Soccer Betting: Point Spread vs. Money Line
By: FLORIAN KOERNER

Point Spread and Money Line are two most common types of betting in soccer. To judge which one is a better play, let us look into details of both of them. Also known as 1X2, money line is an older system of soccer betting. In this type of betting, there are three options, Home Win, Away Win and Draw. Nearly 30 percent of soccer games end in a draw, so picks are to be made wisely. However, it is very disappointing to lose a bet when the game ends in a draw. This led to a new form of wagering known as hang cheng or Asian Handicap, which eliminated the draw option. This is what we know as point spread. In this, you have two betting options, home win and away win. The draw option is eliminated. If the game ends in a draw, the wager will be graded a 'push' and stakes refunded.

However, since the risk is smaller, the rewards are also smaller. Since you don’t lose with a draw, the odds on home and away teams are lessened. Recently, point spread betting has been gaining more and more popularity because of the matter of ‘value’. For a sportsbook, three-line European moneylines have bigger profit margins than two-line point spreads. Offering three options allows the bookmaker to extract more 'juice' from each line. When creating lines, a sportsbook will offer odds on each team that give it a slight edge, ensuring a profit no matter how the game turns out. This is called the “Theoretical Hold” and is expressed as a percentage. It represents the combined amount of customers' bets that the bookmaker expects to keep.

Compared to the North American sports, soccer moneylines give the bookmaker a much bigger theoretical hold making it the most lucrative betting format from a sportsbooks perspective.

There is another drawback with moneylines. As the visiting teams often draw rather than winning outright, away wins are much rarer in soccer than in other sports. So, the general tendency is not to play on the away team.

On the other hand, point spread offers much better value because of a lower theoretical hold. Intense competition among sportsbooks in recent years has also made it possible for the betters to secure even better odds. Most Asian books offer reduced juice on soccer. Pinnacle Sportsbook recently began posting lines as low as four-cents on soccer spreads (lay -102), with a theoretical hold of only 0.98 percent!

Just like puck lines in hockey, or run lines in baseball, the soccer point spread makes wagering more flexible than moneylines. Because of all these reasons. Point spread is becoming more popular these days than moneylines.

About the author: Florian Koerner runs a popular free online football betting tips and a general online betting information website. Visit www.soccerbetting.info every week or subscribe to his free soccer betting tips by email.

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