• So, for a favorite, the odds will begin with a minus (-) sign. This is the amount you need to bet in order to win $100. On the other hand, the underdog’s odds will begin with a plus (+) sign. This is the amount you will receive if you were to bet $100. This does not mean you have to bet $100. Or mean that you can only bet as much as $100.
• Whenever you see a minus, take the number and that is how much you would need to bet in order to win $100 in profit back. So, if a team is -900 to win, this would mean that you would need to bet $900 on them in order to have a chance of winning $100 in profit back.

1. What Does Minus 2 Mean In Betting
2. What Does Minus 5 Mean In Betting
3. What Does Minus 5 Mean In Betting Games

Getting action on a game can add a thrill factor that is hard to find in any other aspect of life. Making some money while doing it, well, it doesn’t get much better than that. But what happens when you jump onto your favorite sportsbook and they bombard you with a series of numbers (odds) which are meant to represent the chances of your team winning, when all it really looks like is math on steroids!

Now if there is a minus sign in front of the odds, that is the number that you would have to bet in order to win $100. For example, if a football team was -250, that means you’d have to bet $250. The minus sign shows you which team is favored. When you bet on the favorite you get worse payout odds on your bet since they’re more likely to win. The team with a negative number (like -110) is the favorite. The number next to the minus sign is the amount you must bet to win $100 in profit. If the number is -110, you must bet $110 to win $100.

If this is how you feel when your trying to place a wager, read on. The following is a simple guide on how to read sports odds and give yourself the best chance of taking home some cash.

What does +200 mean? +200 is a specific set of odds attached to a given sports event. These are in the form of ‘American’ odds’. The +200 represents the amount a bettor would win if they had wagered $100. A profit of $200 and a total payout of $300. Other types of odds are Decimal and Fractional.

What Types of Odds Do Sportsbooks Use?

Globally sportsbooks use one of three types of odds:

1. American
2. Fractional
3. Decimal

There are positives and negatives in the use of all of them. One thing is for sure, if you are going to bet on sport, you will run into one of these odds formats and you NEED to know how to read, understand and eventually capitalise on them.

This article will focus heavily on American odds.

How to Read American Odds

The basis of American odds is that they reflect two different aspects to the bet:

• in the case of the underdog: how much money a gambler will win if they bet $100,
• in the case of the favorite: how much a gambler needs to bet to win $100.

Quite a big difference between the two, and definitely a little tricky to navigate at first.

The following is an example of the moneyline market using American Odds, which was offered by a sportsbook during the NBA playoffs

Note:As the Portland Trail Blazers are the home team they are listed second in this market. Interestingly in many international or offshore sports the home team is listed first. Perhaps in this case the home court advantage is what has led the sports books to install the Trail Blazers as the favoured team.

We can tell Portland has favoritism as the odds have a minus sign at the front. Any time a team has minus sign out front, the bettor knows they will be receiving less than a 2 – 1 payout figure. In fact in this case, to win $100 wagering on the Trail Blazers you would need to stake $128.

In this particular example, the Oklahoma City Thunder are the outsider or underdog as they have odds with a plus sign at the front (plus money). This means if you bet $100 on OKC then you would collect $105 profit, a total return of $205.

Clearly the bookmakers considered the game to be potentially close and therefore odds were reasonably tight. As it turned out the Trailblazers dominated the second half and ran out convincing winners 114 – 92. Moneyline bettors who took Portland, go to bed with a tidy profit. In actual fact the margin of victory is irrelevant as the Moneyline requires just one condition be met, a win.

How to Do the American Odds Math?

Despite the American odds looking confusing at first sight, the underlying math is not too difficult. Having said that it could be much more user friendly.

Another key point to remember is that American odds do not include the original stake in the calculation. They only reflect the profit from the wager. The original stake needs to be added to reflect the total payout or total return figure.

Referring back to the previous example the following math applies:

The issue with this way of reporting odds is that the bettor has to do more than one level of calculation themselves. While it’s all fairly straightforward it does affect the user experience negatively.

How are American Odds Different to Decimal Odds?

The decimal odds system, which is being increasingly used by sports bookmakers across the globe, removes the extra step of calculation required by the bettor when American Odds are in use. It is a much simpler method to offer odds on the identical market and immediately gives a total return or payout figure by using one simple multiplication.

