Betting Basics — Part 2 — Totals, Lines & Handicaps

Welcome to the second of our instalment of betting basics information series. Our goal is to open up what can be a complex and somewhat confusing industry trapped in jargon to a broader market of sports fans.

Outside of the most popular head to head markets in which you can wager on which team will win a match, the next three most popular types of markets are lines, totals and handicaps. Many people get mixed up between a couple of these and how exactly they work.

N.B. We utilise references to decimal odds in this article, if you are more accustomed to American or Fractional odds, refer to Betting Basics — Part 1 for how to convert these odds

Totals

Totals betting is common in the majority of sports and is most simply put a wager on how many points will be scored in a game.

The simplest of total betting market is a two way market, i.e. Over or Under a set score. For example if Los Angeles Lakers are playing Miami Heat a bookmaker may set the match total at Over or Under 190.5. A bettor in this situation is looking to correctly predict whether the total match score (that is both L.A.’s and Miami’s combined points total) will be over or under the set figure, 190.5 in this case. In most circumstance the total you are backing over or under of will include a .5 as this allows bookmakers to pay out no matter the score as the score can not land on exactly 190.5. When wagering beware of what are termed flat lines (that is lines ending in .0 for example 200.0 or 184.0) as if the score lands exactly on the quoted figure the bet will be a push (in the majority of cases it will result in your initial stake being refunded — ensure you read your selected bookmakers terms and conditions).

Totals can also be set in bands, again for the above example of a basketball match you could bet on the two teams combined point score to be for example Under 151, 151–170, 171–190, 191–200, or Over 200. These will be priced as to the likelihood a bookmaker thinks the total score is to land in that bracket.

Lines/Handicaps (Pointspread)

Lines & Handicaps (not to be confused with Moneylines which refers to Head to Head betting) are a way of bookmakers “levelling the playing field” between two sides or competitors (many US bookmakers and sports utilise the term point spread for lines and handicaps). As a general rule a bookmaker will set a line at which they think two teams are approximately equal, the line is equated as a handicap. For example if Golden State are taking on Detroit the bookmaker may decide Detroit are approximately 10.5 points weaker (again as a rule bookies will use a half point/ .5 line to avoid a push, but on occasion will find it necessary to use a flat or .0 line) than Golden State they will set what will be their equal price line at Golden State -10.5 and Detroit +10.5 (usually at a price between $1.88 each and $1.95 each depending on your chosen bookmaker).

What these lines equate to is a number that is either added to or taken away from the selected teams final score. In the above example if you took the Golden State line (-10.5), you would need Golden State to win by more than 10.5 in order to win (cover the line/spread) if Golden State win by more than 10.5, for example 115–102 you would win as with the line/handicap taken from the final score it comes out at 104.5–102 to Golden State. Conversely if you took Detroit with +10.5 your bet will win if Detroit wins the match or lose by less than the nominated line of +10.5, e.g. the match finishes 109–100 to Golden State, you would add the 10.5 to Detroit’s score and finish with a theoretical score of 109–110.5 and a win to your side. However if you were to take Detroit at the line and Golden State win by more than 10.5 eg 115–101, once you input the line it comes out to 115–111.5 and it would be a losing bet.

Many bookmakers now offer alternate lines where you can bet on a selected line you may like at a price that is varied to the set match line. An example using the above matchup with Golden State v Detroit and a line of 10.5 would be as below.

Golden State (-10.5) $1.90 — Detroit (+10.5) $1.90

If you wanted to take Golden State to win by less than the match line of 10.5 you might take Golden State (-8.5) this is a more likely outcome than Golden State winning by over 10.5 and as such the bookmaker would lower the price (for example to $1.80), on the flip side if you were to think Detroit didn’t require as much of a boost you may like Detroit (+8.5) — In this case Detroit would need to win or lose by 8 or less, a more difficult task than if they have the 10.5 start as such the bookmaker will generally offer a larger price (eg $2.00) for this. A typical set of alternate lines for this Golden State team in this match could look as below.

Golden State (-16.5) — $2.30

Golden State (-14.5) — $2.15

Golden State (-12.5) — $2.00

Golden State (-10.5) — $1.90

Golden State (-8.5) — $1.80

Golden State (-6.5) — $1.67

Golden State (-4.5) — $1.50

Hopefully this clears up for you how these market types work, If you have any questions please feel free to contact us through commenting in the responses below, shoot us a message on Facebook or email us at XXXXXXXX.

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