What does moneyline bet mean?

A moneyline (or money line - both terms are used arbitrarily) bet is a term used mainly in North America, or on North American sports, to describe a bet on the outright winner of a match, with no handicap applied.

It is the equivalent of a full-time result bet in football or rugby or a bet on the winner of a tennis match or similar.

With moneyline bets, as is the case with many American Sports, a draw is not a backable option. This is because many American sports will have overtime (or similar) to attempt to break any deadlock.

Overtime is included in moneyline bets, unlike full time result bets which always go on the scoreline at the end of 90 minutes and which do not include extra time or penalties.

A moneyline bet is one of the easiest bets to understand and also to calculate winnings from. This is one of the reasons why along with spread bets and over/under bets, it is one of the most popular betting markets in North America.

The moneyline bet is also growing in popularity across the globe, particularly for American Sports betting. It is one of a trio of popular ‘line bets’ on American sports which also includes spread bets and Total Points (Over/Under) bets.

For the purposes of this article, we will use the most commonly applied odds format for moneyline bets, which is American odds.

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Explaining a Moneyline Bet

Let’s use a real-life example to explain a moneyline bet and its key details.

In the National Football League, the Washington Commanders are facing the New York Giants in a major NFC East clash.

Explaining the Moneyline American Odds

Our chosen bookmaker is offering the following odds for the teams as a moneyline bet option:

Washington Commanders -210
New York Giants +175

A minus figure indicates the favourites to win, a positive figure indicates the underdogs.

You can see that despite being the visiting team, the Washington Commanders are the favourites to win the game by a considerable margin.

The bigger the difference between the minus number for the favourites and the positive number for the underdogs, then the more likely it is that the favourites will win.

For example, another game in the same week as the Commanders play the Giants, sees the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Buccaneers are +350 and the Chiefs -450 on the moneyline with the same bookmaker.

You can see that the bookmakers feel the Chiefs are considerably more likely to beat the Buccaneers, than the Commanders are to beat the Giants, due to the much greater difference in odds between the Bucs and Chiefs (800) compared to the Commanders and Giants (385).

Let’s now say that you want to place a bet on the Washington Commanders to win the game. How much are you likely to win?

Working Out Moneyline Bet Winnings

Using the American odds format, it is actually very easy to work out your winnings. That is because the odds format is based on the premise of a $100 bet being made on either of the two teams.

In the case of the favourites to win the game, the one with the minus number (in our case, the Washington Commanders), the minus number tells you how much you would need to wager in order to win $100.

So, in the example above, a $210 bet on the Commanders, if they won, would see you win $100 in winnings, plus get your $210 stake back (total return $310).

However, if you were to back the Giants to win at +175, then the positive number shows you how much you would win for a $100 stake on the Giants.

So a $100 bet on the Giants would win $175, plus you’d get your $100 stake back for a total return of $275, but only if the Giants win the game.

So remember the following:

Minus Number is what you must stake on this team to win $100.
Positive Number is what you would win on this team for a $100 stake.

Many companies do allow you to change the odds format to fractional or decimal odds if you prefer to have more familiar odds for Moneyline bets.

American Odds are scalable too, so for example, if you wanted to win $10 by betting on the Commanders to win at -210. Then you would need to make a $21 bet.

Alternatively, if you staked $10 on the Giants to win at +275, then you would win $27.50 including your stake ($17.50 in winnings, plus your $10 stake returned).

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Are There Any Advantages to Moneyline Bets for Punters?

Yes. While the bookmaker applies stringent processes to make the odds on moneyline bets as accurate as possible, in the end it boils down to simply an educated guess as to what those odds should be.

If a punter can follow a team’s fortunes over the course of the season, keep up to date with team news, injuries and similar, then they can use this knowledge to try and identify the markets where the bookmakers may have made a favourite to win either too short a price or an underdog too long a price to win.

When a punter identifies these games, they can then make good value bets, perhaps backing the underdog to win at good value odds compared to their actual chances of winning as suggested by the odds offered by the bookmaker.

Similarly, with only two options, this makes a Moneyline bet a 50/50 betting option. This is about the best odds you will find when betting online with a bookmaker.

Lastly, many punters find great value with moneyline bets by putting several together on a bet slip and placing them as an accumulator bet. This can be a good example of a low-risk/high-reward bet where you could place a small initial stake, and use the selections you make to potentially earn you a sizeable return.

A moneyline bet is a simple bet on a team to win, but it is a term and bet used predominantly on American Sports markets. Once you understand the jargon used within the bet, and how to work out your returns, it is as simple a bet as you can make when enjoying sports betting!

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What does moneyline bet mean?

Explaining a Moneyline Bet

Explaining the Moneyline American Odds

Working Out Moneyline Bet Winnings

Are There Any Advantages to Moneyline Bets for Punters?

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