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Before engaging in sports wagering, you need to understand hot the spread and the moneylines work.

Moneylines explained

Moneylines are quite popular with US bookmakers. Quite simply, with moneylines you’re betting on the winner, regardless of the spread. How moneylines are used is best explained with an example.

In the NBA match between Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder of 4th of December 2009, the moneyline looked like this:

Boston Celtics -190
Oklahoma City Thunder +160

Boston is the hot favorite to win the match, as signified by the – minus sign which is preceding the number. If you think Boston is going to win, you’d have to bet $190 in order to make $100. If Boston wins, you’d collect $290 (your original bet of $190 plus the profit of $100). If Boston loses, you lose your bet of $190.

In this example Oklahoma is the underdog and the bookmakers expect it to lose, as denoted by the + plus sign in front of the number. If you think Oklahoma is going to win, you’d need to bet $100 in order to make $160. If Oklahoma wins, you’d collect $260 (your original bet of $100 plus the profit of $160). If Oklahoma loses, you lose your bet of $100.

Of course, instead of betting $190 or $100 you can $10 or $20 or any other amount. For every $1.90 that you wager for Boston you stand to gain $1 when they win; for ever $1 that you wager for Oklahoma you stand to gain $1.60 when they win.

Moneylines are favored by US bookmakers.

Moneylines, favorites and underdogs

The greater the favorite, the greater the – minus number is going to be. If one side is a big-time underdog, it will be reflected in the big + plus number. Here is an example:

Chicago Bulls +800
Cleveland Cavaliers -1400

Cleveland is a big favorite, so you’d have to risk $1400 in order to win $100. Chicago is a true underdog: your bet of $100 nets the profits of $800 when they win.

In short, with moneylines you’re betting on the winner; it does not matter if your team wins narrowly or with a big difference – as long as they win.

Fractional odds

The moneyline of +500 can be shown as fractional odds of 5/1 (“five-to-one” odds, or “five-to-one against”). This means that you gain $5 for every $1 you bet. When you bet $100 and your team wins, you’d collect $600 (your original bet of $100 plus $500 in profits).

Similarly, the moneyline of -300 can be shown as fractional odds of 1/3 (“one-to-three” odds). This means that you gain $1 for every $3 you bet. When you bet $300 and your team wins, you’d collect $400 (your original bet of $300 plus $100 in profits).

Fractional odds are favored by UK bookmakers.

Decimal odds

The moneyline of +500 can be shown as decimal odds of 6.00 (fractional odds of 5/1 plus 1). The decimal number represents the total amount you get for every $1 (or £1; or €1) you bet when you win the wager. When you bet $100 and your team wins, you’d collect $600 (your original bet of $100 plus $500 in profits).

Similarly, the moneyline of -400 can be shown as decimal odds of 1.25 (fractional odds of 1/4 plus 1). When you bet $400 and your team wins, you’d collect $500 (your original bet of $400 multiplied by 1.25).

Decimal odds are favored by the bookmakers in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Europe (except UK).

Point spread explained

Point spread is best explained with an example:

Boston Celtics -4 -110
Oklahoma City Thunder +4 -110

Similar to moneylines, the + or – sign in front of the number tells you who the favorite is (- for the favorite; + for the underdog). However, what matters is not just who wins, but also with which result. In the above example, Boston is the favorite: when you bet on Boston, they have to win by more than 4 points. Oklahoma is the underdog: when you bet on Oklahoma, you win when they win, but you also win if they do not lose by more than 4 points.

The second number, -110 in this example, means that you stand to gain $100 when you bet $110. If you bet $110 on Boston and they win by 5 points, you’d collect $210 (your original bet of $110 plus the profit of $100).

What happens if Boston wins by exactly 4 points? In this case the bettors neither win nor lose, the bet is a “push” as it has fallen on the spread. All the wagered money is returned to bettors.

Spread betting makes everything much more interesting when the opponents are very unevenly matched. In the cases when you have a clear favorite, it is not much fun betting with lots of money for tiny profits – but betting on a spread adds spice back into the game.

Betting “Over” and “Under”

With “over” and “under” betting you go for the total number of points rather than a winner of the game. Here is an example:

In this example, Over 110 means that you’re betting that the total number of points scored by both teams will be over 110, irrespective of who wins. Under 110 means that you’re betting that the total number of points scored by both teams will be less than 110. By betting $190 you stand to gain $100 (the total of $190, which is your original bet, plus the profit of $100).