What does 1+ mean in betting?

1+ in sports betting is a term you’re likely to come across again and again. There are a couple of different ways the 1+ line is used, which means it can cause a little bit of confusion.

And that’s where Paddy Power is here to help. We know how frustrating it is when a bet just doesn’t make sense. So, we’re going to dive right into 1+ betting and explain how it works for two different type of bets:

• Totals bets
• Spread bets

Paddy does not offer spread betting – that’s more of an American thing. However, it’s important you still know about it, as it’s the sort of thing that pops up in conversation among sports bettors.

So, let’s get stuck in and discuss 1+ betting.

What does 1+ mean in betting?

1+ betting is a catch-all term for any bet on a statistical outcome, such as the score in a match or the number of times an athlete does something, where the line on that outcome has shifted.

For example, you might bet on someone to score 1+ goals at a World Cup. Or you might bet on a team to win a baseball game with a 1+ advantage on their final score.

The idea with 1+ bets (or, indeed, 2+, 3+, 4+ etc) is to shift the focus of your bet away from a simple ‘Yes/No’ outcome and towards a statistic instead.

Rather than betting on England’s striker to score against Germany, you bet on them to bag 2+ goals. Rather than betting on the Knicks to beat the 76ers, you bet on them to win with a 1+ head start. This naturally affects the odds.

As we mentioned above, there are two core types of 1+ bet:

• Totals bets
• Spread bets

Let’s now look at those in a little more detail.

1+ in totals betting

The 1+ totals bet means you back someone to do something once or more times. Let’s take an example from Paddy’s football odds. Gabriel Jesus to record 1+ shots for Arsenal means he just has to have one shot for you to win your bet.

Crucially, this is different to backing Gabriel to record exactly one shot, or a range of one to three shots.

Of course, backing a striker to record one or more shots is fairly easy. That’s why Gabriel’s odds are as low as 1/5. There may be more value in backing him at 3+, which carries odds of 10/3.

1+ in spread betting

Now, 1+ is more commonly found in spread betting, which isn’t available in the UK or Ireland. Americans bet on the spread fairly often. Here, you bet on the final “line” of the match and how many points you believe the result will be from that line.

Here’s an example of 2+ betting from our US partners Fan Duel. The spread is set at 2+ for Golden State and -2 for Houston. It’s assumed that the Rockets are favourites, so to level the spread odds they’re set a negative score.

If you back Golden State at 2+ on the spread then they have to lose the game by no more than one point or win the game. If that happens, you win. The more points they win by, the more you get back. If they lose by exactly two points then your bet is refunded.

If they lose by more than two points then you lose your bet. The heavier the defeat, the more you lose. That’s the risk of betting on the spread, rather than the handicap or the end result.

Is 1+ betting right for me?

Here in the UK and Ireland the 1+ bet is usually reserved for sports like football or cricket, where you can bet on individuals to hit certain milestones. In that sense, it’s a great way of betting on something outside of the final result, often at better odds.

Spread betting is a lot more complicated and you need a thorough understanding of how it works before you dive in. It’s also not available here – although it’s always useful to know what the spread is!

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