What is a money line wager?
A money line or straight up wager is simply betting on a team to win the game or betting that another team will lose the game. Betting on a team to just win or lose is often referred to as taking that team straight up and is often what people think of when they think of betting on a team. While casinos and sports books do accept these types of bets regularly, they aren’t as popular as point spread bets for reasons you’ll discover quite quickly when you read on further.
What do you mean by laying odds?
When point spread betting there is a vig or share the house gets and how you have to wager $11 if you plan on winning $10, in straight up or money line wagering the casinos, sports books, and online sportsbooks take it one step further. If you think the favorite is going to win you will have to lay odds or place a higher amount to win a lesser amount. I know this sounds confusing so I’ll do my best to put it in easier terms. Basically, instead of just risking the $11 to win $10 in a standard point spread wager, a bettor would have to bet sometimes significantly more to win that same $10 if they were betting on a team to just win the game regardless of by how many points. The regular point spread is usually a good indicator of how high the money line may be but I have seen instances where one would have to wager $1,000 dollars to win $10. While most cases aren’t nearly this extreme, the more a team is favored, the more one would have to put out to gain a return.
Conversely, if one decided to bet on an underdog to win a game outright, they would expect to get more back than the original amount of their wager on the money line. For example, if it is perceived that a team is a definitive underdog the payout amounts could be exponential. For example, if a team is an underdog and were 3-1 to win outright (will show as +300 as money lines are always referred to in terms relating to a $100 wager), a $10 wager would win $30 or return $40, the original $10 wagered plus the additional $30 won on the wager. Of course, the closer the game is perceived to be the lower the odds and the lower the payout, but in many cases these payouts can be significant. One has to remember that these underdog bets don’t pay off as often and that’s why it is considered an upset if the team getting the odds wins. But I can assure you that it does happen every day and usually many times over the course of a busy day or a normal week. If you are one who likes big payoffs and taking chances, this is one of the types of opportunities you will have betting underdogs, and if you pick your spots correctly the rewards can be quite nice.
Of course you will always want to check multiple sports books to make sure you are getting the highest payouts and BEST ODDS on an underdog and are having to lay the lowest odds on a favorite. Getting the best odds on sports bets over time can make the different between success or failure. We have put together this live betting odds page, the same one I use, to make sure you have a quick reference to show you where you can get the best odds and lines on all of the games. We have also provided easy links and Bonus Codes for Sports Books that you can use to sign up and grab the best odds as well as bonus offers to get you started right.