The American term moneyline is the simplest possible way to place wagers on sports events by just choosing a player or team to win and if the chosen team wins the bookmaker pays the amount. Although backing a winner is considered less profitable than other options offered in the market, usually punters betting on the moneyline are looking for simple bets by betting on a winner.
There are generally two categories in moneyline betting and they are positive or negative odds. The favourite is represented by negative moneyline odds and the underdog is usually represented with positive odd value.
What is the money line?
The moneyline betting strategy uses the odds instead of goals to place a balance between the winning strengths or difference of both teams and the bookie will offer lower odds for favorites to win while underdogs will be attached to higher odds.
This creates a balance in both difference in strength and winning chances of both teams. However, moneyline betting can be viewed as a profitable technic if you are backing underdogs to win and the possibility of winning may be low but not completely impossible.
The general idea is to bet on a winner, since money line betting uses odds instead of goals to balance the two team’s attributes and also develop a theoretical difference in winning chances of both teams. The bookmaker will attract punters by placing higher odds for underdogs, while providing lower odds for favorites to win.
This serves the purpose to create market balance by reducing the payout on the favorite and increasing the underdog possible payout, since they are usually backed with little money.
These shows that betting on the underdog can be more profitable than betting on the winner, because of the higher odds offered by the bookmaker and it’s possible to back underdogs to win. However, winning on higher odds is considered a risky task since most bookmakers are offering such odds for impossible odd value.
Difference between the money line vs the spread
Money line as discussed is a simple method of betting but requires a different approach when it comes to betting and creating that balance requires one to identify a winner and it can be an underdog or a favorite team to win. Picking the underdog is consider profitable than spreading the stake, which is consider a safe choice by majority of punters and we can benefit from money line in the long run.
Spreading the bet allows punters to create a balance in the winning percentage, unlike money line we are more exposed to possible outcomes since we are not picking on a winner and it’s not as profitable in the long run like the money line option. Punters good at identifying winning underdogs should consider the money line option and can profit from such unique bets in the long term.
We recommend playing on the money line after an analysis of both previous and current form of the team your backing to win. Backing the underdog has more profit than backing a team on the positive spread line, we should consider placing underdogs more often since they can win in the heat of the league and we should avoid backing favorites all the time, they can’t win all their events in the long run.
Money line betting strategy
For every plan to be successful we all need a strategy to guide us and online betting require we understand the money line strategy. In order to make a profit we should pick winning teams that exceed the loss margins and we can earn from betting on extremely low odds, provided all selected winner win. Money line may seem easy to some extent but it’s actually a complicated process and we may require to back underdogs from time to time.
Although there Is a possibility of winning on the underdog the percentage is lower and we may be anxious when it comes to underdog betting but if we hit such wins its proves to be more profitable. Gambling is a risky way of making money and punters who have a long history in sports betting understand that they have sometimes avoid underdogs for favorites. They have ended up regretting making such rash decisions and have lost money to favorites only playing style, we should always factor in that underdogs are really hidden profits behind an exaggerated odds value.
Implied profitability depends on the two variables winning percentage and the odds average win percentage. By converting odds into a percentage this makes it easier to compare bookmakers’ odds and we can independently decide from here based on match analysis. The trick is finding value for bets, regardless of the odds offered we can beat the system by converting odds into a percentage and win.
NBA money lines
Popular basketball leagues are easy to bet on the favorites to win and is considered as the safest possible bet. All teams play a series of 82 matches and it’s bound to put a strain on the favorite teams. Underdogs have been shown to win on bad nights while playing against favorites and has over the years become a common occurrence. We can pick playing teams with a history of equal winning margins and betting on the visiting team can prove to profitable option due to high odds offered.
NFL money lines
The American football is also a popular sport to bet on super bowl money lines and margins can be as low as 3 points or 10 points. Betting on underdogs is considered as a profitable option in the long term but since teams are still developing before going pro, will sometimes be disappointed.
NHL money lines
Ice hockey is a popular sport both in Canada and the USA. The sports doesn’t have a lot of goal difference compared to football and basketball. Therefore it’s common to bet on the money line unlike betting on the spread betting and generally odds are higher in NHL playoff odds.
