There are a variety of slang and idioms used in betting, but one phrase in particular stands out: “even money.” What does this phrase mean exactly? Let’s take a closer look.
The Importance Of Staking A Base
When placing a wager on a sporting event, you have two options: You can either “lay” the bet – which means you’ll lose either money or assets if your team loses – or you can “lay” something else – which in this context means you’ll win whether your team wins or loses. Layering a bet is extremely common in sports betting because it allows you to benefit from both outcomes. For instance, you might lay a $100 bet that the Chicago Cubs will win the World Series this year, and then you might also lay $100 that they’ll lose – if both teams win, you’ll win $200.
One of the most important things to do if you want to be able to successfully place a wager is to establish a “base” amount that you’re willing to wager on each outcome. Doing this means that if your team loses, you won’t be pushed into taking a massive loss on a wager that you absolutely had to have to cover your base liability. Instead, you can leave the wager unchanged and win or lose based on the outcome of the game.
What Does “Even Money” Mean In Sports Betting?
Now that you know the importance of establishing a base when betting on sports, it’s time to dive into what “even money” means in sports betting. Simply put, “even money” means that the two teams are essentially even in whatever statistical category you look at. For example, if you look at the point spreads for the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians in the upcoming MLB season, you’ll see that the betting line for the game is very close to even money. (The line was taken from OddsShark, so you can find the same information by going there and searching for the game you want to bet on.)
To find out more, simply enter “Cubs” and “Indians” into the search bar, and you’ll see a variety of results including:
- The current point spreads for the games this season;
- How the line movements for each team over the past month;
- And the most popular bets for each team.
In the example above, you can see that the lines are very close to even money, which means that regardless of whether the Cubs or the Indians win the bet, you’ll come out ahead. This is also known as a “toss-up.” If you want to place a wager that is not close to even money, you should do so cautiously – this will often lead to you being exposed to more risk than if you’d simply placed a toss-up wager.
In the case of the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians, the odds makers at OddsShark gave the Cubs the slight edge for this year’s World Series – meaning that if you’re placing a bet on the outcome of the World Series, you’re almost certainly going to lose money if the Cubs don’t win it all this year. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a safe place to place a wager and are in doubt as to which team will come out on top, you can lay the Cubs and have confidence that you’re going to get your money back and possibly make some extra cash if they do win it all – especially since they’re nearly even in terms of odds to do so.
More On Base Staking
There are a variety of other ways that you can stake a base when betting on sports, but you should always look to do so cautiously. One of the most popular options is to “partially stake” a bet. With this strategy, you’re still going to lose either money or assets on an outright loss, but you won’t be punished as much if your team loses since you didn’t put all of your money on the line. So if you want to place a wager but don’t want to commit the full amount, you can do so cautiously using this strategy.
An easy way to think about the partial stake strategy is to consider it as a safety net. For example, if you have a total of $1000 to wager on a game and you’re not sure which team will come out on top, you can lay $500 on each team and end up winning $1000 if both teams lose. This is similar to what you would do if you had $100 to wager on each of the three possibilities above: The Cubs will win, the Indians will win, and the game will end in a tie.
Another option that you can use is to “hedge your bets.” Unlike the other strategies mentioned above, this one is risky because it will cost you money regardless of the outcome of the game. However, if you’re truly a risk-taker who likes to take chances, this is the strategy for you. To do so, you’re going to want to find two teams that are almost even in terms of odds, and then you’re going to want to place a bet on both teams. If one of the teams wins and you don’t want to cover your loss, you can take the other bet to cover it, but you’ll still end up losing either money or assets if both teams lose – regardless of whether you win or lose the first one. So be careful when opting for this strategy, as it can certainly pay off, but you might also end up losing a lot of money if things don’t go your way.
The examples given above are simply a small fraction of the ways that you can wager on sports, and this article is certainly not meant to be a primer on the subject. However, by now, you should have a fairly good idea of what even means in sports betting and what strategies you can use to benefit from it.