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Learning how sports betting odds work can be intimidating at first, but our guide will teach you how to read odds in no time! This primer is designed for beginners who are curious about common wagering practices and terms.

Learn to Bet on Sports & Gamble Online & Offline

For starters, you will need somewhere to place bets. If you are in Vegas, great! You can bet at one of the sportsbooks in their casinos. As more and more states pass laws to legalize sports betting, you will also be able to place wagers at local casinos in your area. You could also find a local bookie to bet through, but we recommend betting online.

Betting Odds are written in terms of 100 as an industry standard. The easiest way to think of the plus and minus signs is as follows. If it is a plus, you will receive more than a $100 payout on a $100 bet. If it is a minus, you will have to bet more than $100 to win a $100 payout. Minus means favorite. Plus means underdog. The number you see next to the minus sign is the number you need to BET to win $100. The number you see next to the plus sign is how much you WIN if you bet $100. Let’s look at a quick example: San Diego Padres +145 vs. Pittsburgh Pirates -165. In the above example, you see a money line.

How Online Betting Works

We have an excellent list of the top places to bet online (that take U.S. customers). If you are looking to maximize your first deposit, we also have a great comparison of the best sportsbooks signup bonuses for you. Once you’ve read the primer below on reading the odds, you will have no problem navigating these sites.

Las Vegas Sports Betting at the Ticket Window

Betting sports in Vegas is likely going to be the option with the biggest learning curve. You will understand the odds after reading this article, but there are a few other rules and common practices you want to be familiar with that are specific to Vegas.

Many books now offer their own betting apps that make this process a little bit easier, however, the drawbacks are that you must make a deposit upfront for how much you want to bet with, plus you don’t get free drink tickets when you place bets on the app. We’ll step through how you would place a bet in person at the ticket window.

Step-by-Step Guide to Placing Sports Wagers in Vegas

“I’ll take number 403, Cowboys -8, for $110 straight up.”

1. Use the rotation number/numbers and the name of the team/teams you want to bet on. The rotation number appears to the left of each team (see image above) and is used as a unique identifier so that there is no confusion about what you want.
2. State the amount you would like to bet. This is how much you are wagering, not how much you want to win. Most books use -110 odds (more on this later), so if you want to win $100, you’d state $110 as your wager amount.
3. Indicate the type of bet you are placing. For individual bets, just say “straight” or “straight up”, otherwise you will need to explain that you are taking a parlay or some other bet type.
4. Repeat as necessary.

How to Read Sports Betting Lines

There are nearly infinite ways to bet sports. If you can think of something to bet on, there is a good chance you can find somewhere to bet on it. What we are going to focus on is the most common types of wagers: point spreads, over/unders (totals), and money lines.

What Does the Plus (+) and Minus (-) Mean in Sports Betting?

One of the first and most important aspects of sports betting every new player must learn is what the different symbols mean. A plus or a minus can mean different things in different situations. They are used for both point spread and money line betting, as well as for the price/juice of each bet.

This is explained in more detail below, but the most important thing to be aware of is that negative numbers represent favorites, while positive numbers represent underdogs. The same is true whether you are looking at a spread or a moneyline, but how these numbers are used is very different. You also need to know that prices on spreads/totals do not impact who/what is favored, it is used to determine how much the bet pays out. Read on for the complete explanation of each of these concepts.

Point Spreads Explained

The point spread is the projected number of points that separate two teams. A game with a spread will have a favorite (the team expected to win) and an underdog (the team expected to lose). A favorite “gives” points and is identified with a minus sign next to their point spread. The underdog “gets” points and is identified with a plus sign next to their point spread.

In the example above, the point spread is 7 points. Patriots are favored by 7 points against the Jets.

If you bet on the Jets +7, they must either win the game outright or lose by 6 points or less. If they lose by exactly 7 points, the bet is considered a push and is canceled.

If you bet on the Patriots -7, they must win the game outright by more than 7 points. If they win by exactly 7 points, it’s a push.

Bet Prices: What Does -110 Mean? If I Bet $100, What do I Win?

The 3-digit numbers to the far right are the listed prices for these bets. This is also called the odds, vig, or juice. An easy way to think of it is the amount you must risk to win $100 on this wager. In our example, -110 means you must risk $110 if you want to win $100. -110 is pretty standard, but you will find different options. We will cover those in more depth when we talk about money lines. The price of the bet has no impact on which team is favored. Only the plus or minus on the point spread matters. This is handled differently when you bet strictly on the moneyline.

What is the Money Line? (How Moneyline Betting Works)

A moneyline bet is on a team to win the game outright (without a point spread) at an adjusted cost. Just like with point spread betting, the favorite will have negative odds, while the underdog will have positive odds. The difference here is in the price or payout depending on which team you take.

A favorite (e.g. Patriots -280) on the money line works just like our bet price example above. In our new example, the Patriots are listed at -280, meaning you would need to risk $280 for a return of $100 on them. It follows that a winning bet on the Pats pays $100 (plus your initial investment of $280 back). This added risk is why betting the spread is usually more popular, especially on favorites.

Underdogs (e.g. Jets +240) work a bit differently. Instead showing how much you need to risk to win $100, this line tells you how much you stand to win on a $100 wager. That means if you bet $100 on the Jets, and they win, you would win $240. If the Jets lose, you are only out your original $100 wager.

