Before placing your first sports wager on a game, there’s a few fundamental things you must understand in order to properly know what you’re betting on and the potential payout you stand to receive from your wager. Reading and understanding the odds of a play is crucial to knowing which side of a play you should bet on.
The odds essentially tell you the likelihood of a team winning a particular play. The odds represent which team, athlete, horse, etc, has the best chance of winning the contest. For example, if a team has a 70% chance of a winning a game, according to the oddsmakers in Las Vegas, then the odds would be 70 to 30. Meaning 70% chance they’ll win, 30% chance the other team will win.
In moneyline bets the odds work a bit differently in the sense that they are represented by as positive or negative number next to the team name. A positive number represents the underdog team in the game, while the negative number is for the favorite. These negative and positive numbers directly correlate to the payout a player stands to receive. So if a team is -135, that means the player must bet $135 to win $100. On the other hand, if you bet on the underdog of the game who has a statistically less greater chance of winning, the payout it more. For example, if you bet on the underdog team that is +125, then you need only bet $100 to win $125. These are some basic aspects of gambling that a bettor must first understand before placing your first wagers, in order to set yourself up for success in your sports wagers.

1. What Does Even Odd Mean In Betting
2. Betting Odds Explained
3. What Does Odd Mean In Football Betting
4. What Does +100 Odds Mean

Regardless of if you’re wagering on the money line or the run line, you should always be aware of the odds and how the payout of those odds effects your wager. Being a smart investor and employing some basic strategy when placing your wagers can greatly increase your chances of making it big and finding an easy winner. Maximizing your wins and minimizing your losses is what sports wagering and handicapping is all about. It’s the difference between going 1-0 and having little to show for it and going only 1-2 and still coming out a winner. That’s because you have to put your biggest money on your best play with the best payout and odds available. When you’re making smart wagers, it can cover a lot of other amateur mistakes that new sports bettors commonly make. Join the pros today and let our team show you more secrets about how to be a successful sports bettor against the spread.

What Does Even Odd Mean In Betting

Betting odds simply indicate the likelihood of an event and the return you’d get if you did make a wager on the result. Betting odds may be displayed in three different formats at US sportsbooks and online and mobile sports betting platforms: American odds, fractional odds and decimal odds. In summary, minus + a number means you BET that amount for every $100 you want to win. Plus + a number means you WIN that amount for every $100 you bet. Hockey Betting Odds: Standard hockey betting operates on the money line. Look at the money line as simply a way to express odds. In hockey betting, you pick the winner of the game. 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. Things are different when betting on an underdog.

As a fan, you don’t care if your team wins by a point or 100. A win is a win, though that 100-point win would be a little easier on the nerves.

In sports betting, how much a team wins by is usually all that matters.

The most popular way to bet for the two most popular sports, basketball and football, is with the point spread, also known as the “side.” Most baseball, hockey and soccer bets are on the moneyline, which is betting on a team to win straight up with adjusted odds. Football and basketball have moneyline bets available too, but most people will take the point spread.

Betting Odds Explained

The concept can be a bit confusing if you’ve never dabbled in sports betting before.

What Does Odd Mean In Football Betting

Why bet with the point spread?

The point spread was created to attract more action on a game. When the San Francisco 49ers are expected to blow out the Arizona Cardinals, it’s not enticing to lay $300 to win $100 on a moneyline. But when the 49ers are 11-point favorites and each side is -110 odds? That’s much easier.

In that example, the 49ers are spotting the Cardinals 11 points before the game starts, at least for bettors. The 49ers have to win by 12 or more points to cover the spread. If the Cardinals win or lose by 10 or less, that side wins the bet. If the game lands on 11, like a 21-10 49ers win, it’s a push and all bets are refunded. If you see a -11 that means that team is favored, and +11 means you’re taking the underdog.

Nothing sharpens your math skills better than trying to figure out how big your lead as a bettor is if you have a 22.5-point basketball underdog that is losing 90-72.

The problem with the point spread can be when a team — which really doesn’t care that you bet the favorite at -11 — has a 14-point lead but gives up a meaningless score at the end to win by only seven points. They’re still happy with the win. You, as a bettor, are not.

Point spreads lead to bad beats

The most infamous example of a bad beat with the point spread probably came in the 2004 Final Four at the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Duke was a 2.5-point underdog against UConn. The Huskies rallied late and took a 79-75 lead on a free throw with 3.2 seconds left. The game itself was over; Duke couldn’t score twice in a few seconds. But Duke guard Chris Duhon pulled up for a running 3-pointer just over the half-court line and banked it in at the buzzer. Duke lost 79-78, but bettors who had Duke and 2.5 points won. March Madness is a huge event for bettors, and reports at the time estimated that Duhon’s “meaningless” shot resulted in a $30 or $40 million swing in Nevada. UConn players celebrated at the final buzzer. UConn bettors doubled over in pain. That’s the difference between betting the moneyline and the point spread.

Baseball and hockey have point spreads too, the “run line” in baseball and “puck line” in hockey. It’s generally 1.5 with odds adjusting accordingly. Taking a big baseball favorite at -1.5 runs can make the odds more palatable. Of course, betting the New York Yankees at -1.5 to bring down the odds from -190 to -110 isn’t too fun when they win 4-3 and you don’t cash a bet.

What Does +100 Odds Mean

Betting on the point spread is the most common way to wager on sports. And the first time you take a favorite that wins the game but doesn’t cover the spread, you’ll understand every bettor’s heartbreak.