Favorite
The team expected to win. Carries a minus sign on the moneyline (-150, -200) and a minus spread (-3, -7).
The favorite is the team a sportsbook expects to win. The book signals this with:
- Negative moneyline (e.g. -200); you must risk $200 to win $100
- Negative spread (e.g. -7); must win by more than the spread to cover
Heavy favorites pay terribly per dollar. -300 chalk only returns $33 on a $100 bet. That’s why parlay payouts compound so attractively; and why the math is brutal on long chalk parlays.
Opposite: underdog or “dog.”