Understanding Money Lines: Beginners Guide to Betting Lines

Money lines, or just lines, let you bet on the outcome of a game or other event. They are a fixed-odds betting system that either show how much you win for a $100 bet, or show how much you need to bet to win $100.

They can be used in any sport where there is a winner including one versus one match-ups like tennis, team vs team match-ups like basketball, and sports where there are large numbers of participants but only one winner like horse racing. Money lines are also used for many bets on non-sporting events like betting on reality TV shows.

Money lines are mostly used in the USA. Other countries use fractions or decimals to express fixed odds.

Bookmakers try to draw action to both sides of a match by adjusting the payout of the lines. A heavily-favored side will pay very little, often just 10-15% more than the bet, while a heavy underdog can pay a hundred times or more than the initial bet.

Sportsbooks set and adjust odds so that, regardless of the outcome, there's enough money from the losing side to cover the winnings plus a small commission for the sportsbook.

Understanding Money Lines

Money lines are expressed by a number preceded by a plus (+) or minus (-) sign. A money line always has at least 3 digits.

The plus sign means that the number is what you would win if you bet $100. So if you wanted to bet on the Los Angeles Lakers to win the NBA Championships and the money line showed +125, then you would win $125 on a $100 bet plus your initial $100. You win $225 back on a $100 bet.

A minus sign means that the number shows how much you need to bet to win $100. So if you see that Jimmie Johnson is -575 to win his next NASCAR race, that means you pay $575 to win $100 plus your initial $575. You win $675 back on a $575 bet.

Just because the lines show how much you need to bet to win $100 or how much you win off a $100 bet, doesn't mean that you have to bet $100 or more. Sportsbooks typically have a maximum bet, but most of them don't have a minimum bet.

Betting Money Lines

Money lines let you bet on almost anything from sporting events to who will win the next season of Hell's Kitchen to whether the Large Hadron Collider will cause the end of the world.

If you're new to betting money lines, look for a sportsbook like betED and you'll find the lines listed by sport. If you're more interested in betting on some of the stranger lines covering TV, entertainment, awards shows and odd sports bets, then look for props betting.

Betting on money lines can make an event more fun and interesting. But regardless of what you bet on, never bet more than you can afford to lose. You will enjoy yourself more if you bet responsibly.