Money Line Betting: Sports Bet Line Explained

Let’s start with a basic question like what do odds mean in betting and what does money line mean. Too long? Ok, let’s shorten it to simplify: What’s money line betting and how does the money line work? This is actually a literal term, so we should tell you what does the money line mean first. It means the “limit” to make a profit: “Money” means profit here and “line” shows how much that money should be in order to make that profit. So, the answer to what does money line mean question is simple: It shows the minimum amount you must wager in order to make a profit.

This amount is decided by bookmakers and each one can set a different limit. To give you an idea, here is a very simple metaphor. Bookmakers set up shop and say this: “I am accepting bets for the Yankees and Yorkers match. If you want to win 100 USD, you must deposit at least XXX USD to me.” The “XXX” here is the money line and it is different at each bookmaker. This is the money line meaning and it is pretty simple, actually.

Ok, enough with the literal terms and what is money line questions: Let’s start talking about what is a money line bet. As shortly mentioned above, a moneyline bet is the simplest form of sports betting. It simply means betting on which team wins a match. Basically, you pick a specific team to win the game and bet on it. Yes, it is that simple. You don’t need to guess the exact score.

You don’t need to make a prediction about what the point difference will be, like a point spread bet. You just need to guess the winning team. As long as that team wins the match, the score is not important – you will win the bet too. But if the match ends in a tie, and there is no possibility to bet on the draw, you will get your money back. This would be a simple explanation to what does push mean in betting, specifically when betting on the moneyline. And moneyline meaning is the same for all sports, so the answers to what does moneyline mean in football and what is money line betting in the NFL questions are the same. No matter what sports or league it is, as long as you are placing money line bets, you are betting on the winning team.

This does not mean that a moneyline bet cannot be about more than one outcome. Like other betting options, sometimes it is possible to bet on multiple outcomes, even in moneyline betting. While the main and most common form of money line sports betting is placing a single wager on which team wins the match, there is one more variant you can use. We briefly explain it below.

We picked soccer for this example, but 3-way money line betting is possible for all types of sports. Some bookmakers offer this variant of sports betting money line. It is also simple – as the name suggests, a soccer match can end with three possible outcomes: Team A can win, Team B can win, or the match ends in a tie. A 3-way moneyline bet means that placing a wager for any of these outcomes. So, unlike betting only on which team wins the match, you can bet on the match will end in a tie too. 3-way moneyline betting just offers you another outcome to play with. Each of these outcomes has different odds, and based on which one you picked, the payout will be different.

If we make a money line vs moneyline 3 way comparison, we can say that this variant is not “ideal”. Money line bet variants like 3-way betting are “invented” by bookmakers, just to increase their own profit rates. They may seem useful at first sight, especially since they offer different odds for each outcome. However, the overall odds will be lower than classic money lines betting and making things complex is not an ideal situation.

If you want complex outcomes and different odds, you should simply prefer point spread bets, if bets or a win reverse bet. Line betting, on the other hand, should be a much simpler option and offer you a single outcome: Which team will win the match? If you are a beginner, we recommend staying away from 3-way money line bets for a while. Stick with the “classic” version of the money line betting we explained above.

Alright, we answered what is money line bet question but we cannot call this section “money line betting explained” yet. Yes, you now have an idea about what is the money line and what is a moneyline bet, but we still need to show you some examples in order to fully explain this term. So, let’s take a look at those examples now and find out how betting lines work in different sports.

Understanding betting lines requires seeing actual examples, so that is what we are going to do in this section. And to do so, we will give moneyline odds examples for different sports. When you visit a bookmaker to place a moneyline bet, you will see things like these:

• Team A, -120
• Team B, + 200

So, what are the meanings of these? For example, what does -200 mean in betting? When you learn how to read money lines, these figures will make sense. Let’s start with the basic rule: The “minus” sign always shows the favorite, and the “plus” sign always shows the underdog. Both of these figures show how much you can expect to win when you place a bet on one of these teams, but the potential payouts (and the minimum money line amount) will be different based on whether that team is the favorite or the underdog.

The favorite team has a “minus” sign, or negative odds, because every bettor expects it to win the match. And the underdog has a “plus” sign because it has a low chance of winning. Since most of the bettors will prefer betting the money line on the favorite, the bookmaker will increase the minimum bet amount in order to pay a certain payout. The same bookmaker will decrease the same amount for the underdog, in order to encourage bettors to place a bet on it. So far so good, right? You already have an idea about what does moneyline mean in betting, so you can easily understand the basics. But, how does moneyline work and what is the meaning of these plus and minus signs?

