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If you’re new to sports betting, you may be wondering what money line and spread mean. In this post, we’ll explain what they are and how they work.
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Introduction
In sports betting, the money line and spread are the two ways to bet on a game. The money line is simply who will win the game, while the spread is how many points they will win or lose by.
The favorite is always listed as the money line and will have a minus sign next to their odds. For example, if the Chicago Bears are favored to beat the Green Bay Packers by 7 points, the Bears will have a -7 money line. This means that if you bet $100 on the Bears, you will win $100 if they win by more than 7 points, and lose $7 if they lose by less than 7 points.
The underdog is always listed as the spread and will have a plus sign next to their odds. For example, if the Packers are +7 against the Bears, this means that if you bet $100 on the Packers, you will win $100 if they lose by less than 7 points, and lose $7 if they lose by more than 7 points.
Money Line
The moneyline is the most common way to bet on baseball and hockey, but exists in other sports as well. When you bet the moneyline, you are simply picking which team will win the game outright. Moneylines are represented in a negative and positive format. The favorite will have odds represented by a negative number such as -140. This means that for every $140 you bet, you would win $100 if the favorite wins.
The underdog will have odds represented by a positive number such as +120. This means that for every $100 you bet, you would win $120 if the underdog wins. Moneylines usually look like this example:
Favorite: -140
Underdog: +120
Spread
The Spread: When betting on the favorite, you take the point spread and give the points. For example, suppose you want to bet a -3 (-110) on the Jets. This means that for every $110 you bet, you win $100 if the Jets win by more than 3 points. If they lose by less than 3 points or if they tie, you lose your bet.
Money Line and Spread Combined
Most sports bettors are familiar with the terms money line and spread, but what happens when you combine the two? Money line and spread bets are usually used together to form a package deal on a particular game, but you can also place separate bets on each one. So, what’s the difference between the two?
The money line is simply the odds of a particular team winning the game outright. Thespread, on the other hand, is a bet on how much a team will win or lose by. The most common spreads are half-point spreads, which means that there is no wiggle room for ties. If you bet on a team that is -7, they must win by more than seven points for you to win your bet. If they only win by seven points, then it’s a push and your bet is refunded.
When you combine money line and spread bets, you are essentially betting on both aspects of the game at once. For example, let’s say that you want to bet on the New England Patriots to beat the Miami Dolphins. The Patriots are -7 point favorites and the money line odds are -350. This means that if you bet $350 on the Patriots, you will win $100 if they win the game outright.
If you just wanted to bet on the Patriots to cover the spread, you would be looking at odds of -350/$450 (or 1:3). This means that for every $450 that you bet, you would win $100 if they won by more than seven points. However, if they only won by seven points or less, then you would lose your entire bet.
Now let’s say that you want to package these two bets together and bet $700 total on the Patriots (-7 / -350). This means that you are essentially betting $350 on them to win outright and $350 on them to cover the spread. If they do both, then you will win your bet and collect $800 ($100 from the money line and $700 from covering the spread). If they only do one or the other, then you will lose your entire bet.
There is one last thing to keep in mind when combining money line and spread bets – most sportsbooks will only allow you to do so if both bets are for different games. For example,you couldn’t package a bet onthe Patriots (-7 / -350) with abeton the Dolphins +7 / +450 because it’sthe same game. However,you couldpackage abeton the Patriots (-7 / -350)with abeton the Green Bay Packers +2 / -200 because thoseare two different games
How to Use Money Line and Spread
Money line and spread are two very common betting terms used in all sports. Simply put, the money line is the odds on a given team to win straight up, no matter the margin of victory. The point spread, on the other hand, is the handicap given to the less-favored team to level the playing field. In order for bettors to successfully use either of these wagers, it’s important that they understand how each one works before placing any real money down.
When it comes to the money line, there are two different formats that you’ll see. The first is the American style money line, which is represented as either a positive or negative number. For example, let’s say that Duke is playing North Carolina in college basketball with a money line of +175. This means that if you were to bet $100 on Duke to win outright, you would stand to make a profit of $175 if they indeed prevail. On the other side of things, if you were to take North Carolina and their money line of -200, this would mean that you would need to bet $200 in order to clear a profit of $100. The second type of money line that you’ll see is called the decimal style and it’s quite simply just represented as a decimal number such as 1.50 or 2.00. Using our same college basketball game from above, let’s say that the odds were instead listed as 1.75 for Duke and 2.00 for North Carolina. This would mean that a successful $100 wager on Duke would return a total profit of $75, while betting North Carolina would net you a profit of $100.
