It appears that sports betting is just a game in which you can earn passive income by placing a single number of bets per day with a minimal amount of knowledge. This is a common misconception held by new players.
“If you only bet on the favorites for the lowest coefficient, your chances of losing are almost nullified.” Obviously, this is one of the most common myths that new bookmaker players like to believe. It is sufficient to consider an example to ensure that this statement is false.
Given the importance of quotes and the probability of winning the favorite, a small coefficient cannot, in theory, lose. If every favorite won for a small coefficient, the bookmakers would have gone bankrupt a long time ago.
It is sufficient to consider the outcomes of recent fights in any sport for the sake of clarity in this statement. Outsiders frequently win in sports, regardless of the sport.
Similar situations occur frequently in tennis and basketball, where outsiders win every fourth match. As a result, if you bet on the meeting’s favorites, you may soon find yourself without a game bank.
What are we trying to say? That even entertainment like betting should be approached wisely, with a well-adjusted strategy, rather than at random. As a result, we’ll introduce you to one of them in this article which is called moneyline. What does moneyline mean?
“Moneyline” betting is the most basic form of wagering. There are betting odds on the victory of one of the competitors in all game sports on the market, whether it is an individual athlete (as in tennis) or a team. In most sports, there is also a wager on the outcome of the game.
All that is required of the bettor is to predict the winner of the match, or to predict a draw (which cannot be done in tennis or volleyball, or at any stage of the playoffs of any tournament), and place the appropriate bet. The bet is won if the selected athlete or team wins; alternatively, it is lost. To determine the hypothetical percentage of winnings ahead of time, multiply the bet amount by the betting coefficient.
Moneyline betting: basic info
According to bookmaker statistics, the most bets on this market are on tennis, baseball, and UFC tournaments. Bettors, on the other hand, prefer to wager on other markets for NBA and NFL games, such as totals and handicaps. First and foremost, this is due to the high quality of matches in these leagues.
Furthermore, betting money line is frequently occured in connection with sports competitions in which two teams or two athletes compete and the outcome cannot be a draw. However, as previously stated, it is possible to place “money line” bets on football matches and other competitions that may end in a draw.
The moneyline can be explained by three possible outcomes of the competition. However, they are most commonly referred to as 1X2 bets (where 1 is the home team, X is a draw, and 2 is the away team). Furthermore, football allows for more traditional bets such as betting “money line for two outcomes”, the coefficients of which are set up in such a way that bettors do not have the option of betting on a draw: if neither team wins, the bookmaker will refund the bet.
In contrast to “more/less” bets (bets on totals), handicap bets, and many other types of bets, “moneyline” betting is processed solely on the outcome of the match. Meanwhile, for such bets, the distinction in score and number of points scored by the participants is irrelevant. The available coefficients reflect each competitor’s likelihood of victory or defeat, thereby determining the favorite and the outsider. It is uncommon, but it occurs when bookmakers offer equal or nearly equal quotes for one of the competitors’ winnings.
And, while money line bets and handicap bets differ significantly, there are some similarities between them. The favorite is more likely to win if the odds are higher. As a result, the higher the handicap, the lower the “moneyline” coefficient of bets on the favorite and the higher the coefficient of bets on the outsider.
If there is a significant difference in the quality of play between rival teams or athletes, many bettors prefer handicap betting as an alternative to “money line” bets. If you are confident in a team’s victory and believe that the actual difference in scores will be greater than the one predicted by the bookmaker, it is worthwhile to place a bet with a handicap: this will allow you to increase your winnings. Obviously, predicting the difference in scores is more difficult than simply predicting the likely winner of the match.
Why is betting on outcomes referred to as a “money line”?
Because the odds on outcomes in most cases reflect the percentage of money wagered by all players. For example, 50 percent of the money was bet on the first team’s victory, 25 percent on the second, and 25 percent on the draw. In this case, the odds should be as follows (without the bookmaker’s margin): 2.0 – 4.0 – 4.0.
What is a “moneyline” bet and 1X2?
Although the difference between “money line” meaning and “1X2” bets may appear insignificant, it can have a significant impact on the odds and the final outcome of bets.
The main distinction between these types of bets is the ability to select a draw result. In most moneyline betting markets, two options are available: the victory of team or athlete number one and the victory of team or athlete number two. Both of these options, as well as a draw, are available in the 1X2 betting markets, which are most commonly used in football.
Some may argue that the only difference here is a difference in terminology. In practice, however, beginners may overlook an important detail. If you place a bet on the 1X2 market while believing that it is still the same as betting on the “money line” market, you will be disappointed when the betting company refuses to refund your bet in the event of a draw.