• The minus sign shows how much you need to bet in order to win 100 USD. In the example above, you need to bet 120 USD (money line) in order to win 100 USD. The entry limit is higher than the potential payout because Team A is the favorite and every bettor expects it to win the match. Therefore, you are not taking a big risk.
• The plus sign shows how much you will win if you bet 100 USD. In the example above, betting 100 USD on Team B will pay 200 USD if you win. The entry limit is lower than the potential payout because nobody expects Team B to win the match – you are taking a bigger risk.

And this is how to read moneyline odds: The plus sign always shows what the potential payout will be and the minus sign always shows what should be your minimum bet amount. We have detailed guides on how to read soccer odds or how to read boxing odds. Of course, you can bet lower than 100 USD: This figure is just a simple example and since it is a round number, it makes easy to understand how do betting lines work. Understanding how much you can win by placing a moneyline bet is an easy job, and there is no need to use a moneyline payout calculator. In fact, here are some examples to explain money line betting in different sports.

Money line bet football is the most common form of money line betting. Oh, and, before you ask, money line betting soccer or soccer spread betting is the same thing, we don’t mean American football money line betting by saying “football”. This is the most common form because money line betting in football is very easy to understand: There are two teams. One of them will win the match. You try to guess which one it will be. Yep, pretty simple. Here is what does moneyline mean in football bets:

• Deposit 130 USD on Real Madrid in order to win 100 USD,
• Deposit 100 USD on Barcelona in order to win 170 USD.

Baseball money line bets are quite common too, but they are mostly limited to the United States. To be honest, money line betting baseball is not that ideal: This sport is literally built for point spread betting. However, you can still place a moneyline bet for baseball of course. Here is betting baseball moneyline explained:

• Deposit 165 USD on Yankees in order to win 100 USD,
• Deposit 100 USD on Falcons in order to win 137 USD.

Meaning of money line in basketball betting is the same: You pick a team and bet on the outcome that it will win the match. Money line betting in basketball is very popular and we can even say that it is as popular as football, especially for the NBA league. Here is the money line betting basketball payout example you can find at a NBA betting site:

• Deposit 110 USD on New Yorkers in order to win 100 USD,
• Deposit 100 USD on LA Heat in order to win 125 USD.

Money line betting NFL is quite popular in the United States but almost all international bookmakers support this league too. Although questions like “is the NFL rigged?” are very common, you don’t have nothing to worry about. For those who don’t know, NFL is the National Football League of America, you know, the sports known as American football. So, what is line betting for NFL and how much you can win? Here is betting lines explained for American football:

• Deposit 180 USD on Dallas Cowboys in order to win 100 USD,
• Deposit 100 USD on Oakland Raiders in order to win 155 USD.

Money line definition of NHL bets is simple: NHL is short for the National Hockey League (of America – puck line) and you are trying to guess which team will win an ice hockey match. Once again, point spread betting makes much more sense for this sport because it is possible to win very high payouts by betting on what the point difference will be, and there are lots of data (especially player performance statistics) to make an accurate prediction. If you find there is no point difference between the teams and ask yourself what does PK means in betting we have a guide to help you understand. Explained shortly it means that the two teams have equal odds of winning and the point spread is 0 and is being displayed as PK. But betting money line is, of course, possible for NHL hockey matches too (check here our NHL betting system). Here is NHL Moneyline betting explained:

• Deposit 144 USD on Toronto Leafs in order to win 100 USD,
• Deposit 100 USD on Vegas Knights in order to win 138 USD.

We are sure you learned how moneyline betting works but here is one last example for fully understanding money lines. Tennis is a very suitable sport for betting money lines, because it is as simple as football: There are two athletes and one of them will win the match, you just need to guess who. Moneyline betting in tennis is not the best way to bet on tennis but it sure is the most common and simple one. Here is betting line explained for tennis matches:

• Deposit 190 USD on Serena Williams in order to win 100 USD,
• Deposit 100 USD on Andre Agassi in order to win 128 USD.

Alright, this is the end of the moneyline explained section: We gave you several examples to show you what is the line in sports betting and what the potential payouts will be, even without using a money line bet calculator. Since you fully understand how does money line betting work, we can move on to more interesting topics, like betting moneyline or spread.

As we mentioned above, betting moneyline is not your only option when it comes to placing a wager on a sports event. There are other bet types too and some of them offer a potential of much higher winnings. But, are they worth playing? Or should you stick with betting money line? Below, you can see the comparison of moneyline betting with three major sports bet types.

