Most newspapers and websites publish the line on a football or basketball game simply as a single number. In our example we will use Chicago against New York in which Chicago is favored by 4 over New York. The usual format for this game would be displayed as:

• Chicago -4
• New York +4

What is generally understood with such a line is that in a wager on this game one would risk 110 to win 100. For example you may risk $55 to win $50 or $110 to win $100, but what is understood in the presentation of the line is that a bettor will lose an extra 10% of their wager amount if they should lose.

However in the era of online gaming, business competition has led to a better deal for the gambler. One no longer needs to risk and extra 10% on every wager they make. For example, at Sports.com, if you make a wager on Fridays, you will find that you only need to risk 5% on most games. In this case the line would be displayed as:

• Chicago -4 -105

One would only be risking $105 to win $100 on a wager on Chicago. If you win, you still win $100. However if you lose, you only lose $105 instead of $110.

Sometimes the line will be displayed as a rather larger number after the point spread. There are 2 different ways to display this number. On ScoresAndOdds.com, the number displayed is the difference between the bet and the payoff. Other sites add 100 to the number, showing what you'd need to bet in order to win $100. Let us look at an example where you would need to wager $120 in order to win $100: On ScoresAndOdds.com this would be shown as:

• Chicago -4 -20

Other sites will show it as:

• Chicago -4 -120

Just remember that these represent identical odds, and are just 2 different ways of displaying the information.

In this case, the bookmaker is getting a lot of business on Chicago and is trying to generate more business on New York. The bookmaker has two choices, they can either move the game to Chicago -4.5 or if they like they number 4, they can stay on 4 and move the "juice" instead.