The two most popular ways of expressing odds in American football are point spreads and money lines.

Here you will find out how football betting money lines work and how to read them. The easiest way to understand a money line, is to think of it as an indication of the amount you need to bet to win $100 or the amount you will win.

if you bet $100. Money lines are expressed with a negative number, say -110, or a positive number,  say +110. A negative money line number indicates what you must wager to win $100, and a positive money line number indicates what you will win if you wager $100.

If you bet $110 on a team with a money line of -110, and they win, you will win $100 (plus return of your original $110 bet).

If you bet $100 on a team with a money line of +110, and they win, you will win $110 (plus return of the original $100 bet). Unlike point spread bets, the teams do not have to win by any particular number of points.

Now, you do not have to bet an amount equal to the money line number. You can bet more or less and the payoff simply becomes a proportional amount. For example, if you bet $11 on a money line of -110, and your bet wins, you will win $10. If you bet $50 on a money line of +110, and win, you will win $55.