March 18, 2019 4:25 pm ET
With March Madness upon us and increased focus on sports wagering, it’s important that you understand what you’re seeing, hearing and reading.
As you consume sports media around March Madness (or any other sport for that matter), you’ll often hear things like:
The Duke Blue Devils are +300 to be the outright winner of this year’s March Madness Tournament.
What does +300 mean?
The +300 represents the odds of a bet. In this situation, for every $100 that you bet on Duke to win, you’d pocket $300 in return should Duke win this year’s men’s college basketball tournament.
Toss down a cool $1k on them and you’d pull in $3,000 if they win.
If they lose, you’re out $1k – or whatever you opted to wager.
What does -300 mean?
If there’s a -300 money line, that means for every $300 that you wager you would win $100 if your bet is correct.
Simple betting things to remember:
- When you hear positive numbers, that is the amount you win per $100 wager.
- When you hear a negative number that is the amount you need to bet in order to win $100 in a wager. Negative numbers reflect the team is the favorite, or chalk, selection.
What do 5-to-1 odds mean?
Well, what about #-to-# odds? How does that compare and what do they mean? The concept is very similar to what we’ve already discussed.
In this case, the first number (or 5) is the sportsbook’s stake against the second party’s bet – the second number (or 1) in this case.
So for every $1 dollar that you wager on a 5-to-1 bet, you’d be paid $5 against it if your bet is accurate. Wager $10, your bet wins and you pocket $50.
