NBA

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Point spread - also known as the line or spread, it is generally thought of as the predicted margin of victory for one team. In reality, it’s a number chosen by the oddsmaker that he feels will encourage an equal number of people to wager on the basketball underdog and the hoops favorite. The negative value -13.5 indicates that team is favored by 13.5 points. The positive value +13.5 indicates that team is the underdog by 13.5 points. Betting on the favorite means the team must win by at least four points to cover the spread. The underdog team can lose by three points and still cover the spread.

Moneyline – form of wagering typically used in baseball and hockey, which replaces the point spread, but also popular in basketball especially for picking underdogs. The team you choose only has to win the game, not win by a certain number of points. The negative value still indicates the favorite (-150) and the positive value indicates the underdog (+130). It’s easiest to picture the number 100 sitting in the middle of these two values. For example, if you want to bet a -150 favorite, you would wager $150 in order to win $100. On the underdog, you would risk $100 and win $130 if the underdog wins. It’s a simple way to have the risk-reward scenario.

Total – also widely referred to as the over/under is the predicted number of points oddsmakers believe will be scored in the game by both teams combined. If the total is 217.5 and you pick the over, you are hoping for tons of scoring and three-pointers galore. In totals betting, you are predicting whether the combined total score will be more than or less than the total.

Futures – wagers made in predicting an event in the future like next year’s pro hoops title. Oddsmakers produce lines during the year, depending on the strength or weakness of teams, then offer wagers on each team to win. For example, a league’s top team may be +150 to win the championship. That means a $100 wager would pay $150 profit. However, a poor team might be +3000, indicating they are not expected to win and a $100 would pay $3,000 as a huge longshot.