There’s a chance you understand what 2-to-1 odds mean. Possibly because you first heard it, or said it, on a school playground: “I’ll give you 2-to-1 odds that you can’t make that shot, win that race, or catch that ball!”
Someone making such an offer is saying they’ll pay you ₦2,000 for every ₦1,000 you want to wager—that is, if you win the bet.
What you may not understand is how odds like 2-to-1 are expressed in what’s called the “moneyline,” one of the most popular forms of sports betting. What follows is a tutorial that covers all facets of moneyline odds—what they mean, how to interpret them, how and when to place moneyline wagers, and the differences between a moneyline and point spread.
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What Is a Moneyline Bet?
Whenever you visit a retail sportsbook or launch a betting app in Nigeria, what’s the first thing that catches your eye? Yep, numbers—lots and lots of numbers. Within this vast numeric sea lies the moneyline, usually three-digit figures always preceded by a plus (+) or minus (-) sign.
From a wagering perspective, let’s look at what these numbers and symbols mean.
Favorites
The “favorite” in a game, tournament, or event is the side bookmakers believe is most likely to win. Favorites on the moneyline are almost always denoted with a minus sign. We’ll explain the “almost” part later.
So, for instance, let’s say a moneyline favorite appears as -180 on the betting board. That minus sign indicates the amount of money one must wager to win ₦1,000. So a bettor looking to win ₦1,000 will risk ₦1,800. Another bettor looking to win ₦100 will risk ₦180. Yet another bettor who wants to win ₦500 will wager ₦900, which is half of ₦1,800.
Remember that the amount you wager remains with the sportsbook if your side loses. But if your side wins, you get back your initial investment, plus your winnings—so in the case of the ₦1,800 wager to win ₦1,000, a winning bet would pay out ₦2,800, while a ₦180 bet at -180 moneyline odds would pay out ₦280.
Underdogs
The underdog is the side bookmakers think is more likely to lose, and it always carries a plus sign on both the moneyline and point spread. While a minus moneyline specifies how much you must risk to win ₦1,000, a plus moneyline indicates how much you can win for every ₦1,000 wagered.
Example: An underdog in a football match is listed at +140. You want to wager ₦1,000. If that underdog wins, you will collect your initial ₦1,000 investment plus ₦1,400 in profit—₦1,000 multiplied by 1.4—for a total of ₦2,400.
Obviously, the more money you wager on an underdog, the greater the potential payout.
Likewise, the higher the plus-moneyline odds, the greater the potential payout. For instance, an athlete in boxing is listed as a +600 underdog. If you wager ₦1,000 on that underdog boxer and they pull off the upset, you’d collect ₦7,000: your initial ₦1,000 bet, plus ₦6,000 in winnings.
What if you want to bet on that boxer at those same +600 odds and are hoping to win ₦1,000? You would wager ₦166.67, which has an actual profit of ₦1,000.02.
Here’s the calculation:
₦1,000, the amount you want to win, divided by 6.0, the decimal equivalent of +600 odds, equals 166.67 after rounding up.
Favorites Listed as ‘Underdogs’
So, now you know that underdogs are designated with a plus sign, and any moneyline with a minus sign indicates the favorite. But you may not know that sometimes a favorite carries a plus sign.
Here’s a quick explanation: In individual events that feature dozens of competitors—golf and tennis tournaments, motor races, cycling races, and so on—it’s much tougher to predict a winner compared with, say, a football match involving just two sides.
So when oddsmakers post odds on these individual events, the “favorite”—the person oddsmakers believe is most likely to win—often has a plus sign. The same goes for futures wagers. When making preseason bets on teams to win major football tournaments, continental competitions, or the World Cup—or a player to win an individual award—the favorite usually has plus-moneyline odds.
However, as a season or event progresses and oddsmakers identify a team or player that’s a cut above the rest of the competition, those plus moneyline odds will become minus moneyline odds.
Even/Pick ’em Odds
Sometimes you’ll see moneyline odds listed at +100. This is called “even-money” odds. In these instances, oddsmakers believe the matchup is a 50-50 coin flip.
Whatever you wager at +100 odds is the same amount you stand to win: ₦1,000 to win ₦1,000, ₦20,000 to win ₦20,000, and so on. The equivalent of +100 moneyline odds in point spread betting is “pick ’em,” sometimes listed as “PK.”
Moneyline vs. Point Spread
Moneyline and point spread wagers differ in one significant way: With the moneyline, you’re betting on a team or person to come away victorious. If that team or person wins, you win your bet.
However, point spread bets factor in what’s called a handicap—that is, oddsmakers determine a number, known as the point spread, that indicates the margin by which they expect the favorite to win.
The moneyline and point spread do share one similarity: With both, favorites are designated with a minus (-) sign, while underdogs have a plus (+) symbol.
Below are two examples—one from football and one from basketball—illustrating the correlation between the moneyline and point spread.
Nigeria vs. Ghana
Let’s say the handicap for a football match between these two rivals was Nigeria -1/Ghana +1. That means oddsmakers believe Nigeria is slightly better and should win by more than one goal.
If you bet on Nigeria in this scenario, they would have to defeat Ghana by two or more goals for you to win your wager. If you bet Ghana, they would have to either win outright, draw, or lose by no more than one goal to win your wager.
What happens if Nigeria wins by exactly one goal? All handicap bets on both teams are refunded—but all moneyline bets on Nigeria would get paid out, while those on Ghana would lose.
Sticking with this Nigeria vs. Ghana scenario: If the handicap was Nigeria -1/Ghana +1, the moneyline odds probably would be roughly Nigeria -170/Ghana +150. Now let’s say you think Nigeria will win, but you’re not confident they will “cover the spread,” meaning win by more than one goal. You could choose to bet Nigeria on the moneyline.
Yes, you would have to lay -170 odds instead of the -110 odds attached to many handicap bets. But Nigeria would simply need to win the match—even by a margin as small as one goal—to collect on your bet.
D’Tigers vs. Senegal
The same idea applies to basketball, as you’ll see in this moneyline vs. point spread example:
Point spread: D’Tigers -11/Senegal +11 (-110 odds both ways)
Moneyline: D’Tigers -900/Senegal +600
If you think D’Tigers will beat Senegal by more than 11 points, you’d be inclined to bet the point spread at -11 points.
If you think D’Tigers will beat Senegal but aren’t confident it will be a blowout, you probably will look to bet the moneyline at -900.
The major caveat here: If you want to win ₦1,000, you will risk ₦1,100 on a point spread bet, needing D’Tigers to win by 12 or more points, but ₦9,000 on a moneyline wager, needing D’Tigers to win by any margin.