Some teams are notorious for coming out strong and dominating in the first quarter of games, but then struggle to maintain that level of intensity as the clock ticks on. It can happen in any sport and is often a situation that rookies find themselves in when they don’t pace themselves. If you know a team that trends in that direction, you should strongly consider quarter lines bets as a betting option. Your instinct could pay off at the betting window—we’ll explain why and how.
What Are Quarter Lines Bets?
While traditional gamelines are for the entire game, quarter lines are tied to a specific quarter only. The same straight bets used for standard gamelines are also available for quarter lines, so you can bet on a team to cover the spread, win the quarter straight up, or go over or under a posted total.
How Do Quarter Lines Work?
Most of the quarter lines posted in our sportsbook are for the first quarter, which will be marked “1Q.” However, on our live sports betting page, you’ll have opportunities to bet on all four quarters in real time. When you bet on the first quarter, you have three options: spread, moneyline (Win) and total.
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Spread
When you go for the spread, you’re betting that a favored team will be ahead by a minimum point range at the end of the quarter. Alternatively, you can bet on an underdog to be behind by a maximum point range. We’ll use a 2.5-point spread as an example.
1Q. Spread
Team A +2.5 (-105)
Team B -2.5 (-125)
In the above example, Team B is the favorite as indicated by the negative odds; they’d need to be ahead of Team A by a minimum of three points at the end of the first quarter to pay out. Alternatively, betting on the underdog (Team A) would pay if they are behind by no more than two points—or winning.
Moneyline (Win)
The moneyline bet (also known as the win) is as simple as sports bets get: pick a team, and if they are leading at the end of the quarter, you win. We’ll look at how much you’d win using an example.
1Q. Win
Team A -225
Team B +145
American odds are the default here, but you can switch to decimal and fractional if you prefer. As the favorite, Team A would pay $100 for every $225 bet (or $10 for every $22.50). Since Team B is the underdog on this quarter line, a $100 bet would yield a $145 payout.
Totals
Betting on totals has you consider the volume of scoring to take place in a quarter. A point total is posted and invites the public to bet on the total number of points scored in the quarter to go over or under the total.
1Q. Total
Team A O 7.5 (-105)
Team B U 7.5 (-125)
The teams are irrelevant on this particular quarter line; what you want to focus on is the O and U, which represent Over and Under. In the example above, Over would pay $100 on a $105 bet if the total points scored in the first quarter is eight or above. Meanwhile, Under would pay $100 on a $125 bet if the total points scored in the first quarter is seven or fewer.