What is a money line bet: example
Although everything appears to be simple at first glance, it would be helpful to provide an example of the “money line” explained strategy. Thus, Pinnacle bookmaker provides the following betting odds for the NBA match “New Orleans Pelicans” – “Utah Jazz”: 1.78 for team 1 (“New Orleans”) to win and 2.28 for team 2 (“Utah”). For clarity, we previously removed the betting margin from our calculations.
After recalculating these quotes, we can see that the bookmaker assigns a probability of victory to team 1 of 56.2 percent and a probability of victory to team 2 of 43.8 percent. If team 2 is your favorite and you believe it has a slightly better chance of winning than the bookmaker, you can place a bet on “P2.” If “Utah” wins, you will be able to win 1000 x 2.28 – 1000 = 1280 dollars (with a bet of 1000 dollars). If New Orleans wins, you will be penalized 1,000 dollars.
What is a moneyline bet method?
If you are no longer new to betting, the first type of betting that you must have mastered was betting on the “money line.” Many bettors select “their” athlete or team and then place bets on their “favorites’” victory or defeat based on the strength of the opponents.
At a higher level, bettors identify teams that are undervalued (or, conversely, overvalued) by bookmakers and place bets on the victory of one or more opponents, sometimes even against market movement. In this case, being able to correctly recalculate the betting odds in the probability of victory is critical in order to compare your own and the betting estimates of the teams’ chances.
Even more elite players have access to a model that allows them to predict the chances of their opponents without relying on bookmaker odds. These are usually professional bettors who prefer to bet according to the line opening coefficients rather than in the final few hours before the event. They only begin comparing coefficients and searching for the most favorable values after calculating “their” probability of a certain outcome.
Betting on the Money line vs. the Point Spread
The primary distinction between the moneyline meaning and the point spread is that with the moneyline, you don’t care how much either team wins by. The score is critical when betting on a point spread.
Consider a tennis match in the early rounds in which the top seed is playing a young player who only qualified through a satellite tournament. Because the two players are so far apart in talent, a moneyline wager on the favorite would yield a very small profit, whereas the underdog’s astronomical payout is unlikely to win. Instead, with a point expanded requiring the favorite to win by a certain number of games, the match can have intriguing lines that make it interesting to bet on despite the large skill difference.
Moneyline gambling has the advantage of providing a large payout when there is an upset. The types of returns seen in this scenario far outweigh any payout found on point spreads.
In addition, with money line odds, a keen eye can spot areas where the lines do not appear to match your expectations. In those instances, the added value is significant.
When lines are closed, what does it mean?
From a mathematical standpoint, if a game is expected to be close, the favorite should have a number close to -100 and the underdog should have a number close to +100. Bookmakers are happy to set close lines in these games because they believe there will be a fairly even amount of action on both sides.
In practice, an even match has lines of -110/+110, with the 10% referring to the casino’s commission. This is referred to as a dime line.
In games where the underdog is expected to lose, the favorite will have a very large negative number and the underdog will have a very large positive number.
When should you use the “money line” bet type?
In general, newcomers to the world of online betting prefer to bet on their favorite athletes or teams using the “money line” method. Again, what does moneyline betting mean? They simply place bets and do not consider the advantages of betting in any case. Professional players, on the other hand, place bets on such types based on coefficients that the bookmaker is said to have underestimated.
The quicker you achieve your goals and objectives, the easier it will be to claim that your bankroll will grow. You can prepare yourself qualitatively for playing for money. With only a small desire to win, any user can increase the size of their bankroll and progress toward success.
Working with the money line has nuances
In the money line, there are several dangers that can await you.
First, consider the match’s duration. It denotes when this betting line is available: only during the main time of the match or time is taken into account, such as in a penalty shootout in football — each sport will have its characteristics.
This type of data is detailed in the “Rules for accepting bets” section of any bookmaker’s website and applies not only to bets on net outcomes but to all types of bets in this bookmaker.
Second, there are purely technical concerns. So, for example, when working with the bookmaker, you must pay attention to the team numbering, because these bookmakers occasionally “turn over” the teams, and after a while swaps them, which can lead to an inconvenient mistake.
Final word
To summarize, players should not focus solely on one betting market, including the “money line.” A bet on a zero head start may appear more balanced and promising than a bet on the corresponding team’s victory. Read all our Gambling guide, look for profitable markets and quotes, analyze statistical data, and build your model, and you may be successful in the long run. But as you got acquainted and finally know what a moneyline bet is, you can try you luck using this method.