NBA Odds Explained
Written by Jack Jones - Google +
If you have ever bet on football before, then you already know how to read NBA spreads, moneylines, and totals. If you are new to betting, however, the lines might be a little confusing. Here are some very basic explanations of how NBA odds work.
Against the Point Spread
We’ll start off with an example of an NBA game with the point spread listed:
Chicago Bulls +6 -110
LA Lakers -6 -110
In this game, the Lakers are a six-point favorite over the Chicago Bulls. In sports betting, the team with the minus (-) sign is always the favorite and the number listed after the sign is how many points they are favored by. This means you could bet on the Lakers to win the game, but they must win the game by more than six points for your wager to be a winning one. If the Lakers win by less than six points, your bet would be loser, and if the Lakers were to win by exactly six points, your wager would be a “push” or tie, meaning your wager would be nullified. On the other side of the game you’ll see Chicago at +6, this means the Bulls are “getting” six points (or are six-point underdogs). A wager on Chicago would win for you if the Bulls either win the outright, or lose by less than 6 points (e.g. Bulls 101, Lakers 105 would give you a winning bet if you took the Bulls +6).
The second number, after the point spread, represents the vigorish or juice the book requires to take your bet. In the example above, both numbers are -110 (which is fairly typical). This means you must wager $110 to win $100 (or $55 to win $50, etc.). This number does change, so be sure you check it before placing a wager.
Moneyline
Betting the moneyline simply means betting on who you think will win the game outright. The only caveat with this is that you will need to wager more on a favorite to win what you want, while you will get a better payout on a winning underdog bet. For example:
Miami Heat -260
Charlotte Bobcats +220
The Heat are the favorites here, so we would need to wager $260 just to win $100 on Miami. If we wanted to take on more risk for a bigger reward, we could bet $100 on the Bobcats. If they won, we’d take home $220.
Totals (Over/Unders)
Odds makers set a number that represents how many points the teams will combine to score in the game. You simply pick if you think that the actual score will be greater than (over) or less than (under) the number the odds makers set. Here is an example:
Atlanta Hawks/Miami Heat OVER/UNDER 190.5
Remember that over/under bets will also always have some kind of vigorish (usually -110), so be sure to take that into account when placing this type of wager.
3 Responses to “NBA Odds Explained”
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Am a newbie and did not understand what u mean by(AGAINST THE POINT SPREAD: line 11:IF THE BULLS EITHER WIN OUTRIGHT)OUTRIGHT. Did u mean: if the bulls win by more than 6 points?
If the Bulls win outright that means they win the game without needing the six points.
Miami Heat -260
Charlotte Bobcats +220
The Heat are the favorites here, so we would need to wager $260 just to win $100 on Miami. If we wanted to take on more risk for a bigger reward, we could bet $100 on the Bobcats. If they won, we’d take home $290.
Can you explain the calculation of taking home $290, please?
CESAR