What is a Moneyline Bet? | Moneyline Betting
The moneyline bet is probably the first thought that comes to mind when thinking about betting sites—even if you don't quite yet know what the moneyline means.
What is a Moneyline Bet?
It is by far one of the easiest sports betting options available, where your only job is to select a winner of the game. You can pick team one or team two, fighter one or fighter two, player one or player two. It’s as easy as that.
Unless otherwise specified in the book's terms and conditions, moneyline bets "push" if the game ends in a tie, but most games in popular North American sports don’t result in a tie. If you bet on an outcome, it includes overtimes and shootouts, so you won’t have to worry about your bet pushing from regulation ties. Soccer offers a three-way money line bet that will allow you to pick the tie option if you feel drawn to do so.
Moneyline betting is the most common type for new betting site users. It’s a great starting point if you aren’t generally familiar with betting. However, you likely have been unknowingly making small unofficial moneyline bets with friends over the years by picking which team you think will win the Super Bowl or Stanley Cup.
How to Read Moneyline Odds
You need to look at the odds when placing a moneyline bet. Moneyline betting odds will show you which team which team is favored and how likely that team is to win. The larger the number, the bigger the underdog or favorite.
They can also show you how much you need to wager to win $100 or how much you might win off of a $100 bet.
Moneyline odds can be displayed in a few different odds formats. American odds tend to be the most commonly viewed odds format in North America.
There are also Decimal and Fractional odds that you may find easier to understand.
I'll include examples of what each odds display looks like.
Moneyline Betting using American Odds
American odds will be displayed in the hundreds or thousands with a plus or minus sign. That sign will show you how big of an underdog a team is or how favored a team is.
American odds in moneyline betting will show you a quick way to calculate your winnings on a $100 wager. With the favored team, you will need to bet the odds amount to win $100. If the favored team’s negative odds are set at -225, you have identified that the team is the favorite because of the negative symbol. Now you can see that you will need to wager $225 to win $100.
You can obviously bet any amount, but this shows that you will need to wager quite a lot to win any substantial amount.
If you want to bet on an underdog that has odds of +400, you will have identified the underdog by the plus sign. These moneyline odds will show you that you will need to wager $100 to win $400 on this team, as they are less likely to win, so you’re taking a risk for a potentially big reward.
Again, you can bet any amount; this is just an easy way to examine positive odds and determine how much you'd win on a $100 wager.
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Moneyline Betting Using Decimal Odds
Another popular moneyline odds format in which you can view your wagers is the decimal odds format. Decimal moneyline odds are popular in European countries and have been commonplace for decades. The decimal number will essentially show you how much you would win for each dollar you bet. All you have to do is deduct the dollar from the decimal amount.
If you are looking to bet on a baseball game, and the odds look like this...
Washington Nationals (2.85) vs. Philadelphia Phillies (1.47)
...this means that the Phillies are favored to win this game, and the Nationals are the underdog. By looking at these odds, you can determine how much you would potentially win by looking at the decimal odds.
For each dollar bet on the Nationals, you would win $1.85 (don’t forget to deduct your dollar; it will be returned to you with your winnings though). On a $10 wager, your total payout would be $28.50.
For each dollar bet on the Phillies, you would win $0.47. If you bet $10, you would return $14.70.
Favorites are not as clear-cut and easy to spot as they are in American odds because the plus and minus symbols are easy to read. In this case, you actually have to look at the numbers. The higher the number, the bigger the underdog and eventual payout.
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Moneyline Betting Using Fractional Odds
Fractional odds are most commonly used in the United States and Canada to look at horse betting sites. However, you can use this format for any type of sport. These odds are displayed as a fraction and require some math skills to determine how much you’d win.
The numerator is the top or left number, and the denominator is the bottom or right number. You will have to multiply your stake by the numerator and then divide that result by the denominator.
Let’s look at an example: New York Yankees 7/6 vs. Tampa Bay Rays 11/14
The Tampa Bay Rays are the favorite in this game, but only slightly. If you were to bet $20 on them, the calculation would look like this: $20 x 11 = 220.
Then you would divide by the denominator amount = 220 / 14 = $15.71
Your total winning bet would equal $35.71.
