by Wayne Root
Monday, Jul 27, 2026
When Moneylines Make Sense
At its core, a moneyline bet asks a single question: Who do you think will win?
Moneylines are good betting options for times when you want to pick the winner and not the margin. They work well for low-scoring sports like hockey, baseball, soccer, or tennis, or when injuries, weather, likely shootouts, or overtime may affect the spread.
Moneylines and point spreads use the same information when they’re calculated, and both of their payouts are tied to the odds of a team winning or losing. In fact, both try to account for the relative strength of each team. However, they do this in different ways. Moneylines change the amount charged for bets on a team, while point spreads change the team scores that would count as a win. The information in moneyline markets may be more precise than that in point spread markets, according to some financial studies.
A moneyline bet is the simplest type of sports wager because you're only picking who will win.
Unlike point spread bets, the margin of victory doesn't matter. A one-point win and a 20-point win count exactly the same. If the team or player you selected wins, your bet wins. If they lose, your bet loses.
As for specificity the NFL, most spreads of -1,-2 and -2.5 should be bet with the money line. You won’t get hurt betting this way.
The point spread is the great equalizer.
Who would want to bet on a football game between the best team in the league and the worst? The outcome gets a lot more interesting when you give the bad team a 20-point head start. Betting on the favorite with the point spread requires that team to win the contest by a certain amount of points. Betting on the underdog with the point spread will allow that team to lose the contest, as long as it's not by more than the posted number.
What is the moneyline in football betting?
Betting on the moneyline means that your team just needs to win the game. There are no point spreads involved. Moneyline bets are displayed on a $100 scale, with the favorite having a minus displayed in front of their number, and the underdog having a plus in front. If you are betting on a -200 favorite, you need to lay $200 to profit $100, and you would collect $300. If you are looking to play a +175 underdog on the moneyline, you would lay $100 to profit $175 and collect $275. Again, there are no point spreads involved, you are simply picking the winner of the game.
What are good betting odds?
When looking to bet an individual basketball or football game against the spread, you will traditionally have odds of -110. That is the industry standard. In some circumstances, oddsmakers will shade the vig (i.e. the "juice") toward one team to attract some bets toward a certain side and help them balance their books. For example, 3 is a very important number in football because more games finish with a winning margin of 3 points than any other potential outcome. Oddsmakers are very careful with creating point spreads around the number 3 because of how often games end with a 3-point margin. So instead of moving the point spread from -3 to -2.5 or -3.5, oddsmakers will keep the spread at -3 and shift the odds from -110 on each side to -105/-115 or +100/-120.
Middling Your Bet
The reason oddsmakers are so careful with moving the "juice" and not moving the actual point spread is because they don't want to get middled. Middling occurs when groups who bet on the favorite AND the underdog at different point spreads both win. If Group A bets on the favorite at -2.5 and two days later the spread is up to 3.5, Group B swoops in to take the underdog at +3.5. If the game ends 17-14, both groups have just won.
At its core, a moneyline bet asks a single question: Who do you think will win?
Moneylines are good betting options for times when you want to pick the winner and not the margin. They work well for low-scoring sports like hockey, baseball, soccer, or tennis, or when injuries, weather, likely shootouts, or overtime may affect the spread.
Moneylines and point spreads use the same information when they’re calculated, and both of their payouts are tied to the odds of a team winning or losing. In fact, both try to account for the relative strength of each team. However, they do this in different ways. Moneylines change the amount charged for bets on a team, while point spreads change the team scores that would count as a win. The information in moneyline markets may be more precise than that in point spread markets, according to some financial studies.
A moneyline bet is the simplest type of sports wager because you're only picking who will win.
Unlike point spread bets, the margin of victory doesn't matter. A one-point win and a 20-point win count exactly the same. If the team or player you selected wins, your bet wins. If they lose, your bet loses.
As for specificity the NFL, most spreads of -1,-2 and -2.5 should be bet with the money line. You won’t get hurt betting this way.
The point spread is the great equalizer.
Who would want to bet on a football game between the best team in the league and the worst? The outcome gets a lot more interesting when you give the bad team a 20-point head start. Betting on the favorite with the point spread requires that team to win the contest by a certain amount of points. Betting on the underdog with the point spread will allow that team to lose the contest, as long as it's not by more than the posted number.
What is the moneyline in football betting?
Betting on the moneyline means that your team just needs to win the game. There are no point spreads involved. Moneyline bets are displayed on a $100 scale, with the favorite having a minus displayed in front of their number, and the underdog having a plus in front. If you are betting on a -200 favorite, you need to lay $200 to profit $100, and you would collect $300. If you are looking to play a +175 underdog on the moneyline, you would lay $100 to profit $175 and collect $275. Again, there are no point spreads involved, you are simply picking the winner of the game.
What are good betting odds?
When looking to bet an individual basketball or football game against the spread, you will traditionally have odds of -110. That is the industry standard. In some circumstances, oddsmakers will shade the vig (i.e. the "juice") toward one team to attract some bets toward a certain side and help them balance their books. For example, 3 is a very important number in football because more games finish with a winning margin of 3 points than any other potential outcome. Oddsmakers are very careful with creating point spreads around the number 3 because of how often games end with a 3-point margin. So instead of moving the point spread from -3 to -2.5 or -3.5, oddsmakers will keep the spread at -3 and shift the odds from -110 on each side to -105/-115 or +100/-120.
Middling Your Bet
The reason oddsmakers are so careful with moving the "juice" and not moving the actual point spread is because they don't want to get middled. Middling occurs when groups who bet on the favorite AND the underdog at different point spreads both win. If Group A bets on the favorite at -2.5 and two days later the spread is up to 3.5, Group B swoops in to take the underdog at +3.5. If the game ends 17-14, both groups have just won.
