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LCS Odds Legend
With the increase in popularity of esports betting, wagering on the LCS has never been more exciting.
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There are now a ton of options for the American League of Legends Championships. From simple moneylines, to a variety of props, such as betting on objectives and kills, to live-action wagers, where your read of the game can have a huge impact. Let’s check out some of the most popular betting lines for the LCS.
Moneyline
Moneyline bets are the bread and butter of wagering. It’s a simple pick between two teams - who do you think will win? Nothing that happens in the game matters, just the final result.
All you really need to look at when betting the moneyline is the team and their odds. These will usually be represented by two numbers, one positive and one negative. The negative, such as -150, indicates the favorite, while the positive, like +135, shows who is the underdog.
If you choose to back the favorite, the negative number tells you how much you need to bet to win $100, so, if the favorite is at -150, you’ll need to put in $150 to win an extra $100. Meanwhile, when betting on the underdog, the positive number indicates how much you’ll win if you bet $100. So, if you bet $100 on +135 odds, you’d win an extra $135.
The beauty of a moneyline comes in its simplicity. You never know who’s going to win, even with a huge favorite, and it creates an opportunity for some amazing value. This is especially true for the LCS, where games are played out in a best of one format in the regular season and just one mistake can cost the favorites everything.
Spreads
Spreads are very popular options in traditional sports, mainly pointing to points in a game, but differ vastly in LCS betting.
When it comes to the LCS, you’ll only really see point spreads in the playoffs, in the form of map handicaps and advantages. For example, when two teams are playing a best of three match, you’re likely to see a negative and positive value, -1.5 and +1.5.
This means one team will have an advantage, while the other will have a disadvantage going into a game. If you back a team with -1.5, that means they start the best of three at -1.5 maps, and will need to win 2-0, to secure the bet. Meanwhile, the positive team at +1.5 starts on 1.5 maps, and just needs to find just one map win to secure the bet, even if they end up losing the series.
The other spread option in the LCS will come in the form of kills and should be available in every game. Just like with maps, you’ll see a positive and negative number, which indicates an advantage or disadvantage.
For kills, however, the number will be much larger and you’re likely to find a range. For example, you might find something like +7.5 for one team and -7.5 for another. This again means the team with +7.5 starts with that many kills, while the other starts down 7.5 kills. For the team with the positive, they’d need to remain within seven kills of their opponent, while the negative team would need to get eight or more.
Totals And OVER/UNDER
Totals or OVER/UNDER bets are another very popular market for the LCS. What this means is betting on a predetermined number of things to happen in a game, then choosing if there will be more than expected or fewer.
When it comes to the LCS, you’ll find multiple options, including kills, towers, dragons, and barons. These will all range from game to game, but generally look something like OVER/UNDER 25.5 kills. If you pick the OVER, you’re betting that it will be a high kills game, with at least 26 kills, meanwhile, if you bet UNDER, you’re counting on a slower game, with 25 or fewer kills.
There are quite a few factors that play into this, from the teams playing, to the champions picked, and even the importance of the match. You should always keep these in mind when wagering on totals.
Futures
Futures are bets solely on the eventual Sportsbook. You can usually only place these at the start of the LCS and all you have to do is pick one team that will win the season’s playoffs.
The odds of this depend massively per team, taking into account the players, previous results, and more. Even the favorites might see quite large odds of +300 or higher, as there are always a few teams that have a realistic chance of winning it.
Keep in mind this type of wager does tie up your cash for a while, as you’ll need to wait for both the split and playoffs to finish. It’s also quite risky, hence the mention of high odds, especially in the LCS where the last three season playoffs have been won by three different teams.
