative money line this represents how much a bettor must stake to win $100. The reason there are positive and negative money lines is because teams are often not equally matched.
It's important to remember that even though money lines are expressed in units of $100, you do not have to bet that much money. The money line will work just as easily with a $5 or $10 wager as it does with a $100 bet.
The difference between moneyline odds on the favorite and the underdog will continue to climb as the disparity between the two increases. bookmakers typically only make money when the underdog wins. In point spread betting, the bookie hopes to have an equal amount of money wagered on each team, which will guarantee a profit. In moneyline betting, the bookie realizes that more people are going to wager on the favorite, and can only hope to have enough wagered on the underdog to cover their potential losses on the favorite.
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