Money Line Betting
Posted in Blogroll on January 17th, 2012 by adminA money line bet is a wager on which team will win a game and is the most popular way to bet on hockey and baseball, but does exists also for basketball, football and other sports. In this type of wager the payout is the same regardless of how many runs or points the team you wagered on wins by. Now if you’re brand new to sports betting you need to understand American odds, because this is a huge part of moneyline betting.
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. For example a line of -180 requires $180 to win $100, so here if your bet is successful you keep the $180.00 you staked plus get back $100 in winnings. When dealing with a positive money line this how much a $100 stake will pay. For example if you stake $100 on a line of +160, if your bet wins you keep the $100 you staked plus receive $160 in winnings.
The reason there are positive and negative money lines is because teams are often not equally matched. To state an example if Tiger Woods is facing off against your local high school golf champion in a one on one match Tiger might be -100000 and your friend +50000. In professional sports of course the gap is much less, however it’s not uncommon to see the betting line of a great hockey team against a struggling one have a betting line of Favorite -210 / Underdog +180. Worth noting is the 30 cent difference in prices is because the bookmaker allows you to choose either side; the gap is the result of his built in profit margin.
To quickly cover what others don’t: a tip is though moneylines are based off a $100 betting unit, with most sports books, bookies and betting sites you’re free to wager as much as you’d like. To calculate in advanced what your payout will be move the nonexistent decimal point over two points, for example -210 becomes 2.1 and +170 becomes 1.7.
Next, if dealing with a negative divide how much you’d like to risk by that decimal figure. For example $150 staked on -210 would be $150 / 2.1 = $71.43. So here your bet is risk $150 @ -210 to win $71.43 profit. When dealing a positive number do the same but multiply. For example $150 risked at +180 is $150 x 1.8 = $270.00. So here your bet is risk $150 to win $270.00 profit.
Now that at you understand moneyline betting, you may want to take a look at this baseball betting guide. You will be able to learn the other types of MLB bets such as the Runline, Over/Under, Parlay and Prop bets.
Did you know that you can place wagers from your iPhone or other mobile device? Take a look at these iPhone sports betting sites. There are currently more options for for UK and European sports betting sites; however, you will find a few USA sports books listed.
