Understanding and Playing The Money Line

Many experienced gamblers are very familiar with the money line, and how it works. Most novice sports bettors, however, do not understand the way the money line works, and how it can be used to their advantage to make low-risk bets that offer potentially good winnings.

Playing the money line involves making straight-up bets as opposed to 'against the spread' bets. All you are doing is saying that you think a particular team will win the game. If you are correct, you win the bet. If your chosen team loses, then you will have lost the bet. There is no 'juice' taken by the bookmakers, although the odds they offer have been calculated to ensure they still make a profit.

The main issue with this kind of bet is that betting on the favourite does not pay even money. If it did, everyone would bet on the favourite, win lots each week, and be ready to retire in no time! Plus, the bookmakers would go out of business very quickly. Instead, when you bet on the favourite, you have to put down more than you can win. Betting on the underdog, you need to put down less than you can win.

For example:

Manchester United -3 over Arsenal

The bookmakers have set the money line for this game at -180 for Manchester United, and +150 for Arsenal. For this game, you would have to lay $180 on Manchester United to win $100, while if you bet on Arsenal, you would have to lay $100 to win $150.

Sunderland +6.5 over Arsenal

In this game, Arsenal have been set at -300 by the bookmakers, and Sunderland, being the underdogs, are set at +230 - meaning you could win $230 on a $100 bet. The bigger numbers explain the larger spread.

Betting on an underdog to win 'straight up' can allow you to win a lot of money on a small bet. If you combine money line picks to make parlays, you can make a good profit with only a small investment.

In the examples above, parlaying Asenal in Game one, and Sunderland in game two could yield winnings of $725 on a $100 bet. Betting on an underdog to win straight up may seem a hard thing to do, but if you can get good odds on the money line then you do not need a lot of wins to break even.

If you follow the money line and manage to get some +400 money line underdogs, you would only need to win 20% of your bets to break even. As the line reduces, you need to win more games, but even underdogs with a money line of +150 produce a break even point of 40%.

Remember that there is no juice on straight up bets, so you win the full amount on each bet.

So next time you see an underdog that you think can win the game, consider betting on them to win straight up, instead of betting against the spread. It can be a lot more profitable. If you are unsure, split the bet between the spread and a straight up win - that way, if they cover the spread, but don't win, you have still broken even, and if they win, you have won both bets.