The best Online sportsbooks in the US offer hundreds of different betting markets, but for you to make money from them, you must understand how to read betting lines as a first step. Once you have grasped the basic principle of how they work, there are numerous things that you can gain by having a total understanding of the numbers and what they are telling you.
This guide goes through how sports betting lines work, including how to read lines for the most common bet types.
How do you Read Sports Betting Lines?
An online sports betting site will display a range of odds for different bet types for upcoming games. There are options for you to change the games on display from choosing your preferred sport from the A-Z list of markets, typically found on the left of the page. The screenshot below is a typical example of odds on display for an NFL Game:
The main odds shown for any NFL game are point spreads, moneylines and totals. The spread and totals will have two numbers on each side, which are the line and the odds for placing a bet.
For the spread, the team with the minus symbol next to it is the favorite, while the plus sign indicates the underdog. In this example above, the Kansas City Chiefs are 8.5 point favorites, for the total, you could bet this game to have over or under 41.5 points.
You can also quickly tell how are the favorites and the underdogs by looking at the moneyline, which are again shown by having a negative or positive number. The example I have used above is from FanDuel sportsbook, and some sites may present the odds in a different way to this. However, the numbers and plus and minus signs always mean the same thing.
NBA lines are very similar to the NFL, although the over/under will be much bigger numbers as basketball games are far more high-scoring than football games. For example, you may see total numbers set at 227 for a game. The same principle applies though, you can tell how the sportsbook thinks an NBA game will go by looking at the three boxes.
The above is an example for betting on MLB odds, and the same concepts apply except that the run line has replaced the spread. The good news is there is nothing new to learn, it works the same where you can choose the favorite to win by more than the total or the underdog lose by less than the total set by the bookmaker. However, unlike the point spread, where the line moves, the run line is always 1.5 and the odds reflect the difference in perceived quality between the teams.
NHL odds are like the MLB odds where they the spread is replaced by the puck line, and like in baseball betting it is always set at 1.5. There are some sports where you will be betting on a player rather than a team, such as golf and tennis for example. For golf betting, you can bet on the outright winner of tournaments while in tennis betting, you can wager on individual matches as well as the outright winner of an event.
How to Read Betting Lines for Other Bet Types
We have covered the standard bet types above, but beyond those, there are odds available for all of the other different types of bets that you can place. For example, a player prop TD scorer bet may look like this from FanDuel:
For this type of bet, you are trying to predict who is going to score a TD in the game and at which point. Obviously, the odds for an anytime TD scorer won’t be high for the better players as they have a whole game to score. However, placing a bet on the first or last TD scorer will result in higher odds as you are trying to pinpoint exactly when you think a player will hit paydirt. The sportsbook will always list who it thinks are the most likely TD scorers such as above, but if you think a player that doesn’t appear straight away will score, you can always hit the ‘click more’ button which will then list more players.
Futures betting is another great type of bet, where you are predicting who will win a tournament way ahead of time. For example, as soon as the Super Bowl is over, bookmakers will release the odds of who they think will win the next Super Bowl. The favorite will be top of the list with the lowest odds and then they will increase from there.
Essentially, when reading odds for a pair of choices, the negative number is the favorite. If both of the numbers shown are negative, then it will be the greater negative number out of the two. When there are bets with several options, the one with the lowest positive odds is the favorite.
How to Calculate Payouts from Sports Betting Odds
The betting odds have a direct correlation to the potential payouts you could receive if your bet wins. There are a few different ways you can calculate the money you could win.
- Betting Calculator: We have some free betting calculators, including an odds calculator, where you can work out your potential return based on the odds and how much you plan to stake. These calculators are completely free to use.
- Betting slip: When you add a wager to your betslip online and add your stake, your potential payout will appear in a box instantly.
There are also a few formulas you can use if you want to get a rough estimate of how much money you could win, but the above options are the two best when working out potential profits from betting lines and odds.
Why do Sports Betting Lines Move?
Once the odds have been released for a game or event, the lines won’t automatically stay the same. There are two main factors that go into this: the amount of betting activity recorded and new information such as a sudden injury to a star player.
One the lines are released, players then begin betting. Typically, professional betting syndicates will have the biggest impact on a line. Spreads and totals might move by 0.5 points or slightly more, and the odds may also move up and down.
Also, sports betting lines are set based on live information. Once the lines are released, there could be some news that comes to light that can impact the preparation for a game. I mentioned injury above, but a sudden change in the weather could also change things. Not all sportsbooks will move lines in the same way, so make sure you do some line shopping to find the odds that best suit what you are thinking.
What is a Standard Betting Line?
The standard betting line is just the line that the oddsmakers will set before it naturally moves before the game begins. You will have the option to bet on that line with the odds provided. As always, there will be underdogs and favorites and it is up to you to determine which bet has the most value.
As mentioned above, these lines change due to many factors. The standard betting line is used as a reference point for anybody placing wagers on the event and can also be used to calculate the potential payout based on the stake and the odds. Getting to grips with how American betting lines work is essential if you want to make a success of sports betting, especially if you want to bet on football and basketball.
The first thing is to understand how a standard betting line works, what the odds mean and how you can benefit from the opportunities that will appear once the lines start to move.
Things to look out for with Sports Betting Lines
Once you feel confident enough that you understand the basics of sports betting lines and how they work, then you need to know what to look out for. Some of the following are things to remember when viewing lines at online sportsbooks:
What do the numbers say: The moneyline and spread odds can show us whether the betting site thinks a match will be close, while totals reveal what they think about overall scoring. As a general rule of thumb, you should always check out these numbers to see if there is any value.
Shop around: Although most of the best sportsbooks tend to offer similar odds, even a subtle difference can make a change in how much money you could win. Line shopping is important as you can get the best possible odds for the match you want to bet on.
Value is everything: Ultimately you are risking your own money when betting, so don’t just bet for the sake of it. Make sure there is value in your options. If you think a particular wager offers no value at all, move on.
Once you get to grips with how everything works, you will soon know exactly what the numbers are telling you. You can work out the implied probability of outcomes and this will help your overall betting strategy.
