Moneyline

A moneyline bet is the simplest wager out there. Forget point spreads and totals — you’re just picking who wins. If your pick wins, you get paid. If they lose, you lose your stake. The margin of victory doesn’t matter; the final score only counts for deciding the winner.

Moneyline odds look different depending on whether your pick is the favorite or the underdog. In American odds, a favorite shows a negative number (like -150), telling you how much you need to bet to win $100. An underdog shows a positive number (like +130), telling you the profit on a $100 bet. Decimal and fractional formats keep the same idea: lower odds mean favorites, higher odds mean underdogs.

Example

Say the New York Yankees are listed at -160 and the Boston Red Sox at +140 in a baseball game. Bet $160 on the Yankees and if they win, you get $100 in profit plus your $160 stake back. Or bet $100 on the Red Sox at +140 and if they pull the upset, you collect $140 in profit plus your original $100 stake.

The gap in payout between the two sides reflects how the bookmaker rates each team’s chance of winning, plus the built-in commission (the vig or juice).

Key Points

• Simple: Moneyline bets only ask you to pick the winner. No spreads, no totals — just the straight result.
• Payouts follow probability: Favorites pay less for the amount bet because they’re more likely to win. Underdogs pay more because they’re less likely.
• Found in every major sport: Moneyline betting is available in baseball, hockey, soccer, basketball, football, tennis, and pretty much any sport with a clear winner.
• Often no ties: Many moneyline markets leave out the draw. In sports where ties happen (like soccer), a three-way moneyline adds the draw as its own outcome.
• Building block for parlays: Moneyline picks get combined into parlays all the time, where every leg has to win for the bet to pay.