Placing Money Line Bets
I’ve been a punter for a long time but when I first started out it was really challenging to understand all the intricacies around betting types. I mean I’m a big boxing and MMA fan and for me to go in thinking that point spreads are my only choice is disingenuous. That is to say that the better option is in fact placing money line bets. That’s where it’s all at. These may appear to be somewhat overwhelming to the novice gambler but they’re far simpler than one might expect. The point spread is more focused on who actually wins the games/contests and by what margin. But the money line on the other hand is only concerned with who wins the contest. That’s the beauty of money lines. This whole process could best be illustrated by way of examples. If we were to take a baseball game as the starting point then things rapidly become clear. Take two teams the Yankees and the Phillies. You might see something like this on the sports betting boards:
NY Yankees +120
PA Phillies -140
In this case, the Phillies are the favourites as can be seen by the – (minus) written in front of the 140. On the other hand the NY Yankees would be the underdogs with the + (plus) sign in front of the 120. All it means is that if you wager on the NY Yankees you will wager $100 to win $120 and if you wager on the hot favourites the Phillies you would risk $140 to win $100 back. This is the way money lines work. In fact you can pretty much bet as much as you like – you don’t’ have to bet in multiples of $100 at all – it’s simply for illustration purposes.
The money lines are used for many great sports where the point spread is no longer of any value to punters. As mentioned earlier this includes sports such as boxing, baseball and hockey. The differential between money line odds on the hot team and those on the underdog normally results in the hot team winning increases in payouts. The odds change the + and – signs accordingly. This is because bookies only cash in when the underdog wins – that’s where less punters are placing their bets! Whereas with point spreads, the bookmaker would typically have an equal volume of cash on each team – that guarantees a profit either way. That’s why money lines are generating a lot of interest because the hope is that massive profits can be gained from wagering on the underdog. Happy sports betting sports fans!
