Understanding the line

Today the MGM line on the San Diego/Kansas City Game is Kansas City -7 +05. Does this mean I could make a $9.50 bet to win $10.00? What if I bet on San Diego? Sorry if this is a dumb question but I have never seen a line like this.

If you bet $10 on that Line, then you would win $10.50. If you bet $9.50, then you would win either $9.97 or $9.98, mathematically it would round up...but I'm not sure if that is how they would construe it at the book.

San Diego might be +7 but may have different odds on it.

You'll see this sort of line when the book wants action on a given side (i.e., its action on a game is unbalanced), but due to the line being on 3 or 7 (and more rarely, other numbers such as 4 or 10), the book is reluctant to move off the number. Normally, if a team X was +5 vs. team Y, you would see the house adjust the line to team X +5 1/2 if it wanted more action on that team, or team Y -4 1/2 if the opposite was true. But moving even 1/2 point off a line of 3 or 7 creates too many opportunities for bettors, so they give a better price on the team they want to book more bets on instead.

So rather than making KC -6 1/2 to encourage bets on that team, they sweetened the payoff from the usual -110 to +105. This sort of situation is usually limited to a single book or conglomerate, which is one of the many reasons it pays to shop around.

So is it still -110 to bet on San Diego or is it -125?

Quote: 10DollarBri

So is it still -110 to bet on San Diego or is it -125?

SD -110 according to VegasInsider

Thanks guys.

The line is the sum total of all knowledge, all ignorance, all hunches and all team loyalties and layoff action nationwide as manipulated by the books themselves.

Quote: 10DollarBri

So is it still -110 to bet on San Diego or is it -125?

If KC was +105 then San Diego would be -125.

Quote: DRich

If KC was +105 then San Diego would be -125.

Looking at the vegasinsider line movement page this is right. Thanks DRich.