The other day, while perusing my Twitter feed, I came across a tweet regarding the upcoming match between the New York Mets and the Miami Marlins. The tweet caught my attention because the writer of the message, @dannythepear, is a well-known sports writer for the New York Times, and the hashtag #NYMetsMarlins, was one of the top-trending topics on Twitter that day. While I normally wouldn’t give two thoughts to what a stranger on Twitter has to say, that day was an exception. It got me wondering: What does betting on the moneyline mean? Let’s examine:
Who Wins The Moneyline Bet?
When you bet on the moneyline for a sporting event, like the Yankees vs. Red Sox game that was mentioned above, you are essentially betting that the result will be a tie, or that the team you support will win with a slim margin. You can also bet on whether the game will end in a shutdown or a decisive victory.
Ties are fairly common in sports. In the last 30 years, there have been nearly four times as many ties as there have been victories in the NFL. So if you’re searching for an easy way to bet, looking for a team that scores a lot of touchdowns or runs the ball well could be a good choice. Alternatively, you could look for a matchup involving two evenly matched teams, such as the Cleveland Browns vs. Chicago Bears in the NFL. Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield is a rising star, and it’s anybody’s guess as to which direction this team will go. If you’re searching for an upset, betting on the moneyline is a great way to go.
What Is The Moneyline Betting Rate?
One of the most important things to consider when betting on the moneyline is the betting rate. The betting rate, sometimes also referred to as the vigorish or juice, is essentially the amount of money you have to wager to make a bet. The betting rate varies by sport and venue, but it’s usually around 10% to 20% in the NFL, NBA, and MLB, and less than 10% in college sports.
You can use this information to your advantage by raising or lowering your wager according to the change in the betting rate. For instance, if you want to bet on the Cleveland Browns to win the Super Bowl, but the betting rate is currently 50%, you would have to bet $5 on every $10 you wager to have the same odds as someone who has $1 in the bank. Noticing a trend here? The higher the betting rate, the more you have to wager to make a profit!
Why Does It Make Sense To Bet On The Moneyline?
If you’re wondering why you should bet on the moneyline, it’s because they are easy to understand and have a very low risk of losing. If you’re searching for a safe way to bet, these are the types of wagers you want to make. You reduce your risk of loss and increase your odds of winning by matching up on the moneyline.
Another advantage of betting on the moneyline is that it provides you with a clear picture of how the game is likely to turn out. When you place a wager on the moneyline, you’re not exactly sure what the final score will be; you’re betting on the outcome rather than the score. This provides you with more security when placing wagers, especially late in a game when the outcome is uncertain. A tie is usually a good thing no matter what, but when a game is close at the end, a tie could be disastrous. You don’t want to risk losing because the game ended in a tie. However, if you have confidence that your team is better than the opponent, a tie is usually not a problem. In this instance, you can use the fact that the game is a tie to your advantage by taking a cash-back wager. For instance, you can bet $10 that the Red Sox will beat the Yankees in the next game. If the Sox win, you take $20 back. If the game ends in a tie, you keep the $10 you originally wagered plus you made a $10 profit (you have a theoretical profit of 10%).
What Are The Moneyline Odds?
The odds are the probabilities that your bet will win or lose. When you take a wager on the moneyline, the probabilities change in your favor, but it’s not always easy to understand how much they’ve changed. To figure out the odds, simply multiply the odds of your selection by the likelihood of the event you’re backing. For example, if you bet the Cleveland Browns to win the Super Bowl, the probability of them winning is 50%, so the resulting odds would be 50:1.
In the example above, if you multiply 50×2, you get 100, which is the total number of ways this event can happen, including the possibility of a tie. The total number of ways this event can happen is sometimes called the vigorish. For purposes of simplifying the odds, some bookmakers will round the odds up to the nearest thousandth. The nearest thousandth will either be displayed to the left of the decimal or be implied, depending on how the bookmaker sets up the odds board.
How Does All Of This Betting On The Moneyline Relate To Social Media?
If you’re a sports fan and you follow all of this closely, you might notice a pattern emerging involving social media, sports, and money. First, there were Twitter bots that would give away free sports tickets to lucky followers. Then, there was the case of a Cleveland Browns fan who got ahold of a Twitter account with over 300,000 followers and used the account to gain popularity and then to sell tickets to Browns games, mostly through automated and/or manipulated tweets. Most recently, we’ve seen the meteoric rise of BettingAdvice, a sports blog that covers betting news and explains it in easy-to-understand language.
Whether it’s tickets, moneyline bets, or just general information regarding how to place and win a wager, social media has made it much easier to understand and much more convenient to follow sports. So if you’re searching for a way to get your fix of sports, following the money may be the way to go.
To summarize, if you’re searching for a safe way to bet, moneyline betting is a great option. They have a low risk of loss and provide you with a way to make a profit, should you be correct in your selection. Additionally, if you’re a sports fan and you follow all of this closely, you may have noticed a pattern involving social media, sports, and money that I just described.