What Is The Money Line?

The money line is a bet type in which users simply need to pick the overall winner of an event.

The moneyline is the most basic type of odds – all you need to do is decide which side will win!

Of course, no two teams are created equal, and depending on the relative strengths and weaknesses of any two teams in a matchup, there will almost always be a favourite and an underdog.

Oddsmakers will set moneylines odds based on how much of a disparity they feel there is between the favorite and the underdog. Let’s look again at our tennis game:

Nadal is playing Djokovic, who had just finished a match which went to extra sets and rolled his ankle late in the game.

Djokovic being tired and possibly injured is factored in by the books when they set the prices, making Nadal the favourite. Everything taken into account, the prices for the event are:

Nadal – 1.66
Djokovic – 2.20

For the favourite, the smaller the number is, the heavier of a favorite they are. For example, if Nadal was 1.20 instead, then they would be more of a favorite than he currently is at 1.66. You would have to risk more to win more, so there is a far greater potential downside picking heavy favorites.

On the other hand, when a team is a heavy favourite, then the underdogs become even bigger underdogs. If the odds for Nadal were in fact 1.20, then the odds for Djokovic would change to something like 6.00. Risking 100 on Djokovic before would have given you a profit of 220, but now, it’s 500. The more of an underdog a team is, the more of a greater potential upside if they were to pull off the upset!

To find more in-depth knowledge betting advice or betting tips see Pinnacle’s betting resources section