This means that if you bet on the favorite at they are -2.5 favorites, the team must win by more than 2.5 points for you to win your bet. The point spread is usually represented as a decimal number, such as 2.5 or 3.5. The preferred choice is the team that is most likely to emerge victorious, while the underdog is the team that is least likely to win. The point spread is the number of points given to the favorite to even out the playing field. So if you bet $10 on a team with decimal betting odds of -2.0, you would need the team to lose for you to win what your bet is worth. So if you wager $10 on a team with decimal odds of 2.0, your bet earns $20 total (your $10 bet plus $10 in winnings).Ī negative number means you will have to wager more than the amount you want to win. These types of odds are always written as one number with a decimal and can be either positive or negative.Ī positive decimal number means you will win the same amount of money you bet, plus your original stake. Decimal Oddsĭecimal odds are the second most popular type of line in betting and are used in moneyline and fractional formats. The first number is the amount you will be awarded if you bet the second number, and the second number is the amount you need to stake to win the first number.įor example, fractional betting odds of 3/1 would mean that you would receive $3 in winnings for every $1 you stake. They indicate how much you need to wager to win a prize. They can be either positive or negative but are always written as a ratio of two numbers. Fractional Oddsįractional odds are the most common type of sports betting line and are found in decimal and moneyline formats. For example, what do odds of -200 mean? That means you would have to bet $200 to win $100.

The plus sign indicates that you will receive fractional odds if you win your wager, while negative odds indicate how much you have to wager to win.

The plus and minus signs on a sportsbook can also indicate fractional odds. The favored team will always have a minus sign in front of the odds, while the underdog will have a plus sign. To understand how odds work, you must know how to tell the underdog from the favorite based on the sign.

The first step is looking at how to read sports betting lines. Understanding American betting lines is essential to get in on the action, especially if you’re betting on basketball and football. Bookmakers will set various types of betting odds based on the amount of money being staked on an event by the public. A betting line is the amount of money you need to wager to win a certain payout.

Odds explanation betting