Totals: What Over/Under Means in Sports Betting

The terms “total” and “over/under” are synonymous when placing wagers. This type of bet is on the sum of the points scored by both teams in a game. The bookie sets the number for the total, then you predict whether they will score more or less points than the set number.

The over/under in this example has been set at 42.5. If you project the Jets and Patriots to combine to score more than 42.5 points, you would place a wager on the over. If you think they will score less than 42.5 points, you would bet the under. Let’s say the final score of this game is Patriots 27, Jets 24. Which bet would lose and which bet would win? The sum of all points scored is 27 + 24 = 51, so an over bet wins and an under bet loses.

You may also note the bet price is not -110 like we have seen before. It is common practice by sportsbooks to adjust prices on or around key numbers for spreads and totals, especially in football.

Understanding Sports Betting

We hope this short beginner’s guide to understanding and interpreting odds will give you the confidence to get out there and start making winning bets. Our experts are here to help you on this journey, so do not hesitate to contact us with any questions you have about sports betting! We have only scratched the surface on reading betting lines, but this is an excellent place to start.

One sport that has a few extra quirks is golf. I wrote up a guide to golf betting that explains these unique features so you can feel comfortable wagering on PGA events too.

For those new to the world of online sports betting, it can seem overwhelming. There are many things you need to know and learning these could seem endless. To make this process a little easier, we've put together a sports betting FAQ to answer some of the most commonly asked questions. Keep in mind, not every question will be included in this sports betting FAQ, but it should answer a good portion of your questions.

There are only a few states where online gambling is legal. Keep in mind, though, a U.S. resident can gamble online is the website isn't based in the United States.

Anyone aged 18+ (for US21+) and older can gamble online. As long as they are either in a state that allows online gambling or on a website from a different country, they'll be fine.

For the most part, yes. There is always a chance of someone stealing information, but most online gambling websites take many measures to decrease the chances of this happening.

Request a bet makes it possible for people to request odds on any bet. This includes those bets that aren't usually listed in their market. When you request odds, you'll be able to see what the odds of the bet are. This is any bet and includes those that aren't usually in your market.

The great thing is that the websites have a button that you push. Once you do that, it will ask you what you want to bet on and how much you want to bet. Once you confirm, your bet will be placed.

Bet credits are free money that you use for bets. You have to meet certain terms and they can't be cashed out for money, but they can be used to place bets.

Bet Builder is a tool that will let you build on our bet in markets that match your bet. It will give you a price instantly. You can then place your bet with just a click.

Cash-out lets you get money back on your bet. The amount will depend on when you took the cash-out and what the odds of the bet winning are. If they are small, the price might be lower than the original bet and an event with high odds could be larger than the original bet.

This type of bet lets you put a bet on how many goals will likely be scored during the game. You won't have to bet on who wins or loses and you have a better chance of a positive outcome.

Handicap betting is when a certain team in an event has to overcome some kind of handicap to win. These are harder to win, but payouts are usually higher.

A 3-way bet is when there are 3 possible outcomes. These outcomes are win, lose or draw. These are easier to win because there aren't any other outcomes to consider.

Each-way betting is when you bet 2 different ways. For example, in horse betting, you would bet for the horse to win and you would also bet that it would place in any places offered in the game. This bet helps you have all your bases covered.

Under-over betting is when the Booker will predict a certain number for a certain statistic during the game, such as the total number of goals for both teams. The person betting would then bet if the actual number would be under or over the Booker's number. If it's right, they win.

Sports Betting Plus Minus Explained

A money line bet is one of the easiest bets you can make. Simply put, the person bets on which team will win. If that team wins, then the person who made the bet wins.

The money line is when you bet on which team wins. It's one of the easiest and most popular bets for many gamblers.

In-play betting is betting that takes place after the game starts and up until it's over. This gives people a good idea of how the game is going and what the outcome will probably be.

Live Betting: Live betting is similar to in-play betting but the person betting is watching the game live on something like a phone or tablet.

A straight bet is a bet that you do on 1 game. The game needs to be one that carries a spread, a total or a money line. To win, you just have to bet on the team that covers the spread. If both teams do this, then your team will have to be the winner for the over-under bet.

A multi bet is a bunch of single bets put together. At each new bet in the series, the odds get higher. Each time a new bet is won, the winning part is put towards the next wager. The more bets, the higher amount you could win. It also means you have to pay-out more.

Accumulator Bet: An accumulator bet is one where at least 4 events into one. You can only win if all events you bet on won. It's a higher risk but has higher rewards.

Parlay Bet: A parlay is where 2-10 bets are put together into one. It gives you the worst odds and the highest return. Keep in mind, even if there's only 1 of your team that loses, you'll lose the entire card.

The juice is the amount a bookkeeper takes for taking the bet. This ensures that the bookkeeper will get some type of money regardless of the outcome.

What Does +100 Mean In Betting

Plus and minus are the symbols that indicate odds. If the symbol is a minus, then they are the favorite, while a team that has a plus symbol is not.

Betting Odds Plus And Minus

Overall, this sports betting FAQ should give you a pretty good understanding of the world of betting on sports online. If you have any other questions that weren't answered here, don't be afraid to do an online search for the answer or contact us.