Money Line
The money line, also referred to as odds, lists how much
money your wager will return. In most sports "-110" will be
offered for all side and total bets. For the moment, we will
only discuss this number.
The easiest way to understand the "-110" figure is to
consider $110 the price of the bet if you would like to win
$100: if you bet $110 and your bet wins, you will receive
earnings of $100. Of course, you may bet any amount between
the minimum and maximum and it is this fraction (110/100 or
11/10) that will always be used to compute your winnings. For
example, if you bet $11 and your bet wins, you will win $10.
If you bet $55, you'll win $50.
The -110 money line is used by the house to guarantee that it
receives some payment for its services. If the house offered
even odds (1/1) and the action, or the total of all wagers
received, was divided evenly across the two teams, the house
would be doing volunteer work: handing all the loser's money
over to the winners with nothing left over. This money line
comprises, in a sense, even odds with a 10% house commission -
sometimes called the juice, vigorish, or vig - for providing
the action.
The types of bets are common in baseball, golf, tennis, horses
and futures, but can also be applied to football and hockey.
Example
The player makes a football wager on Miami -160 at Buffalo
+260. A bet of $160.00 would win $100.00 if Miami wins (plus
return of the original $160 bet). A bet of $100.00 would win
$260.00 if Buffalo wins (plus return of the original $100.00
bet).
