Moneyline bets can be confusing to bettors, which is one reason why baseball and hockey rank far below football and basketball in terms of betting popularity. But moneyline bets have one distinct advantage over the point spread and that is when you place a moneyline bet, the only thing you are concerned about is which team wins the game. The margin of victory does not influence whether the bet is a winning one or a losing one.

The one disadvantage with moneyline bets is that if you take an obviously superior team, you may find yourself risking quite a bit more money than you stand to win and a single loss can easily offset a number of winning bets. Still, it’s worth your while to be aware of moneyline bets. While they are the standard method of betting on baseball and hockey, moneyline wagers are offered on nearly every football and basketball game and you may find better value than you do with the point spread.

Moneyline odds are always given in relationship to $100, even though you do not have to bet that much, or can wager much more depending on your situation. When a team has moneyline odds of -240 that means that you must risk $240 to win $100. The “minus” written in front of the team lets you know that they are the favorite. A “plus” written in front of a team means that they are the underdog. When a team shows moneyline odds of +200, that means you stand to win $200 for every $100 that you bet.

 

When it comes to moneyline bets, sportsbooks will tell you the odds for both teams. Unlike point spread bets, which carry the standard 11-to-10 odds regardless of which team you bet on, moneyline odds do change from sportsbook to sportsbook. If a sportsbook uses what is known as a 10-cent line for baseball, the odds will be: Team A -130, Team B +120. A sportsbook that doesn’t use a 10-cent line will have the same game as Team A-135, Team B +115. So you can see that it definitely pays to find a sportsbook using a 10-cent line.

As the odds of the favorite winning increase, there will be a bigger difference in the odds between the favorite and the underdog. If a favorite is -400 the underdog will likely be +300. If the favorite is -1000 the underdog will be closer to +700. Each sportsbook has its own tendencies in regards to moneyline prices.