The NBA example used earlier in the article using decimal odds would read as follows:

The payout calculation is where the ease of decimal odds is highlighted:

Underdog:

Favorite:

It is clear that the decimal method is a much simpler way for sport bettors to calculate their potential winnings than than the American odds system.

Another downside to using American odds is that they are almost unusable when working with parlay betting. A parlay or multiplier is where a bettor takes classic bet types and parlays several of these into one wager. In order to multiply the individual odds to create the parlay payout figure, the moneyline is first converted to decimal odds. Highlighting the extra step of math sportsbooks require bettors to do when they solely offer odds in the American format.

It is hoped that one day soon most sports books will offer decimal odds instead of American odds. As legalized sports betting explodes in popularity across the US and more mobile sports betting platforms come online, it is hoped that at the very least, functionality to switch between types of odds is added to all betting apps. After all, sports betting is about entertainment, and user experience should be the number one focus from all corporate bookmakers.

How to Identify Sportsbook’s Margin When Using American Odds

Sportsbooks clearly need to make money to continue to operate and therefore it is understandable that they will take a cut along the way. Understanding when that cut is too large is critical in giving yourself the best chance of turning a profit.

When dealing with American odds on 50/50 markets like total points or point spread the margin is quite simple to recognise.

For example the market on an NBA game may be offering an over/under points total of +/-214.5 points.

In this market, without any bookmaker edge, the odds would read +100 for each option. That is a doubling of the bettors money based on the market essentially being a coin flip. $100 invested would return a profit of $100. Clearly this is not the case in reality. If you spot a market like this through a sportsbook promotion (a rare occasion), then load up!

The sportsbook is only offering -110 meaning a bettor would need to invest $110 to return a profit of $100. This equates to approximately a 4.5% margin (vig) for the book. To be profitable long term the bettor would have to correctly pick this market 53% of the time. A tall order.

Some books will offer a smaller vig, for example -108 but others will be less generous and wind their margin out to numbers like -112. These numbers are often seen in live betting markets due to the greater perceived risk the sportsbook take on with live markets.

It is best, as a rule, to avoid markets where the market is skewed too far in the favor of the book.

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Before you hit the confirm bet button on your mobile sportsbook make sure you are fully aware of what price you are actually buying. While American Odds can at times be confusing there is still an art to spotting and cashing in on value. Best of luck!

Good Luck and as always, gamble responsibly!

The legal sports betting world is changing. Quickly.

New states are opening their arms to the world of legal sports betting and are opening opportunities for you to take part in making legal sports bets on your favorite teams in casinos, race tracks and through online betting.

Part of our goal at SportsbookWire is to educate the new and/or casual sports bettor on the typical terms around legal sports betting and the various nuances that go into making a sports bet or wager.

In sports betting, a negative money line (represented as -200, -300, -400, etc.) represents the amount of money that you need to bet in order to win $100 if your bet is correct.

Here are some negative money line examples:

The New England Patriots are -500 against the Buffalo Bills. If you’re betting the Patriots, you would need to wager $500 in order to win $100 if your bet is correct with the Patriots winning.The New York Yankees are -200 to beat the New York Mets. If you are betting on the Yankees, you need to wager $200 to win $100 if your bet is correct with the Yankees winning.The Tampa Bay Lightning are -400 to beat the Detroit Red Wings. If you’re betting on the Lightning to win, you need to wager $400 to win $100 if your bet is correct with the Lightning winning.

It’s actually pretty easy and we’re sure you get the point here.

Fractional odds of 1/2 and decimal odds of 1.5 are also equivalent in this scenario.

What Does Minus 2 Mean In Betting

A negative money line is also considered as the favorite – or chalk pick – by the oddsmakers.

We’ll get into that more in other pieces, but the heavier the team, player, situation or bet in general is favored to succeed, the higher the negative money line.

For example…

In the first round of the 2018-19 NBA Playoffs, the Golden State Warriors money line was

What Does Minus 5 Mean In Betting

-20000

What Does Minus 5 Mean In Betting Games

to beat the Los Angeles Clippers. That means you would need to have wagered $20,000 to win $100 if the Clippers won.Kind of ridiculous, right? That’s how heavy the Warriors were favored over the Clippers … the sports books don’t want you making that bet, because it was expected to be an easy Warriors win.

If you’re looking for more educational information on sports betting and terms around such, be sure to check out our How to Bet on Sports 101 section for a variety of betting definitions, betting terms and sports betting strategies to help you build your bank account.