Gambling terms, explained straight

Sports Betting

3-way moneyline

A 3-way moneyline is a bet on a football match where you pick one of three possible results: the home team wins, the match ends in a draw, or the away team wins.

Number of outcomes
3
Also called
1X2, match result, 3-way market2
Vigorish formula
v = 100 · (1/p + 1/q + 1/t − 1) / (1/p + 1/q + 1/t) where p, q, t are decimal odds3

Key points

  • The bettor picks one of three outcomes: home win, draw, or away win.15
  • If the selected outcome occurs, the bet wins; otherwise it loses.14
  • Odds are set separately for each outcome to reflect their relative chances.35

Common questions

What is a 3-way moneyline in football?

In football (soccer), a 3-way moneyline is a bet on the match result with three possible outcomes: home win, draw, or away win. There is no point spread, so the bet wins if the selected outcome happens.15

Where this term is used

Sports betting Moneyline A straight-up bet on which team or player will win, typically with no draw option. Sports betting Moneyline betting The practice of placing moneyline bets across various sports. Sports betting Moneyline vs spread Compares moneyline bets (pick the winner) with point spread bets (win by a margin). Sports betting Moneyline UK How moneyline betting works in the UK, often using fractional odds. Sports betting Moneyline odds explained Explains how American odds work for moneyline bets. Sports betting Each way accumulator A multiple bet where each selection is split into win and place parts.

Sources

  1. Odds en.wikipedia.org Defines the 3-way moneyline and its three outcomes.
  2. Fixed-odds betting en.wikipedia.org Confirms the 3-way market and distinguishes from 2-way moneyline.
  3. Vigorish - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org Provides the vigorish formula for 3-way markets.
  4. Sports betting en.wikipedia.org Explains that the bet wins or loses based on the outcome.
  5. Mathematics of bookmaking - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org Covers the mathematics of bookmaking and odds setting for three outcomes.

Sources are drawn from regulators, universities and published research, and each one is labelled with what it actually is — a preprint is not called a paper. Bookmaker and affiliate pages are never cited here, because a page that sells betting is not a neutral authority on it.

Written and maintained by Ellis Warrender, writer and maintainer.

Last updated 28 July 2026. Spotted an error? Tell me and it gets fixed and logged on the corrections page.