If we could only give you one piece of advice to improve your betting, it would be this: line shop every single bet.
Line shopping means comparing the odds for the same bet across multiple sportsbooks and taking the best price. It sounds obvious. Most bettors don’t do it. And it’s the single easiest way to go from losing money to making money.
Why Lines Differ Across Books
Sportsbooks don’t all agree on the same number. Each book sets its own odds based on its own models, its own customer base, and the action it’s received. A typical NFL spread might look like this across four books:
| Sportsbook | Chiefs -3 | Bills +3 |
|---|---|---|
| DraftKings | -110 | -110 |
| FanDuel | -108 | -112 |
| BetMGM | -115 | -105 |
| Caesars | -110 | -110 |
If you like Bills +3, BetMGM is offering -105 while FanDuel is charging -112. That’s a significant difference. At -105, your break-even win rate is 51.2%. At -112, it’s 52.8%. Over hundreds of bets, that 1.6% gap is the difference between profit and loss.
The Math Behind Line Shopping
Let’s say you bet 500 times in a season at $100 per bet. You win 52% of your bets (which is solid).
At -110 (no line shopping):
260 wins × $90.91 = $23,636
240 losses × $100 = $24,000
Net: -$364 (losing season)
At -105 (line shopping for best price):
260 wins × $95.24 = $24,762
240 losses × $100 = $24,000
Net: +$762 (profitable season)
Same picks. Same win rate. The only difference is getting the best number every time. That alone swung a $364 loss into a $762 profit.
Where the Biggest Gaps Live
Not all markets have the same level of price disagreement. Here’s where line shopping matters most:
Player Props
This is where the biggest edges live. Sportsbooks have very different projections for individual player performance, and they price props independently. We regularly see 10-20 cent differences on player props across books.
A Jalen Brunson points prop might be O22.5 -115 at DraftKings and O22.5 -102 at FanDuel. That’s a massive gap on the exact same bet.
Alternate Spreads and Totals
Alternate lines (like -7.5 instead of the standard -3.5) are priced with wider margins and less precision. The disagreements between books are often larger here.
Early Lines
When a line first opens, books are less certain and margins are wider. As the market matures and sharp money comes in, lines tighten. Getting in early and finding the best number is where a lot of value lives.
Moneylines on Underdogs
Underdog moneylines vary significantly across books. You might see +180 at one book and +210 at another. On a $100 bet, that’s $30 more in potential profit for the exact same outcome.
How to Line Shop Efficiently
Checking 10+ sportsbooks manually before every bet is painful. Nobody actually does it that way. Here’s how to do it practically:
Use an odds comparison tool. Several apps and websites pull odds from every major sportsbook in real-time and show you where the best price is. This is dramatically faster than checking each book manually and catches edges you’d miss.
If you want to do it manually, the minimum viable approach is having accounts at 3-4 books and doing a quick comparison before each bet. DraftKings, FanDuel, and one or two others covers most of the market.
Line Shopping and +EV
Line shopping and +EV betting are deeply connected. When you calculate the fair odds for a bet, any sportsbook offering better than fair odds is a +EV opportunity. Line shopping is how you find those opportunities — you can’t know if a price is good unless you know what the alternatives are.
Here’s the framework:
Calculate the no-vig fair odds based on the market
Compare every sportsbook’s odds against that fair value
If a book’s odds exceed the fair value, it’s +EV
Take the best available price
That’s the whole system. The math does the work. You just need access to the numbers.
Common Objections
“I don’t want accounts at multiple sportsbooks”
You don’t need 15 accounts. Three to four books covers most of the market. DraftKings, FanDuel, and one or two others gives you enough price comparison to capture most of the value.
“The differences seem small”
They compound. A 2-3% improvement on every bet over hundreds of bets per season is thousands of dollars. The best bettors in the world obsess over getting an extra penny of value on every line. It adds up.
“I already have a book I like”
Having a favorite book is fine. Just check the price at two others before placing the bet. If your book is 5 cents worse, take it elsewhere. Loyalty to a sportsbook costs you money. They wouldn’t be loyal to you.
Key Takeaways
Line shopping means comparing odds across books and taking the best price
The exact same picks can go from losing to profitable just by getting better numbers
Player props and alternate lines have the biggest price gaps
Odds comparison tools automate this by comparing lines across all major sportsbooks in real-time
Even a 2-3% improvement per bet compounds into significant profit over a season
