What does -150 mean on a moneyline?

The team is the favorite. You'd bet $150 to win $100 in profit, plus your $150 back — total return $250.

What does +200 mean on a moneyline?

The team is the underdog. A $100 stake returns $200 in profit, plus your $100 back — total $300.

Is a moneyline a good bet for the NBA?

Heavy favorites pay so little it's hard to make money long-term, but underdog moneylines on tight matchups offer real value. Most sharp NBA players mix moneylines with spreads.

In sports where ties are possible (soccer, the World Cup), the moneyline has three outcomes: home, away, draw. In the NBA, overtime decides the winner, so moneylines never push.

What Is a Moneyline in Sports Betting?

A moneyline is the simplest pick in sports: you're picking who wins, straight up. No spread, no totals, no half-points — just the team you think will win the game.

How moneyline odds work

Moneyline odds tell you two things: who's favored and how much you'd win. A negative number (e.g. -150) is the favorite — bet $150 to win $100. A positive number (e.g. +130) is the underdog — bet $100 to win $130. The bigger the gap between the two numbers, the bigger the perceived mismatch.

Calculating a payout

For a favorite (-150): payout = stake × (100 / 150). For an underdog (+130): payout = stake × (130 / 100). Most sportsbooks and pick apps like FanRivo do this math for you, but understanding it helps you spot when a line moves.

When to take the moneyline

Take the moneyline when you're confident a team wins outright but don't trust them to cover a big spread, or in low-scoring sports like soccer where one goal decides everything. In the NBA, moneylines on heavy favorites pay so little that most sharps prefer the spread — but underdog moneylines are where value lives.

Moneyline vs spread vs total

Spread bets handicap the favorite by a number of points; totals (over/under) bet on the combined score. Moneylines are the only market where a 1-point win and a 30-point win pay the same. That makes them the cleanest pick to track on a leaderboard, which is why FanRivo defaults to moneyline picks.

What Is a Moneyline? NBA & Soccer Explained