If you have been betting on NBA games, you’re probably familiar with the concept of moneylines. If you haven’t, we will explain moneylines in this article for you. Moneylines betting is the simplest, most straightforward form of NBA betting. Some people reject it because they think that the odds for the favorite are often too low, but at certain points it is the smartest bet that you could make.
A practical example
Let’s say imagine a game in which the Atlanta Hawks are playing the Chicago Bulls and you want to make a money line bet on that game. You probably already have an idea of which team is going to win. In any game, one team will be an underdog and the other would be the favorite. Let’s say that the Hawks are the favorite, they’re the better team, plus they’re playing at home, but the Bulls aren’t without a chance either. Let’s say that the odds would probably be something like this- Chicago Bulls +150 at Atlanta Hawks -125. If you remember how we read the American odds, you’ll know that every number preceded by a plus sign tells you how much would you earn with a $100 and every number preceded by a minus tells you how much you need to bet in order to win $100. In this particular imaginary case, betting $100 that the Bulls will win will earn you $150, of course provided that the Bulls win the game; and you’ll have to bet $125 on the Hawks, if you want to earn $100.
When is it smart to bet on moneylines?
On most occasions, you’ll probably bet on the favorite. However, the underdogs are bound to win in a number of games. If you have strong reasons to believe that the underdog might cause an upset, and you have good odds in favor, which means that you may win quite a decent sum of money, then taking a risk might be worthwhile. And if the odds for the favorite are too low, i.e. it is almost certain that it’s going to win, you shouldn’t be discouraged by the small amount of money that you’ll eventually win, because it is always better to win a little bit of money, then not to win anything, or even worse, to lose.
The odds given by the sportsbooks are calculated on a basis of some parameters, but it doesn’t mean that they always give fair and equally balanced odds. The skill of a good bettor lies in the knowledge and ability to locate games where a team stands a much greater chance of winning than the odds given by the sportsbook. If you have a strong reason to believe a game’s like that, don’t hesitate and go for it. Also, at times you may have strong reasons to believe that despite one of the teams is better on paper, the underdog has actually more chances of winning.
Sometimes you have to take a chance in order to win. Most sportsbooks don’t feature a draw bet on moneylines, and the bet may be considered to be lost if the game ends in a draw and goes into overtime. Alternatively, some sportsbooks consider the team that wins the game after all eventual overtimes to be the winner, so in such cases, there could be no other outcome except for a win of either team. A third option, featured at some sportsbooks is to consider the draw as a push and in such occasions you’ll get the risk amount back.