How Betting The Moneyline Works

Posted : admin On 4/7/2022

In the world of sports betting, a money line bet is simply betting on which team you expect to win. It doesn’t have anything to do with a spread. You may also see a money line bet listed as “Money Line” or “ML” in different spaces.

A moneyline is a type of straight wager where the bettor wagers simply on who will win the contest, straight up – without any spread involved. The easiest way to think of moneyline betting odds is that you are only betting on who wins the game. It does not matter how many points or goals they win by, all that matters is who wins. To put it simply, a money line wager is betting on who will win the game. Unlike the points spreadand totals bets, the money line is in no way concerned with how many points are scored or the margin of victory. You’ll know you’re looking at a money line when you see a plus (+) sign next to the underdogand a minus (-) next to the favorite. As the name suggests, American odds are most popular in the United States. Working differently for favorites and underdogs, they're also known as 'moneyline' odds. American odds for betting on the favorite work by showing how much money you would have to bet in order to win $100.

Money lines are represented in negative and positive values.

Negative money line: -145, -220, or anything similar

When you see a minus (-) sign in front of a price, it shows you that team is the favorite to win the game.

That number also indicates how much money you need to bet/spend in order to win $100.

For example, a -220 money line means you need to bet $220 in order to win $100 provided the team you bet on actually does win.

Heavy favorites are known in sports betting as a “chalk” pick. A heavy favorite usually has a number pushing +300 or more. Here, you’re wagering a lot on the favorite to win a little. Don’t assume that a heavy favorite, or chalk pick, is a guaranteed winner…

Positive money line: +145, +220, or anything similar

When you see a plus (+) sign in front of a price, it shows you that team is the underdog. Higher numbers like +400, +500, +5000, etc. represent how much of an underdog the team is in the game. The higher the number the more likely the team is expected to lose in the eyes of the oddsmakers.

The number also indicates how much money would win in comparison to every $100 you wager.

For example, a +150 money line means you would win $150 for each $100 wager you place should that team win the game.

Money line examples:

Lets use an NFL example here:

New England Patriots -240

Miami Dolphins +220

To bet the New England Patriots to win on the money line, you would need to spend $240 on the bet for a chance to win $100 if the Patriots beat the Dolphins. Your return would be $340 – the original $240 stake (bet) and the $100 bet profit.

How Moneyline Betting Works

What is the moneyline bet

To bet the Miami Dolphins to win on the money line, you would spend $100 on the bet for a chance to win $220 if the Dolphins, as the underdog, beat the Patriots. Your return would be $320 – the original $100 stake (bet) and the $220 profit.

In both situations, it doesn’t matter if the team you bet on wins by one point or 100 points. You’re purely betting on the team you believe will win the game. As Al Davis said, “Just win, baby.” That’s exactly what you’d be looking for out of your selection. It doesn’t have to be pretty, it just has to happen or your original stake is lost.

How Does Sports Betting Work?

If you are new to sports betting, you may just be wondering, “How does sports betting work?”

Top Tips for the Novice Sports Bettor

The concepts of the point spread, the Moneyline, and reading odds are fairly simple. It is also easy to find places that will accept your sports wagers, such as the platforms offered by AcePerHead.com. However, moving on from the basics is often a challenge for novice sports bettors. Let’s take a look at some tips to help you move from the basics of sports betting as you look to start turning profits from your wagers.

Tip #1: Begin with smaller bets

Figuring out how to outwit the sportsbooks will take you a great deal of time. Different sports bettors figure out the path to victory more quickly than others, but even for the most ingenious sports bettors, you have to get through a learning curve. Unless you just won the lottery, you just have some money that you have free to wager on sports, so while you are in the learning phase, do not make the error of betting too large per game.

While you are in the early phases, think about limiting your biggest bets to about $20. For other bets, shoot for the $5 to $10 range. Over time, as you start to learn more and more about how to win, you can put that maximum higher, but remember to limit your wagering to using money that is not part of your budget for living essentials.

Another way to figure out your maximum is to figure out how much you can spare for your bankroll. Put this money apart from your other funds, and only use it for sports betting. Divide that bankroll by 100 to get your maximum bet. So if you have $2,000 in your bankroll, your max bet would be $20. While very little in sports betting is certain, one thing you can bank on is that you will make mistakes, so using small parts of your bankroll will limit the damage that mistakes cost you, giving you a longer wagering life before your bankroll disappears.

Tip #2: Focus your wagering on a specific area

The vast majority of sports bettors get into the action by wagering on their favorite sports teams and putting down bets on big events, like the NCAA men’s basketball tournament or the Super Bowl. This is a fun way to start because these events get lots of press. However, one reason a lot of new sports bettors lose a lot of money at the start is that they end up betting a lot on events that they do not know much about. For example, if you have read that 12-seeds often upset 5-seeds in the men’s basketball tournament, and you try to be trendy by betting on all four of the 12-seeds without reviewing all four matchups carefully, you will just be handing money to the bookmaker.

So if you are wondering “How does sports betting work?” at this point, pick just one sport and focus on that. Narrowing your focus will allow you to develop a research base that will help you select winners. If you find that researching college football takes too much effort (and there are a lot of teams to learn about), just select one conference. You might think about picking a mid-major conference instead of one of the Power 5, because there is some room for error in the sportsbooks the further you get down the college football hierarchy.

Tip #3: Put your bets on the moneyline

What Is The Moneyline Bet

The majority of sporting events have a minimum of two different lines. One will go against the spread. The other is a moneyline. In this sort of wager, you pick which team will win the game. When you bet against a point spread, you usually spend $110 to win $100 on either side of that spread, although moneylines can be adjusted from that point if action comes in too hot on one side of the point spread. In a moneyline wager, the various figures show the disparity. An example might feature Ohio State playing Indiana in football. If the moneyline is Ohio State -180 / Indiana +220, you would have to bet $180 to win $100 on Ohio State, but if you bet on Indiana, and you put down $100, you would win $220.

It is often much easier to decide which team is going to win a game outright than to pick against a point spread. If you have an eye on an underdog that has a solid chance at winning, that can make a smart wager. If you win on underdogs, you do not have to place as many bets to make a profit.

This is just the beginning when it comes to tips for the novice bettor. You are far from alone if you find yourself wondering, “How does sports betting work?” However, this is a topic that can help you turn your cash into profits while doing something you love – watching and staying engaged with sporting events.

Moneyline Betting Calculator

AcePerHead.com is a platform that offers sports betting options to hundreds of agents. Each sportsbook has a separate owner, who is responsible for setting odds, choosing events, establishing props, and signing up betting clients. You can often find some fairly wide variance among the different sportsbooks on Ace Per Head, as they try to establish a competitive advantage based on information (or intuition) about events that they believe will help them beat the odds that most of the larger sportsbooks have set. If you start betting with a sportsbook that uses the Ace Per Head platform, you have peace of mind thanks to the encrypted third-party payment system that we use to move money from betting clients to sportsbook owners. You can use bitcoins, Gift cards, and other payment portals to send and receive funds. Obviously, you’ll hope to be pulling in more money than you send out – that’s the dream of every sports bettor. Hopefully, this advice will get you on your way.

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