Betting trends power show that point spread betting is as popular as betting money lines, if not slightly more popular. But, is it really that good? What is the result of a moneyline vs spread comparison? To answer that, we need to talk about point spread betting first. In this type of sports bet, you do not bet on the outcome of a match. You bet on the point difference of the final result and what it will be. If you bet on Team A will defeat Team B, for example, you also bet on with how many points Team A will achieve victory. You can also bet on Team B will lose the match but you also need to specify what the point difference will be.

This may sound complex, so here is an example:
• Team A, +8
• Team B, -8

Now, you already know the meaning of plus and minus signs. Team B is the favorite of this match, and Team A is the underdog. So, what does this mean?

• If you bet on Team B will win the match, the point difference must also be at least 8 points in order to win the bet. Winning the match is not enough. For example, if the result of this match is 7 – 2, the point difference between these numbers is 5. You won’t win such a bet. But if the result is 10 – 1, the difference is 9. Since it is higher than 8, you will win the bet.
• If you bet on Team A will lose the match, the point difference must not be higher than 8 points. If team A loses the match, this is not enough. For example, if the result is 6 – 4 and team A loses, the point difference is 2. Since this is lower than 8 points, you will win the bet. But if the result is 9 – 0, team A loses the match with more than 8 points – you will lose such a bet.

Basically, you need to guess two things: Which team will win/lose the match and what will the point difference will be. You need to predict both of these correctly. And if you are successful, you will be paid a lot more than moneyline betting: From a “profit” point of view, the winner of betting moneyline vs spread comparison is point spread betting. Simply put, these bets will pay more. However, they are much harder to win and calculate. You can guess what the payout will be in a money line bet without using a money line odds calculator. But spread bets are more complex and not easy to understand what the spread moneyline total will be. In short, the point spread is an advanced form of sports betting and it is not suitable for beginners.

However, after a while, you should definitely try it: It is more exciting and the rewards are much bigger.

Before making a run line vs moneyline comparison, we need to explain what is run line betting. Betting trends power rankings show that it is quite popular but you must know that run line bets are for baseball only. In other words, this is a bet type created specifically for baseball, you can’t use it in any other sports. We can say that it is a hybrid of spread betting and moneyline bets. It looks like this:

• Team A, + 1.5
• Team B, – 1.5

The “line” is always 1.5 and it is either plus or minus. In other words, this is a fixed value. Here is an example to explain how run line bets work:

• If you bet on Team A, which is the underdog, it must lose the game by 1 run or less. If Team A loses the game with 2 runs, for example, you will lose the bet.
• If you bet on Team B, which is the favorite, it must win the match by at least 2 or more runs. If Team B wins the match but the difference is only 1 point, you will lose the bet.

Basically, it is a “limited” version of point spread betting. We mentioned that baseball is a suitable sport for spread betting, due to its unique points system. Run line betting seems to be a good idea for this sport and better than money line betting because it will still pay more. And it will be easier to guess the result than standard spread betting, 1.5 is not a big point difference. You should definitely try it but gain a little more experience with classic money lines bet before, if you are a beginner.

This is not a parlay betting explained article but we still need to explain what it is. Don’t worry, this will be short. Do you remember the 3-way money line betting example we gave above? Parlay bets are like that but with more teams. Parlay bets include at least two teams and they pay bigger than standard money line bets. For example, you can bet on two different matches and two different teams at the same time. Each of these bets can be different. Here is a simple example to show you what we are talking about:

• Event 1: Team A + 120, Team B – 144
• Event 2: Team A + 187, Team B – 160

Now, a moneyline parlay bet will include both of these events. You can bet on Team B will lose in the first event and Team B will win in the second event. In order to win, both of your picks must win. Parlay bets pay more than standard moneyline bets, but you will be taking a big risk. In general, we recommend staying away from them until you gain enough experience. Even after that, focusing on point spread betting is a better idea: There are too many possibilities in a parlay bet and you need to be really lucky in order to win. Read our guide on “how to win sports betting parlays” for more information. You will also need to use a money line calculator, because it may be hard to understand what the total payout will be.

We kept saying that money line betting is good for beginners but that does mean that veteran bettors should stay away from it. On the contrary, betting money line will be a very good option for them too. Without taking too many risks, you can enjoy the full sports betting experience and still make satisfying profits. Money line on betting is good for everybody and you should definitely try it today. In fact, the first thing you should do after reading this money line betting guide is finding a fair and reputable bookmaker. And we can help you with that too: Pick one of our recommended moneyline betting bookmakers to start your journey in a safe, secure, fair, and legal place. We will be with you in every step of your journey and constantly update this guide, in order to give you the total moneyline sports betting experience. Pick a bookie, place a money line bet, and start winning today: Good luck!

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• Parlay calculator