A betting line is a form of wagering whereby the bookmaker or sportsbook set gambling odds and determine the favorite and underdog teams in a match. This handicap creates a margin (line) between the two teams, where there are only two outcomes possible, and sets the parameters for wagering on the game. An Example of How Betting Lines Work. What is the Moneyline? A moneyline bet is picking which team will win a game.

What is a Money Line or Straight Up Wager?

A Money Line or straight up wager is a bet on the outright winner of the game or event, without any point spread odds. A Money Line better doesn't have to worry about a team winning or losing by a certain number of points.

Oddsmakers still determine a favorite and an underdog by the overall strength of the competitor, but the odds given are based on the amount of money that needs to be put up in order to place the bet.

Example:

The bettor will receive odds that resemble these:

Colts –140

Bears +120

The (-) symbolizes which team is the favorite and the (+) indicates which team is the underdog. So in the above example, the Colts are the favorite and the Bears are the underdog. All the bettor is wagering on is who he or she thinks will win the game.

If one were to bet on the Colts, he or she would have to risk $140 to win $100 (or $105 to win $75; $70 to win $50, etc). If one were to bet on the Bears, he or she would only have to risk $83.33 to win $100 (or $62.50 to win $75; $41.67 to win $50, etc).

So while the Colts are the favorite to win the game, one would have to risk more money if they wanted to bet on them.

The legal sports betting world is changing. Quickly.

New states are opening their arms to the world of legal sports betting and are opening opportunities for you to take part in making legal sports bets on your favorite teams in casinos, race tracks and through online betting.

Part of our goal at SportsbookWire is to educate the new and/or casual sports bettor on the typical terms around legal sports betting and the various nuances that go into making a sports bet or wager.

5 Money Line

In sports betting, a negative money line (represented as -200, -300, -400, etc.) represents the amount of money that you need to bet in order to win $100 if your bet is correct.

Here are some negative money line examples:

The New England Patriots are -500 against the Buffalo Bills. If you’re betting the Patriots, you would need to wager $500 in order to win $100 if your bet is correct with the Patriots winning.The New York Yankees are -200 to beat the New York Mets. If you are betting on the Yankees, you need to wager $200 to win $100 if your bet is correct with the Yankees winning.The Tampa Bay Lightning are -400 to beat the Detroit Red Wings. If you’re betting on the Lightning to win, you need to wager $400 to win $100 if your bet is correct with the Lightning winning.

It’s actually pretty easy and we’re sure you get the point here.

What Does Betting On The Money Line Mean

Fractional odds of 1/2 and decimal odds of 1.5 are also equivalent in this scenario.

A negative money line is also considered as the favorite – or chalk pick – by the oddsmakers.

We’ll get into that more in other pieces, but the heavier the team, player, situation or bet in general is favored to succeed, the higher the negative money line.

For example…

What Does Betting The Money Line Mean

In the first round of the 2018-19 NBA Playoffs, the Golden State Warriors money line was

Moneyline Betting Calculator

-20000 to beat the Los Angeles Clippers. That means you would need to have wagered $20,000 to win $100 if the Clippers won.Kind of ridiculous, right? That’s how heavy the Warriors were favored over the Clippers … the sports books don’t want you making that bet, because it was expected to be an easy Warriors win.

If you’re looking for more educational information on sports betting and terms around such, be sure to check out our How to Bet on Sports 101 section for a variety of betting definitions, betting terms and sports betting strategies to help you build your bank account.