| So, you want to learn how to read a sports betting | | | | For example from above: if you bet on NYJ on the |
| line? | | | | spread and NYJ only won by 6, that would not be |
| In fact - many people bet casually on sports, and they | | | | enough to cover and this means that you will lose your |
| will never know how to read these lines. However, if | | | | bet in result. On the other hand, if you bet on ALT and |
| you want to bet more seriously, you will need to know | | | | they lost by only 6, you would win because they came |
| what each lines mean. It is always important to spend | | | | close enough. The number that follows next to the |
| some time for analyzing your favorable team in order | | | | spread number is indicating how much a bettor has to |
| to place any bet on it. Remember - all sports books | | | | bet in order to win $100. |
| use different lines, and you will need to look around | | | | 4. Now, you will need to determine the money line. It is |
| and find the one that most favorable to you before | | | | the last number in each of the top two rows. From the |
| making any bets. | | | | example above that NYJ is -250 and ALT is +310. This |
| So, how to read sports betting line? It is this... | | | | means that when you be the money line, you are |
| 1. Whenever you look at the sports books, you will see | | | | betting on the team to win outright. In other words, the |
| something like this... | | | | team you choose need to win the game in order to |
| NYJ -11.2 -120 -250 | | | | win your bet. The plus sign indicates that you can win |
| ALT+11.2 -120 +310 | | | | that much money by only betting $100, and the minus |
| 55.5 ov-110 | | | | sign indicates that you need to place that amount of |
| 2. First of all, you need to determine the favorite and | | | | money in order to win $100. From the example: you |
| underdog. The favorite means that it has a "minus" sign | | | | need to place $250 bet on NYJ in order to win $100 |
| next to the first number, and the underdog will be a | | | | profit if NYJ wins the game; and you can simply place |
| "plus" sign. From the above example, the NYJ is the | | | | $100 bet on ALT and makes $310 profit if ALT wins. |
| favorite and the ALT is the underdog. | | | | 5. Lastly, you will need to determine the over-under, |
| 3. Then, you will need to determine the spread. The | | | | and it is the first number in the last row. This means |
| spread means the first number following both teams. | | | | that you are betting on the score of the game. The |
| From the above, you can see the spread is 11.2. One | | | | bet is whether the combined scored of both teams at |
| of the most common types of bet is spread betting. In | | | | the end of the game will be higher or lower than that |
| other words, if you bet the favorite on spread, it | | | | number. From the example above, the over-under is |
| means that the team not only has to win the game, | | | | 55.5, and if you bet over and the game ends 30-18, |
| but it has to win by at least as many points as the | | | | you would win. The last number in the bottom row is |
| spread. On the other hand, if you bet on the underdog, | | | | how much you have to bet in order to win $100 on the |
| that team does not necessarily have to win, but it must | | | | over-under. |
| come within that many points. | | | | |