Sports Lines

Come game day, you’ll want to make sure that you have the best approach possible when you fill in your bet slip. Whether that means sticking to traditional single bets on sports lines, or connecting multiple bets through a parlay, we’re here to help you get the most bang for your buck. The more you know about sports lines betting - such as NHL betting lines, NBA lines, Super Bowl and MLB lines - the more confident you’ll be when navigating the sportsbook in search of quality sports lines odds.

This guide will cover the most fundamental bets that are available in every major sports league in North America. Spreads, moneyline betting and total betting are the primary bets, which have widespread appeal. With these mastered, you can take things one step further by incorporating parlays for those times you’re feeling particularly confident. We’ll explain how all of these work with the NFL, NBA and NHL betting markets.

What is Moneyline Betting?

Most new sports bettors begin with simple NFL moneyline betting. These bets ask you to pick the winning team, and if your pick wins, you get paid. If the teams tie, the bet is a push and all money is returned (except with soccer, which includes the Draw as a betting option).

Each team on a moneyline has odds that dictate the payout. In Bodog sportsbook, we use American odds as a default, but you can switch to fractional and decimal easily by using the toggle. American odds appear as either a positive number (most commonly associated with underdogs) or negative number (most commonly associated with the favorite), which determines the payout formula. We’ll use an example from an NBA moneyline:

Washington Wizards +105
Charlotte Hornets -124

In this example, the Washington Wizards are a +105 underdog on the moneyline in their matchup against the Charlotte Hornets. Positive American odds show how much you’d win on a $100 bet; in our example, +105 odds mean that a $100 Washington bet pays $105 (keep in mind, the payout and bet size scale up and down accordingly). Meanwhile, negative bets tell you how much money you’d need to bet in order to win $100, so in the case of the favored Hornets, a $124 bet would pay $100. Moneyline betting can be applied the same way to the NFL and NHL, among other sports.

What is Spread Betting?

Spread betting is the preferred way to bet on the NFL lines. It evens out the playing field between both teams in a matchup by incorporating a margin of victory (or loss) in the betting structure. In order for the more dominant team (the favorite) to win on the spread, which is known as “covering” the spread, they’d need to win by a minimum number of points or goals. Meanwhile, in order for the underdog to cover the spread, they’d need to lose by no more than the number of points or goals specified in the spread. We’ll use an NFL example to illustrate.

Seattle Seahawks -2.5 (-110)
Arizona Cardinals +2.5 ( -110)

In this example, the Seattle Seahawks are 2.5-point favorites over the home dog Arizona Cardinals. Bets on Seattle would pay only if they beat Arizona by three points or more. The half-point in this example ensures that no push would occur; bets will be graded as either a win or a loss. Alternatively, bets on the Cardinals would pay if they lost by two points—or pulled off an upset and won straight up.

The payouts issued are based on the odds shown in the brackets beside the spread. Most of the time the odds start at -110, which means you get $100 for every $110 bet. However, as action comes in, the book may begin to adjust the odds in order to encourage even betting on both sides. This won’t impact your bet; the odds locked in at the time you placed it will be the odds used to determine your payout.

Total betting

Betting on totals, also known as over/under betting, involves guessing if the total number of goals or points scored in a game will exceed or fall short of a posted number. Many sports bettors like to combine totals with their primary bet, but it’s also possible to simply target totals on their own.

Sports leagues with less scoring sometimes use a standard total that is consistent for most games, while higher-scoring leagues have a custom total for every matchup. Just like with the spread, the total payout is based on the odds posted beside the line at the time you place your bet. We’ll use an NHL example to illustrate.

Chicago Blackhawks O 5.5 (-120)
Pittsburgh Penguins U 5.5 (+105)

In this NHL matchup, the total is 5.5 goals. You can bet on both teams to score a combined total of 6 or higher by selecting “O” for over, or you can bet on both teams to score a combined total of 5 or lower by selecting the “U” for under. The over pays $100 for every $120 bet, while the under pays $105 for every $100 bet.

Parlay Betting

All of these gamelines can be combined into one mega bet by using the NFL parlay feature. When you parlay the lines, the payouts are exponentially greater than what they’d be if you simply won each bet individually. The only catch is you have to win each leg of the parlay to win the bet; if a single leg loses, the entire parlay is graded a loss.

Vegas Odds

The odds in our sportsbook are the same type of odds you’d see on an odds board in Vegas. We call them American odds, but they’re also known as Vegas odds, and they’re easy to understand if you imagine bets staked or paid in $100 increments. Of course, you don’t need to wager in these increments; they scale up and down easily.

Anytime Vegas odds appear as a positive number, they show the payout based on a $100 bet. If a team is +310, they’d pay $310 on a $100 stake. Positive odds are assigned to the underdog, and if both teams have positive odds, the one with the bigger number is the bigger underdog.

Vegas odds usually assign a negative number to the favorite. This shows the amount of money that would need to be staked in order to earn a $100 payout. If a team has -175 odds, they’d pay $100 on a $175 bet.

Sports Betting with Cryptocurrencies

We’ve seen a big uptick in people using cryptocurrency to fund their bankrolls at Bodog, and that’s great news. A crypto casino is more convenient than a traditional one with old deposit and withdrawal methods, since they don’t have to go through a middleman for authorization. By cutting out the middleman, transactions are faster and cheaper, and there’s no risk of them being blocked.

Once the deposit arrives in your Bodog account, we automatically convert it to USD free of charge. The role of crypto is to get money in and out of your account as quickly and efficiently as possible; however, once there, it makes sense switch it to USD. This will safeguard your bankroll from market fluctuations and make it easier to figure out how much you’re betting.

To encourage people to give cryptocurrency a try, we have a suite of rich promotions and bonuses that are exclusive to crypto players, including the Bitcoin Sports Welcome Bonus. These help build a big bankroll faster than you’d able to with our standard promotions. For more information on how to get started with cryptocurrency, check out our comprehensive Bitcoin guide. As always, feel free to contact our Customer Service team with any remaining questions.