The moneyline is the most straightforward wager in all sports betting—you’re betting on who you think will win the game outright.

The betting lines/odds here are presented like anything else with a “-” or “+.”

Let’s look at a hypothetical situation:

• Alabama: -300
• Missouri: +220

If you wanted to bet on Alabama, you’d need to wager $300 to win $100. However, if you wagered $100 on Missouri, you’d win $220 if they won.

Even if you’ve never wagered before, it doesn’t take looking at games through a sports betting lens to know that some teams are better than others.

Well, you can bet on the point spread at an online sportsbook, a number generated by the site meant to make the game as even as possible.

Let’s use the Alabama vs. Missouri example from above:

• Alabama -8.5 (-110)
• Missouri +8.5 (-110)

The point spread will be the same on each side.

• The “-” in this example shows that for Alabama to cover, they must win by nine points or more.
• The “+” indicates that Missouri either needs to win outright or, if they do lose, they can’t lose by more than eight points.

So, let’s say the final score is 80-70 in favor of Alabama. If you bet on Alabama -8.5, you’d win because, through the lens of point spread betting, Alabama still wins this game 71.5-70.

As you’ll notice, the betting line is -110 on each side—this is common as, again, the goal of the point spread is to make the game as equal as possible, and -110 odds is the standard, most neutral line.

Totals, also known as betting the over/under, is when you wager on the total number of points scored in a game.

With this bet, the game will be assigned a number, and you’ll wager whether the final score will exceed or fall short of it.

• Over 133.5 (-110)
• Under 133.5 (-110)

Like point spread wagers, the odds are always at or around -110. Using the Alabama/Missouri final score above 80-70, the final score here was 150. If you bet the over, you’d win the bet.

The screenshot below shows the latest lines on a real college basketball game. From left to right, you’ll see the point spread, moneyline, and totals wagers.

In college basketball, there are a plethora of futures bets to make. The NCAA Tournament starts with 68 teams and then goes to 64, 32, 16, eight, four, and the championship. You can bet on teams to win the championship, make the Sweet 16, Elite 8 to win their region, and more.

When betting on these, it’s similar to a moneyline in that you’ll have just one betting line to concern yourself with.

With a parlay, you can bet on multiple games simultaneously, combining various bet types, such as the moneyline, point spread, totals, and even props (more on those soon).

Here’s the catch with parlays—all games you add to it must win for it to be a winning wager. For example, if you have a parlay with two games and just one wins, you won’t get a partial win or anything like that—it’s a loss.

With that in mind, the betting odds you receive reflect the individual lines but also factor in the risk.

EXAMPLE:?

You decide to make a parlay bet on two selections:

• Maryland +125 (Maryland vs West Virginia)

• Virginia -240 (Furman vs Virginia)

One is +125; the other is -240. Together, they combine for +220. So, if Maryland and Virginia win and you bet $100, you’d get $220.

In addition to a traditional parlay, Same Game Parlays have the same premise but are focused on a single game.

For college basketball, there are three types of prop bets:

• Game: Predicting the exact score, the game goes to overtime, race to a certain number of points, and more.
• Team: Total team points, points in each half, even/odd points, and more.
• Player: Points, assists, rebounds, three-pointers, and more.

You’ll wager on props similar to over/under wagers, especially for player props, in that there will be a line that you’ll wager whether or not the player will do better or worse than the line indicates. For other props, like predicting the exact score (game prop), there will be a single betting line for multiple options.

Live betting is exactly what it sounds like—betting on a game live, as it’s actively in progress. Like a pregame wager, the odds will reflect what’s happening at the time you wish to wager.

Each made/missed basket or foul can change the odds slightly. With this bet type, you’ll need to think quickly and act fast before odds and lines are locked so the sportsbook can adjust the odds.

A tip for live betting—wait until a timeout happens. This will be the longest period in which the odds will be stable.