The point spread is a bit more complicated than the money line but not by much. When looking at a point spread, you’ll typically see two numbers involved with each team separated by either a slash or dash. For example, let’s say that Ohio State is playing against Michigan in college football with a point spread of 7/-7 . This indicates that Ohio State is being given 7 points and Michigan is being given 7 points as well. In order for Ohio State bettors to cash their wagers, they will need their team to win by more than 7 points while Michigan bettors will need their team to either lose by less than 7 points or win outright. If Ohio State were somehow able
Money Line and Spread in Different Sports
The point spread – also called “the line” or “the spread” – is used as a margin to handicap the favorite team. For betting purposes, the oddsmaker predicts that the favored team will win by a certain number of points. This number of points is the spread. The favorite is given a negative point spread. The underdog is given a positive point spread.
For example, if an NFL game has a point spread of 7 and most bettors think the Cowboys are going to beat the Redskins by 7, they will bet on Dallas without having to worry about the final score. Dallas only has to win the game by 6 points or more to cover the point spread and win their bet (7-point win = 6-point cover). Likewise, if you think New England is going to lose by 3 points, you would take the Patriots +3 (7-point loss = 3-point cover).
Point spreads are usually expressed with a half-number, such as 3.5 or 7.5. This means that Dallas can win by 4 points and still cover the spread (7-3 = 4), and New England can lose by 2 points and still cover (7-5 = 2).
The money line – also called “the price” – is used to bet on which team will win outright, no matter what the margin of victory. Favorites will have negative money lines (example: -200) and underdogs will have positive money lines (example: +300).
For example, let’s say you want to bet on the Patriots to win outright against the Rams in Super Bowl LIII with a money line of -200. To do this, you need to risk $200 for every $100 you want to win (-200 x $100 = $200). If New England wins outright, you’ll receive your original wager back plus $100 for every $100 you bet (-200 x $100 = +$100). If they lose, you will only lose your original stake (-200 x $100 = -$200).
Money Line and Spread Strategy
When you bet on the money line, you are simply betting on which team will win the game. This is also known as a straight up bet. The odds for a money line are represented as either positive or negative numbers. A positive number indicates how much you would win if you bet $100. For example, if the money line is +250, you would win $250 if you bet $100. A negative number indicates how much you would need to bet to win $100. So, if the money line is -250, you would need to bet $250 to win $100.
The spread is the other type of bet that you can make on a game. With a spread bet, you are betting on how much one team will win or lose by. The odds for a spread bet are represented as either positive or negative numbers. A positive number indicates how much you would win if you bet $100. So, if the spread is +7, and your team wins by more than 7 points, you would win your bet. A negative number indicates how much you would need to bet to win $100. So, if the spread is -7, and your team only wins by 6 points, then you would lose your bet.
Pros and Cons of Money Line and Spread
When you bet on the moneyline, you are betting on one side to simply win. Any time you see a moneyline with a plus or minus sign in front of a number, that is the spread. The number after the plus or minus sign tells you how much that team is favored by. The bigger the number is, the more that team is favored. If there is a minus sign in front of the number, that means that team is the underdog.
Money Line and Spread FAQ
What is the money line?
The money line is simply the odds of a particular team winning. TheFavorite will have odds that look something like this (-110), while theUnderdog will have odds that look something like this (+105). In orderfor a bettor to win $100 on the favorite, they will have to bet $110. Ifa bettor wants to win $100 on the underdog, they will only have to bet$105.
What does it mean when there is a spread?
The spread is simply the number of points that the favorite is expectedto win by. In order for a bettor to win their bet on the favorite, thatparticular team must not only win the game, but they must do so by morethan the spread. For example, if the Patriots are playing the Jets and arefavored by 7 points (-7), then they must win the game by 8 or more pointsin order for a person who wagered on them to win their bet. Onthe other hand, if you were to bet on the Jets +7, then you would stillwin your bet as long as the Jets either won outright or lost by no morethan 6 points.
Conclusion
In conclusion, money line and spread are two important terms in sports betting. Money line is the amount of money that you need to bet in order to win a certain amount. Spread is the difference between the two teams’ scores.
