Maryland sports betting odds

There are three systems that you will encounter when looking for betting odds in MD. For the most part, you will have the ability to switch between them. Although, this is going to be dependent on the site that you are gambling on.

American Odds

This is the system favored by many sportsbooks that offer betting in Maryland. This is a method for displaying odds that tends to work best with bets with two potential outcomes, e.g., win or lose, over or under, etc.

Let’s assume that you are betting on a game between Orioles and Red Sox. Since we know that the Orioles are one of the greatest teams in history, you may see the odds displayed as such:

• Orioles Win: -120
• Red Sox Win +120

The – next to the number tells us that Orioles are favored to win in this event. The Red Sox are the underdogs due to the +. The number displayed for the Orioles is the amount you would have to stake on the match-up if you wanted to win $100. So, for every $120 staked, you get $100 back.

With the Red Sox, that number is the amount that you would win if you staked $100. So, if you staked $100, you would get $120. Remember, in both cases. You will always get your initial bet back.

Once you understand the difference between the + and the – when reading betting odds in Maryland, it won’t be long before you can determine the likely outcome for a match.

Decimal Odds

Decimal odds will not outright tell you when the favorite for a game is but should be too hard to work out. You can think of decimal odds as the amount you would get back if you staked $1. So, if the decimal odds were $2.28 and you placed a $10 bet, you would get around $22.80.

To work out the payout, multiply the decimal odds by your stake. The higher the decimal odds are, the lower the probability of that event happening.

Fractional Odds

Fractional odds, as the name suggests, will be displayed as a fraction. For example, 10/1. In this example, you have to consider the following:

• The first number is the amount that you could potentially win.
• The second number is the amount that you would have to stake to win that amount.

So, here you would have to stake $1 to win $10.

Fractional odds can be pretty much any fraction. The closer the two numbers are together, the greater the probability of that event occurring. If the second number is higher than the first, e.g., 3/5, then the event’s outcome is almost certain.

It doesn’t matter which route you go down when it comes to reading MD sports betting odds. They all tell the same story at the end of the day. This is the amount you will win, plus the potential outcome of an event. Stick with one system and become familiar with it. It will make odds betting a lot easier for you.

It is going to be nearly impossible for us to name every single type of bet you will encounter when looking for betting odds in Maryland. This is because there are dozens upon dozens of options. Some betting sites will even have their own type of odds bets too.

In this section, we want to talk about the ones that you will likely encounter the most.

Moneylines odds in MD

Moneylines betting in MD are your simplest type of bet. You will be betting on the winner or the loser of the event. This is the type of bet most people looking up betting odds in Maryland will probably be familiar with.

Puck Lines

Puck lines are Moneyline bets that are specific to hockey. Rather than betting on the outright winner/loser of the game, you will be betting with the odds, on the winner winning by at least 1.5 goals, i.e., the winner will have to score two or more goals above their opponent.

If you are odds betting on the underdog of the event, then they do not even have to win. You are betting that they will not lose by more than 1.5 goals. Of course, if they win, that is also great!

Run Lines

Run lines are the same as puck lines, even though these bets are going to be designed for baseball. You will be odds betting on the number of winning runs being greater than 1.5 or, in the case of the underdog, that they do not lose by more than 1.5 runs.

Point Spread

Point spreads take moneylines to the next level. With point spreads betting in MD, you will be odds betting on the number of goals/runs/points that a team will win by. You can make this number as high or low as you want.

For example, you could bet on the Ravens to win by 10 or more. So, if the final score were 35-17 to the Ravens, you would be walking away a winner. Of course, the same applies to the underdog. You will be odds betting that they do not lose by more than a certain amount.

Futures in Maryland

Futures odds are for those that favor longer-term betting, i.e., they want to bet on who may win the Superbowl, even if they are odds betting months out. They may want to bet on where the Ravens finish the season, etc.

Props

Props are where you bet on events that happen in a game. For example, if you are betting on soccer, then the following would be classed as props bets:

• The number of corners
• The number of fouls
• The number of cards given
• First goalscorer

Basically, anything related to a game that does not involve the score will be classed as a ‘props’ bet.

Over/Unders odds

With over/unders odds, you will be using the odds on something happening more or less than a certain number. For example, the following would be over/under bets:

• The Ravens scored more than 20.
• The Ravens scored less than 15.

Basically, you are not odds betting on a specific number, only on something happening on either side of that number. Over/Unders normally apply to props bets, although they can also apply to score bets too.

Parlays

Parlay bets will be multiple bets rolled into one. For example, you could have these as individual bets:

• Ravens to win
• Ravens to score over 25

If you rolled them into a parlay bet in MD, you would need both bets to be ‘winners’ to receive a payout on the bet.

You could combine as many bets as you want into a parlay. Of course, the more bets you add, the lower your chances of winning. However, this means that the amount of money you could potentially win will shoot up. People have won tens of thousands of dollars betting just $1 on parlay bets 30-40 events long.

Remember, you do not have to bet on the same sport or event with your parlays. You can mix and match as much as you want.

Live Betting Odds in MD

If you have never bet online before, then live betting with odds is something that you may not be familiar with.

Traditionally, before a game, you would look up the betting odds in MD, make your pick, and then hope for the best. You would have to wait until the game has finished knowing whether you have won or lost. Live betting with odds shakes this up a little bit.

With live betting odds, you will be able to bet while the game is in progress. It is a much more tactical approach to betting. If you understand the sport inside out, then you could potentially make a lot of money from live betting odds.

Due to the nature of this type of betting, the odds can change rather quickly. In fact, you may see the odds change every couple of seconds while there is action happening on the field. It really does make betting that much more exciting.

As you compare sports betting in Maryland on different websites, it won’t be long before you realize that betting odds will differ. You will rarely find a betting site with the same odds as another site.

This is why it’s often encouraged that you are signed up to a couple of different websites at a time. It means that you will always get the best deal when you are taking the odds into a factor.

How are odds calculated in MD?

Even when you refresh a sports betting site with odds, you may notice that the odds change. They may change a bit more frequently the closer that we get to an event. So, how are betting odds in Maryland calculated? Well, truth be told, it is impossible to know. Each site will have its own method for calculating odds.

However, due to our experience in the betting industry, we can give you a rough idea of how these calculations may work, and it is going to be a two-part process. For an instance with Hedge bets.

The Expected Outcome of an Event

Every betting site will have a team of staff attempting to calculate the initial betting odds in Maryland. These will be the odds that go live initially. However, they do change rather quickly after being posted.

The odds calculation team will look at the following:

• The form of each team.
• The head-to-head results of the two teams competing.
• The stats from previous matches.
• Whether any key players are missing.

Take the Orioles, for instance. The odds team will look at their stats, and they may notice that they average between 3 and 7 runs per game. They may also notice that their opponents may average between 2 and 5 runs per game.

The odds team can take this information and say that there is a greater likelihood of the Orioles winning, and thus they have better odds than their competitor. This is where each odds sportsbook will have its own processes in place.

The Number of People Betting

Once the Maryland sports betting odds have been posted, the process becomes automated. The team may still dip in on occasion and manipulate the odds a little bit if there is likely to be a significant change in the score, i.e., a key player has suddenly become injured, but they will try to avoid doing this.

The goal of the sportsbook is to have an equal amount of money placed for each betting market. If this happens, then the sportsbook won’t lose no matter what happens. The automated system will play about with the odds to the point where it has the perfect balance of people betting on either eventuality.

The closer you get to a game, the more people will start to bet. This means that you will often see the odds change the most in the hour or so before the teams hit the field. It is usually about this time that you will start to hear about the lineup too.