A 10-cent line, also known as a dime line, is a betting line where the line difference between the two possible outcomes is only ten cents.
When the two outcomes are each given the exact same chance of occurring, such as in most types of spread betting, a dime line would occur when both outcomes have odds of -105. For unequal outcomes, such as in most money line bets, it applies to lines where the two outcomes are within 10 cents of each other.
10-Cent Line Example
Here is an example of a 10-cent line from BetOnline.ag:
As you can see the difference between the New York Rangers (odds of -102) and Philadelphia Flyers (odds of -108) is only ten. You would have to risk $1.02 on the Rangers to win a dollar, and $1.08 on the Flyers to win a dollar. The 2 cents over event money you have to wager on the Rangers plus the 8 cents over even money you have to wager on the Flyers is ten cents.
10-Cent Lines for Sportsbooks
Another way to look at the 10-cent line is in terms of how much juice is taken by the sportsbook. 10-cent lines are typically only offered by sportsbooks that offer reduced juice.
10-Cent vs 20-Cent Lines
20-cent lines are much more standard than 10-cent lines in the sports betting industry. 10-cent lines are generally very player friendly odds and can be difficult to find.
Here is an example of the 20-cent line for an NBA game from BetOnline.ag (BOL offers reduced juice 10-cent lines on NHL):
As you can see there is a 20 cent difference between the two sides of the best for BOL’s NBA betting lines. A bet on the NBA earns 5 cents less per dollar, and you must risk an extra 5 cents to win a dollar betting on the NBA at BetOnline (compared to NHL). The difference between the -110 and -110 (or +121 and -141) is twenty cents.
At BetOnline they offer 10-cent lines on a variety of sports (NHL, MLB, etc), but the majority of online bookies will stick to 20-cent lines. For this reason, if you find a sportsbook with 10-cent lines I’d suggest signing up.