The moneyline is a type of bet that focuses on the outright winner of a game. Learn how the moneyline works and calculate it.
What Does the Moneyline Mean and How Does it Work?
One of the most common types of sports bets you’ll find is the moneyline. So what is a moneyline bet? The moneyline is a type of bet that focuses on the outright winner of a game. If you haven’t heard this term or are not familiar with this bet type, we’re going to elaborate on the topic and explain to you what the moneyline is, how to calculate the payout and show you a number of examples of where it will come up in sportsbooks.
How Does The Moneyline Work?
The moneyline is a type of bet where you are strictly choosing the winner of the match. Whereas the point spread forces you to choose a side who will cover a specific margin, the moneyline allows you to just pick who’ll win the game, fight or match.
The key to note with the moneylines is that there are odds attached them. For example, if the New England Patriots are favored to win by 10.5 points, you might think to yourself “hey, they’re an easy bet on the moneyline to win outright”. Well, the oddsmakers are a step ahead of you. If they’re a big favorite, that means you won’t earn as big of a payday on the moneyline. However, if they’re a big underdog, you actually will.
How Are Payouts Calculated?
One of the keys to understanding the moneyline is being able to read the odds. Here’s an example of what you might see:
| NFL Team | Moneyline |
|---|---|
| Dallas Cowboys | +325 |
| New England Patriots | -400 |
In this situation, the -400 means that if you bet $400 on the Patriots and they win, they’ll pay you a profit of $100. On the other hand, a $100 bet on the Dallas Cowboys will pay you a profit of $325.
How Do Plus And Minus Odds Work?
The key to understanding the moneyline odds is first to note the plus and minus sign. If there’s a plus sign in front of the odds, that denotes the amount that you’d win if you bet $100. On the other hand, if there is a minus sign, that denotes the amount that you’d have to bet to win $100.
Of course, you aren’t tied to betting these exact amounts. If you bet $40 on the Patriots, you could win $10 if they were victorious. Or you could be $80 to win $20 or whatever you want. The key here is just to be able to read the odds and get an idea of what the payout will be.
The other key here is to note is that the minus sign denotes the favorite while the plus sign denotes the underdog. The bigger the number, the bigger the underdog. On the other hand, the further you go into negatives, the bigger that team is favored.
How Do You Calculate The Money line?
For those who want an even simpler equation, here’s how it works:
-400 = $400 bet wins you back $100 (if the bet wins)
+325 = $100 bet wins you back $325 (if the bet wins)
The key is to note the plus and minus signs.
Parlaying Moneyline Bets
One of the most popular types of parlays is a moneyline parlay. What this allows you to do is to group two or more moneyline bets and if both of them win, you not only win your bet, you multiply your payout. If anyone of those selections loses, though, you end up losing your entire stake.
We’ll be your moneyline calculator. Here is how the moneyline parlay is calculated:
- Convert the moneyline to decimal odds.
- Multiply the odds together.
- Multiply the odds together by the stake of your bet.
To do step one, you have convert the odds to decimal odds. Odds that are written out as -400 or +325 are American style. To convert the positive odds, divide by 100 and add 1. If it is a negative number, ditch the minus sign, divide by the moneyline amount and add 1.
Let’s say you’re playing a three-game parlay with +110, -200 and -600. Those odds convert to
+110 = 110 /100 + 1 = 2.10
-200 = 100 / 200 + 1 = 1.50
-600 = 100 / 600 + 1 = 1.17
Then what we need to do is multiply the odds by our stake – the amount we’re betting. Let’s say you’re betting $50.
50 * 2.10 * 1.50 * 1.17 = $184.28
In other words, a $50 bet would pay $184.28. Remember, all three bets need to win for you to win the parlay. However, you can see just how big of a payday you can earn if you get all of those picks right.
NFL Moneyline
When you’re looking NFL moneylines, you’ll see odds in many forms: the moneyline bet, moneylines attached to spreads (usually -110) and then moneylines attached to futures. Here are a few examples of NFL odds that you might see at Bovada:
| NFL Team | Point Spread |
|---|---|
| New England | -3.5 -110 |
| NFL Team | Game Moneyline |
|---|---|
| New England | -200 |
| NFL Team | Super Bowl Futures |
|---|---|
| New England | +300 |
The college football moneyline works the exact same way.
NBA Moneyline
NBA moneylines are similar to NFL moneylines: you’ll see them attached to spreads, game moneylines, futures, props and many more. Once you understand how they work, it’s the same across the board. Here are a few NBA odds examples that you might see at BetOnline:
| NBA Team | Point Spread |
|---|---|
| Lakers | -7.5 -110 |
| NBA Team | Game Moneyline |
|---|---|
| Lakers | -350 |
| NBA Team | NBA Championship Futures |
|---|---|
| Lakers | +550 |
Baseball Moneyline
The baseball moneyline allows you to bet on the outright winner of a baseball game. Once you understand how those American odds, work, you’ll know how it works across the board with runlines, futures and baseball props too. Here are some examples of what a baseball odds might look like at MyBookie:
| MLB Team | Runline |
|---|---|
| Lakers | -1.5 +120 |
| MLB Team | Moneyline |
|---|---|
| Yankees | -160 |
| MLB Team | World Series Futures |
|---|---|
| Yankees | +800 |
UFC Moneyline
The moneyline in the UFC is your way to bet on a fighter to win his bout. It doesn’t matter how they win as long as they win. The UFC odds might look like this at YouWager:
| Fighter | Moneyline |
|---|---|
| Conor McGregor | -350 |
| Donald Cerrone | +250 |
Tennis Moneyline
To show you another example of a common moneyline, it’s the top way to bet on tennis. You’ll see moneylines for every tennis matchup on the board. Then you decide who’ll win the match outright. Here’s how a moneyline might look at BookMaker:
| Player | Moneyline |
|---|---|
| Rafael Nadal | +150 |
| Novak Djokovic | -200 |
Moneyline FAQ
For every $100 you bet on this line, you would win $150 if your selection won. You don’t have to bet exactly $100 but this gives you an idea of what the payout will be.
You’d win $200 if you bet $100 on the plus (+) side of the moneyline and it came through for you. You don’t have to bet that exact amount. You are able to bet in whatever increments you like.
The spread focuses on a margin of victory whereas the moneyline is a bet that strictly focuses on the team that wins outright.
The moneyline bet in American football is a bet where you simply choose the outright winner of the game. If the team you bet on wins the game, you win your bet.
A moneyline bet is solely focused on who wins the matchup outright. A spread focuses on a margin of victory and you have to decide who will cover that margin.
