What is a Moneyline Bet?

There are several different ways to bet on sports, and the most simple method of betting on sports is with a moneyline bet. There are no point spreads to worry about with a moneyline bet as you are simply betting on a team to win or lose. It doesn’t matter whether your team wins by one point or 50 points, as long as they come out on top, you will cash your bet.

Betting on Moneyline Favorites

If you don’t want to lay points with a favorite, you can always bet on them just to win with a moneyline bet. This type of bet can be advantageous if a team has a knack for gutting out wins or coming through in the clutch. There are certain teams that make a habit of winning ugly, so a moneyline bet can alleviate some of the stress of hoping the team you bet on wins by a certain number. 

Some bettors like moneyline bets involving big favorites and look at these selections as a way to slowly grow your account balance with minimal risk. For instance, if the Ohio State Buckeyes are hosting the Purdue Boilermakers in Columbus, they are likely to be heavy favorites on the point spread. Whereas the Buckeyes might not be able to cover a sizable number, they will almost certainly beat the Boilermakers outright.

There are other bettors who enjoy putting several favorites into a moneyline parlay in order to try and win a tidy sum. If Ohio State were -5000 in the above example, a $100 moneyline bet on the Buckeyes would return a $2 profit. However, if a bettor put Ohio State in a parlay with a team that was a -2000 moneyline favorite and another team that was a -1000 moneyline favorite, the potential profit would balloon to $17.81. Of course, you have to keep in mind that if any of the teams in a parlay loses, then the entire bet is a loser. 

The Thrill of Betting Underdog Moneylines

Few feelings are better than being proven right when it seems like the entire world is against you. Such is the allure of betting underdog moneylines. The greater the number of bettors, pundits, and experts that are convinced a team will win, the juicier the payout on their opponent. This can be especially rewarding during major events like March Madness if you call your shot on a No. 16 seed knocking off a No. 1 seed.

Moneyline bets on underdogs have the potential to give bettors a significant windfall, multiplying their original stake. In recent years, we have seen several teams or individuals with odds of 100-1 or more unexpectedly winning a game or a competition, shocking the world in the process. The greater the risk, the greater the reward, but you don’t want to get carried away and look at longshots as lottery tickets.

Certain teams can have slightly inflated odds due to either public perception or a massive fanbase. Teams that are media favorites on ESPN are more likely to be public darlings, and both the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Yankees have been known to have inflated odds due to how many of their fans bet on them to win all the time. Those teams are also likely to be favored more times than not, so that can lead to moneyline odds on their opponents that are higher than expected.

Soccer Betting

Not all sports have simple win/loss outcomes. Most notably, there are draws in the most prevalent form of soccer betting, the three-way line. In soccer betting, you can wager on either team to win or the match to end in a draw at full time. There are instances where soccer matches have 30 minutes added time or penalties, but for the sake of this type of wager, the draw is the winner even if a team eventually emerges victorious.

That means if you want to make a moneyline bet in soccer, you have to look for either a two-way line or a No Draw line. These odds are usually available on most soccer matches, but they aren’t as prevalent as three-way line betting. 

In almost every other sport, overtime is simply part of a moneyline wager. Sports like baseball, basketball, football, and hockey don’t pay out for draws at the end of regulation, so the moneyline wager can still be won or lost in the extra frame. These sports can have different rules for their overtime period, so that is something to keep in the back of your head when you are placing a moneyline bet.

Early Cashout Options

Many sportsbooks now have early cashout options if you feel the tide turning against you or simply want to lock in a profit. This will immediately place money back in your account, allowing bettors the opportunity to either get out of a bad bet or ensure they will make money on their earlier action. Sharp bettors might notice halftime adjustments that an opponent has made and come to the conclusion that it’s time to cash in their chips rather than ride it out and hope for the best in the end. 

Additionally, live betting can help if you are looking to hedge a moneyline bet. This could especially come in handy if you have a moneyline parlay, and you have already hit on some of the earlier legs. For instance, if you bet a six-team moneyline parlay, and the first five teams have already won, you might decide to let it ride on the final game for a little bit. If things don’t go your way, you can bet the other side on the final leg of your parlay and guarantee a profit.

Comparing Moneylines to Spreads

Typically, the moneyline for a game in a major sport is based off of the point spread. Oddsmakers come up with the line for a game, and then the moneyline betting odds are equated based on a conversion chart that shows the relationship between a hypothetical moneyline when the spread is a certain number. That’s why sportsbooks tend to move their moneyline betting odds whenever the point spread changes, as shrewd bettors would otherwise look to take advantage of mismatched odds between the spread and the moneyline. 

Bettors will find this to be the case in sports like football, basketball, and soccer. There can be sizable mismatches between teams, especially in collegiate sports. Baseball and hockey are lower scoring games, and there is more parity between teams in MLB and NHL, so you won’t find this to be as prevalent in those two leagues.