European Sports Betting
odds  |  multiple bets
pools and totes  |  Asian handicaps

North American Sports Betting
point spread wagers  |  money line wagers (odds)
total score (over-under)  |  parlays (multiples)
teasers  |  if bets

Money Line Wagers - Sports Betting

This section of the Sports Gambling Tutorial on Sports Betting provides an explanation of money line wagers in sports betting.  The money line, also referred to as odds, lists how much money your sports wager will return.  In most sports "-110" will be offered for all side and total bets.  For the moment, we will only discuss this number.

The easiest way to understand the "-110" figure is to consider £110 the price of the sports bet if you would like to win £100 - if you bet £110 and your bet wins, you will receive earnings of £100.  Of course, you may bet any amount between the minimum and maximum and it is this fraction (110/100 or 11/10) that will always be used to compute your winnings.  For example, if you bet £11 and your sports bet wins, you will win £10.  If you bet £55, you'll win £50.

The -110 money line is used by the house to guarantee that it receives some payment for its services.  If the house offered even odds (1/1) and the action, or the total of all sports wagers received, was divided evenly across the two teams, the house would be doing volunteer work - handing all the loser's money over to the winners with nothing left over.  This money line comprises, in a sense, even odds with a 10% house commission - sometimes called the juice, vigorish, or vig - for providing the action.

These types of sports bets are common in baseball, golf, tennis, horses and futures, but can also be applied to American football and ice hockey.

Example Money Line Bet

You make an American NFL football wager on Dallas -190 at New York +165.  A bet of £190 on Dallas would win £100 if Dallas wins (plus return of the original £160 sports bet).  A bet of £100.00 on New York to win would return £165 if New York wins (plus return of the original £100.00 sports bet).

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