A bet on the Yankees (the underdogs) would pay out a little more.
$20 x 7 = 140
140 / 6 =$23.33
Your total winnings would equal $43.33.
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Understanding 'Vig' in Moneyline Betting
If you see odds like -110, this is essentially what the sportsbook needs to charge not to lose money on the wager. You would bet $110 to win $100, giving the sportsbook their small cut and nearly doubling your money.
This amount is standard across many different betting options and is close to being even odds; it just allows the oddsmaker to not cut a loss on that wager.
Moneyline Betting By Sport
Now that we understand the different odds formats for moneyline betting, we can examine how moneyline odds function for different sports. I'll also provide some tips and strategies for moneyline betting on each of the major leagues below.
NFL Moneyline
If you’ve bet on the NFL or the Super Bowl in the past, you would likely be familiar with the NFL moneyline bet. Your job is to pick the team that wins the game outright. It doesn’t matter how much the team wins by; the team could win by one point, and you would collect your winnings.
This can be as simple as familiarizing yourself with the teams and their opponents and understanding how the offense/defense matchups will pan out. Some defenses are strong against the passing game, so if the opposing team focuses on rushing, you might see the offense scoring more points.
Moneyline bets at NFL betting sites usually include overtime, so the winner of the bet is whoever wins the game after extra time.
NBA Moneyline
NBA moneyline odds will work the same way as the NFL. NBA games tend to be fast-paced and high-scoring, and many come down to the last few minutes or seconds to determine a winner. The last two minutes can be extremely tense, and games tend to be too close for comfort.
That's why many tend to stick to point spreads at NBA betting sites, but NBA moneylines can still turn a good profit if you bet on the right outcomes.
NHL Moneyline
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the NHL, usually low-scoring. Moneylines are extremely popular at NHL betting sites because it can be easy to predict an outright winner of a hockey game. Unlike in the NFL or NBA, teams tend to be more predictable. However, that means these bets aren’t always profitable because the oddsmakers also know this and set the odds based on the team's chance of winning.
A goal or a shootout can decide NHL games, which can make for some risky wagers.
MLB Moneyline
MLB moneyline bets are just as easy as the other sports, but you have other elements that you need to consider when placing a moneyline bet on MLB betting sites. Baseball betting can be inconsistent, as there are so many games and so many different outcomes that could occur.
You have to account for the weather, as games can be postponed or even canceled due to rain delays, and extra innings, which will drag the game out as long as necessary until a winner is decided.
You can link your moneyline wager to the starting pitcher for a higher potential payout. If your pitcher doesn’t end up starting or isn't credited with the win, you will lose your bet.
3 Way Moneyline in Soccer
This is where moneyline betting gets a little twist. Soccer moneylines tend to have three options, which are called three-way moneyline bets because they incorporate the possibility of a draw into the wager and allow you to bet on the tie.
Unlike in other major pro sports, soccer games can end in ties, so three-way moneyline odds tend to be more exciting or enticing.
An example of three-way moneyline odds at soccer betting sites would look something like this:
- Inter Miami-110
- L.A. Galazxy +150
- Draw +275
Head-to-Head Sports
In the instances where there aren’t teams playing but single players or fighters, the concept of a moneyline remains the same. When two boxers or MMA fighters go head to head, there needs to be a winner, so the moneyline wager rules remain the same.
Tennis will also follow the same rules, with two players competing head to head in a tournament.
You rely on futures betting more than anything in golf, but there are instances where you see player matchups, depending on the sportsbook. They aren’t official matchups because golfers aren’t really directly competing head-to-head against one another.
Usually, sportsbooks create head-to-head matchups with players of similar skill and styles to make things more interesting.
Finding the Best Moneylines
Now that you understand how moneyline odds work, you can start picking winners. Your first step will be to find the best sportsbooks for your moneyline bets. Luckily, we have plenty of sportsbook reviews for you as a bettor to browse.
We identify essential criteria that we ourselves look for in an excellent sportsbook, so you don’t have to. These sportsbook reviews are subjective and outline deposit options, bonuses, security, and customer service, to name a few.
All sportsbooks offer moneyline odds, but we want to ensure that you have the best online sports betting experience possible, so we recommend using our Gambling.com reviews to help to choose.
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