Everything You Need to Know About How Betting Lines Work

Learn how betting lines work before you wager any money on the Super Bowl this weekend.

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betting line westgate las vegas

Thanks to the Internet, which has made it possible to place bets on everything these days (NBA? Yup. NFL? Of course. Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional? HELL YES! Not that we know anything about that...), sports betting is now a 24/7/365 business. And it's a BIG business, too. Billions and billions of dollars are bet on sports every year, and Super Bowl Weekend is one of the busiest times for sportsbooks all over the world. Industry analysts are already predicting that the bets placed on Super Bowl XLIX between the Patriots and Seahawks—both legal and illegal—will total almost $4 billion. So…yeah. The betting business has never been better.

But despite this, it still seems like there are plenty of people out there who have absolutely no idea how betting lines actually work. They see "Patriots -1" or "Patriots/Seahawks Over 47" or "Super Bowl XLIX Coin Toss—Coin Will Land Heads -103" and are like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. So to help those people out, we put together a list of Everything You Need to Know About How Betting Lines Work. Whether you're planning on betting big on the game this weekend or just want to be able to hold a conversation with the guy who put his life savings on the National Anthem coming in at under 122.5 seconds (a real bet, by the way), we suggest going all in on this guide.

What is a betting line?

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Who creates the betting lines that are used by sportsbooks?

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How are betting lines created?

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How do sportsbooks make money?

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Why do some sportsbooks offer different betting lines than other sportsbooks?

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Why do betting lines change?

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Will the betting line ever change for a wager that has already been placed?

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Why do some point spreads have half a point attached to them?

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When is the best time to place a bet?

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Is betting on sports legal in the United States?

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