What’s best here

I want to wager on lakers winning tonight.

Should I ATS or ML?

Forgive my ignorance, Ty

ATS is against the spread - that means you are picking the team with higher points after you add/subtract points to the final score.
ML is money line - that means you are picking the winner outright.

Select the team and the line you think will win.

You can check them here: https://www.vegasinsider.com/nba/odds/las-vegas/

Hello and welcome

Thank you for your questions.

The correct answer is gambling is bad and do not gambol.

Now that we have that out of the way, lets begin.

"should" you money line or ATS is hard to say, it depends on your preference.

Generally if you are just betting with your friends or in a casual environment then you would bet the moneyline. Moneyline is picking the winner. Simple as that. If you pick a team and they win by 1, you win the bet. This is your standard bet. Now pros and bookies know that a team has an advantage (better players, home team, less injuries, etc) so betting even money 50/50 for the moneyline doesnt always make sense, because the better team has a significant chance of winning by at least 1. This is why in moneyline the payouts are always skewed. For example. If Denver is a major favourite over the Lakers. You would almost certainly get a better pay out by betting for the Lakers (The Underdogs) on the moneyline because that result is less likely to happen, so you might win 3 times or 4 times your bet amount in this case.., conversely, picking Denver (The Favourite) would pay out less because that it the expected result, so you might get half or even a third of your bet amount as winnings... We will get to understanding payout lines and what they mean in a minute.

But I dont want to bet for weird money values! WELL... Then ATS or 'spread' betting is for you. ATS stands for Against The Spread. ATS bettors understand that there is a better team, so the ATS bookmaker or bettor will choose an arbitrary number of points to add to the Underdogs before the game starts in order to balance out, these points added is called "The Spread". Sometimes a spread value will include a half or .5. This is simply and ONLY to eliminate ties (or Pushes, as they are called), keep that in mind when looking at spreads. So In our example Lakers are the underdogs so based on the action and what the bookmaker thinks he will set his spread like at +5.5 for the Lakers. This means that in the game Lakers v Denver, the spread bettors would add an imaginary +5.5 to the Lakers total points (or conversely, add -5.5 points to Denvers total), and in order for Denver to win 'Against the spread' they would need to win by at least 6 points, anything less, and the Lakers bettors win the ATS bet. Now what all this shenanigans means is the winnings of the Bet is a 50/50 even money bet.

Notes:
Moneyline bet you pick the winner
Moneyline pays can be wonky, make 4x your bet if you bet for the dog, but usually make 1/4 your bet profit if you bet the favourite
ATS bet you pick the winner against the spread
ATS pays are essentially always even, make 1x your bet if you bet for the dog, make 1x your bet if you bet the favourite
Spread and moneyline is determined by multiple factors and as such can move and change leading up to tip off of the game.

Now I can explain the betting systems and what they mean:

You will be able to see what the spread is or what the moneyline payouts are from looking at the leg. Lakehow for example is the current bookie most people use and he uses Bovada odds, so lets take a look and find out what they mean.

Moneyline:
American odds is what we will be teaching today, American odds is when there is an at least 3 digit number with a + or - in front of it.
A + indicates "if you were to bet 100 dollars, you would win this much" (nothing in front of the number also indicates a +)
A - indicates "If you want to win 100 dollars, you need to bet this much"

(you want to look at the Bovada column)


we can see from the above the following:
Miami:-125
Boston:+105

So if we apply the logic then we get the following:

Miami "if you want to win 100 dollars, you need to bet this much" $125 dollars.
Boston "if you were to bet 100 dollars, you would in this much" $105 dollars.

Now. You Can apply mathematics to determine the payouts for whatever amount you bet.

we will use the Miami Boston example

Can also do it an easy way:
if minus then take 100 and divide by the number (-125 example) then multiply that anwer to your bet to find out how much you willl win
100/125 * 20 = $16
if plus then take the number (+105 example) and divide by 100 then multiply that answer to your bet to find out how much you will win
105/100 * 20 = $21

Spread Betting:

If we look at Bovada for Heat vs Boston we see the following:



We see that the Miami Heat are a two point (-2) favourite to beat Boston (who will have +2). When you betting spread against a bookie, the line is assumed to be at -110. Meaning you need to bet 110 dollars to win 100 dollars. This is the standard Line used for Spread betting. NOTE: sometimes you will see a 07 or a 15 that means the line is -107 or -115 and you adjust your winning accordingly. IN THIS CASE we see a 05 beside indicating a -105 line for Miami

In this Spread betting example if you were to take the Heat (-2) and in the end of the game they win by 1 point, that means that according to the spread Boston won the game by 1 point (add 2 points to Boston score, or take away two points from Miami, same thing) and the Boston bettors win.
Also if the Heat win by 2 points then we have what is called a Push that means that the bettors just simply get their money back and no one wins or loses on the event. This is why sometimes the spread adds a half a number to ensure there are no ties. Example if Miami heat were -2.5 favourites and they won by 2, then Boston would cover the spread by half a point and Boston would win the bet. If Miami won by 3 in the same example then Miami would cover this -2.5 spread by half a point thus winning the bet.

Also you can check out this thread for more details: https://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=96213286&f=204

So to answer your question if you wish to just straight bet on a winner and not worry about spreads and having to cover then just bet Moneyline, Bet the spread when you just want a simple almost 1:1 payout. OR bet the spread when you think its wrong. OR bet the spread when you want to bet the favourite but the moneyline is barely paying out and you know spread is dumb -15 but that sweet sweet cash payout is calling your name so you say fuck the guaranteed money with the moneyline I want to risk it all on the spread, ya do the spread then.

gl[/B][/B]

This post was edited by Crunkt on May 23 2023 10:23am

So uhh
Who do you like tonight?

I was just about to say this

You took the words right out of my mouth

That is exactly what I was thinking

Thank you for the responses, not knowing was I was doing saved my ass this time because I tried to go all in on lakers winning last night but messed it up 😅

Maybe I’ll sit back and observe for a while…
💩

Celtics have to win one imo

This is very helpful, thank you for taking the time to share this.
I should stop after the beginning but I like a little risk in my life I think 🤙