What Does +150 Mean in Betting? Payout, Odds and Is It a Good Bet

+150 means a $100 bet wins $150. If it wins, you get $250 back: your $100 stake plus $150 in profit. The plus sign tells you it's the underdog, and the price says the sportsbook gives it about a 40% chance.

You don't have to bet $100, of course. A $10 bet at +150 wins $15, and a $20 bet wins $30. Below is how to work out any stake, what +150 looks like in other odds formats, and how to tell whether it's actually a good bet.

What the plus sign means

American odds always come with a plus or minus sign in front of the number, and the sign in front tells you which way to read it. A plus sign means positive odds, and positive odds are underdog prices. The number shown is how much you'd win on a $100 bet.

A minus sign means negative odds, the favorite's price. There the number is how much you need to wager in order to win $100. So -150 means you bet $150 to win $100. Same digits, very different bet. At +150 you win more than you risk; at -150 you risk more than you win.

That's the one thing to remember when you read sports betting odds in the American format: plus is what $100 wins, minus is what it costs to win $100. Our guide to reading American odds has more examples on both sides.

How much a +150 bet pays

To calculate your payout at +150, multiply your stake by 1.5. That's your profit. Add the stake back and you have the total payout.

Payout and profit get mixed up all the time. Most bet slips show "to win" (profit) and "payout" or "to return" (profit plus stake). On a $10 bet at +150 that's $15 and $25. Neither number is wrong. They just answer different questions.

Where you'll see +150

Mostly on the moneyline, where you're only picking who wins. If the Bulls are -175 and the Hornets are +150, the Hornets are the underdog. They don't have to cover a point spread. They just have to win the game, and if they do, a $100 bet on them pays $150.

You'll also see +150 on player props, on period lines like the first half, and now and then on an alternate spread or total. The math is the same everywhere. Spreads and totals at their main number are usually close to -110 instead, because the line itself evens the two sides out (here's what -110 means if you're curious).

+150 as a probability: the 40% number

Every set of odds can be turned into the chance the sportsbook is giving that result. For positive odds, divide 100 by the odds plus 100:

100 ÷ (150 + 100) = 100 ÷ 250 = 0.40, or 40%.

So +150 says this side wins about 4 times in 10. For -150, the favorite version, you'd do 150 ÷ 250 = 60%. That's the whole idea behind calculating implied probability, and we go further with it (including how the book's cut sneaks in) in implied probability in betting.

One thing to keep in mind: implied probability is the book's number, not the true probability. The oddsmakers build a small margin into every price, so the real chance the book believes in is usually a bit under what the odds show.

Is +150 a good bet?

It depends entirely on how often you think that side wins. There's no such thing as a good price on its own.

If the true chance is above 40%, +150 is a good bet over time. Say you think the Hornets win 45% of the time. Bet $100 on them a hundred times and you'd expect to win 45 bets ($6,750 in profit) and lose 55 ($5,500). That's $1,250 ahead, or $12.50 a bet. If you think they win 35% of the time, the same math says you lose $12.50 a bet. At exactly 40% you break even.

That's why betting on the underdog isn't automatically smart and betting on the favorite isn't automatically safe. A +150 underdog that should be +200 is a bad bet. A +150 underdog that should be +120 is a good one. The payout looks the same either way; the only thing that changes is whether the price is right.

We'd add one honest warning. Plus-money bets feel great when they hit and lose more often than they win, even when the price is fair. If you bet +150 dogs, expect long losing runs and size your bets so they don't hurt.

+150 in decimal and fractional odds

Same bet, different format. In decimal odds, used in Canada, Australia and most parts of Europe, +150 is 2.50. Multiply your stake by 2.50 and you get the total payout: a $10 bet returns $25. Decimal odds include the stake, which is why the number is one bigger than you might expect. The conversion rules are in decimal odds to American odds.

In fractional odds, +150 is 3/2. The numerator (3) is what you win and the denominator (2) is what you stake, so you win $3 for every $2 you bet. To get the implied probability from a fraction, divide the denominator by the sum of the denominator and numerator: 2 ÷ 5 = 40%. Same answer. There's more in fractional odds explained.

What about 100 to 1 odds?

People often ask this alongside +150, so it's worth a quick answer. 100 to 1 (100/1) is +10000 in American odds: a $1 bet wins $100. The implied chance is 1 ÷ 101, which is about 0.99%. You'll see prices like that on futures and long-shot props, almost never on a single game.

Try +150 bets with a free balance

The quickest way to get a feel for plus-money odds is to bet some and watch how often they come in. On Paid2Bet you bet with a free balance, no deposit or credit card, so you can try a few +150 underdogs on the NBA board or the NFL board without risking your own money. For the bigger picture on every format, our main guide to how betting odds work ties it all together.

Paid2Bet is for players 21 and over. If betting ever stops being fun, call or text 1-800-GAMBLER for free, confidential help.