Not too long ago, the price of a single bet on the NBA playoffs was in the neighborhood of $2,000. Now it’s more like $1,500. But what does this $300 mean in terms of odds? Let’s take a quick look at the significance of -300 in sports betting and see how you can benefit from this information.
Odds Move Further In Favor Of Home Team
You’ll often see bookies post odds for upcoming games, and you’ll immediately notice that the lines are generally very favorable to the home team. For example, if you bet $100 on the New York Knicks (5-1) to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers (6-1), the bookie would give you $150 back because they have to return your bet (assuming you win and the game ends in a close match). That’s a nice profit for a single bet.
The reason behind this is simple – the home team is more inclined to win. They have home court advantage, and the bookie knows you’ll wager on them. As a result, the line will shift further in their favor as the playoffs progress.
Value Of A Hard-To-Find Win Odds
If you’re looking to place a bet outside of your home country, you’ll have to search diligently for the best odds or risk being penalized by your bookie. If you’re using a VPN to unblock geo-restricted websites in preparation for the postseason, you’ll want to make sure you’re accessing a legitimate betting portal. Avoiding scams and finding trustworthy bookies is essential if you want to make the right wagers and maximize your winnings.
Value Of A Money-Back Win
Back in 2015, the New York Yankees were 15-1 against the Detroit Tigers in their first-round matchup. The Yanks went on to win the series in five games, but you wouldn’t have known it by looking at the books because they were so prohibitively expensive (at that time) to bet on. It cost you $5,400 just to have a shot at winning money back. These games were so lucrative that fans started referring to them as “World Series of betting”. Since then, baseball betting has taken off thanks to the explosion of online sportsbooks and VPNs.
You might assume that with the convenience of online wagering comes the loss of sportsbooks’ edge and the erosion of customer service, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Many online sportsbooks have evolved their user-friendly platforms to make betting as easy as possible. For example, DraftKings makes betting simple by offering daily contests and providing customers with a money-back guarantee if they lose. The bottom line is that with the convenience of online sportsbooks comes the ability to wager with higher limits, more competitive odds, and – most importantly – from the comfort of your home.
Varying Offers
Most online sportsbooks will give you varying offers and promotions depending on the time of day and how much money you have in your account. For example, if you’re a new customer and open an account with 50 dollars in credits, they might offer you 4-to-1 odds on the Cleveland Cavaliers (6-1) and New York Knicks (5-1) in their series against each other. But if you’re a returning customer and have a balance of 300 dollars or more in your account, you might see 18-to-1 odds instead.
The key takeaway from all this is that -300 doesn’t always mean “biggest favorite”. Depending on your account status and the time of day, you might see varying odds for the same event. Keeping an eye on betting trends and moving limits as the schedule draws nearer will help you make the right wagers and avoid getting too excited about favorite odds which could, in turn, cost you money.
To put things in perspective, this is the same event (playoffs) with the same 2 teams (Cavaliers vs. Knicks), but the line movements over the course of the season are shown for just to demonstrate how dramatic the changes can be. Obviously, the Cavs are huge favorites over the whole season, but the point is that just because one team is a significant favorite, it doesn’t mean they’re necessarily going to win every single game. So, when in doubt, lay off the favorites and go against the grain. You might just end up ahead of the curve. In other words, always bet on the underdogs. This is especially important in football, where it’s very common for games to be significantly under-priced. For example, the Denver Broncos (2-3) are currently 6-point underdogs against the New England Patriots (3-2) in their AFC divisional matchup. However, the over/under is currently set at 48, so anything could happen.
Final Takeaway
To round off, let’s take a quick look at what -300 in sports betting actually means. The number in brackets represents the “total points scored” by the team with the lower standing number. So, if the Dallas Cowboys (3-3) played the Philadelphia Eagles (1-5), the line would be set at (-3) points scored. This is the same as saying the Cowboys are -300 odds-of winning.
Based on the three points discussed above, here’s a quick reference guide to what -300 in sports betting actually means: