MLS Odds

2024 MLS Betting Odds

The composition of the MLS season offers punters a host of different ways to stake their cash, and our recommended bookmakers offer the best MLS betting odds around. Let’s take a look at the way the season is structured and how you can interact with the MLS betting odds page. 

2024 MLS Format

The MLS regular season begins in late February and ends in October. It’s an unbalanced league with 29 teams in total: 26 from the US and the remaining three from Canada. The division is split into eastern and western conferences, with each team playing a total of 34 league games in a season. Teams must play every side in their conference home and away, and then one game against four or five teams from the other conference. Since 2020, MLS clubs have not played against every team in the league over the course of a season.  

The regular season takes pause in July and August to accommodate the MLS All-Star Game and the Leagues Cup, introduced in 2019. The Leagues Cup is an annual knock-out competition that takes place between all sides from the MLS and Mexico’s Liga MX. The other major cup competition is the US Open Cup, which now involves 100 professional teams and runs throughout the course of the season.  

The final months of the season head towards the postseason playoffs, where the nine highest-placed teams from both conferences qualify. Three single-leg knockout rounds precede the Conference Finals, with the winners of those matches going on to play the MLS Cup Final in early December. 

Outright Odds

Our odds tracker places FC Cincinnati, Los Angeles FC, Inter Miami, Philadelphia Union and New England Revolution as the five favourites to lift the MLS Cup in December. Cincinnati comfortably lead the way in the eastern conference with only a handful of games to play, with New England and Philadelphia their closest rivals. Inter Miami are way down in 14th, but having added a trio of former Barcelona superstars to their ranks – including the game’s greatest ever player, Lionel Messi – nobody is writing them off at the moment. LAFC currently sit third in the western conference behind St Louis and Seattle. 

Best Players

Leo Messi would probably still make it into most football fans’ current World XI, so it’s no surprise to see us crowning him as the best player in the MLS. He’s made a suitably impressive start to his time at Inter Miami, winning the Leagues Cup and contributing 11 goals and eight assists in ten games as Miami look to turn their season around. His former Barca teammates Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba have also shone since their summer arrivals. 

Away from Miami, some of the other top players in the MLS are Atlanta United’s Thiago Almada, Austin FC’s Sebastian Driussi, LAFC’s Carlos Vela, and former Napoli and Italy forward Lorenzo Insigne, now at Toronto FC. 

MLS Fixtures

We have comprehensive coverage of the latest results, upcoming fixtures, and league standings across the MLS. You can use our Bet Calculator to explore betting markets and find the best MLS betting odds.

Popular MLS Betting Markets

Just as there are plenty of different football betting markets, so too is the MLS full of interesting betting opportunities. Here are some of the most popular:

• Match Winner — Football betting at its simplest: pick the winner of any given match.
• Correct Score — If you want to improve the odds and potential returns, picking the correct score at the full-time whistle takes things further than just the match winner. 
• Goalscorer Markets — Goalscorer markets allow punters to predict the first goalscorer in the match, the next goalscorer, or an anytime goalscorer.
• Total Goals Over/Under — In this market, bookmakers will present punters with a total number of goals, asking them to wager on whether the concluding total will be over or under this figure. This market can also be applied to other stats like cards and corners. 
• Both Teams to Score — Fancy both teams to score at some point in the match? Have your say here. 
• Match Result and Both Teams to Score — For longer MLS betting odds you can combine these two markets together. 
• Winning Margin — This market is less accurate than the match result, inviting punters to predict the winning margin by a number of goals. 
• Player Cards — Houston Dynamo’s Hector Herrera has been going into the book a lot lately – will he do so again? You can wager on it here.
• Player Shots on Target — Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar will fancy his chances against the New York Red Bulls – take a punt on how many shots he’ll have on target. 
• Half Time/Full Time — Make your prediction on the result at both half-time and full-time. 
• Accumulator — Accumulator bets roll multiple selections into one bet slip, multiplying the individual odds together to generate larger returns. All of the selections must come off for the overall accumulator to win. 
• Bet Builder — The best MLS betting sites will offer bet builders, where customers can pick and choose from the markets above – and any others – to produce a truly customised bet slip. 

MLS In-Play Betting

Football lends itself particularly well to in-play betting, with punters able to make predictions and modify their bets while they watch the action unfold. It’s the best way to take advantage of the moving parts of the game – MLS betting odds will continually fluctuate across the 90 minutes. This dynamism adds an additional layer of excitement to sports betting as fans cash out, reinvest, or seek to capitalise on a pattern they’ve noticed in the game. MLS betting sites will offer mobile apps with in-play betting features; at the best sites, customers will even be able to watch MLS games live through their betting accounts.

Popular MLS Betting Competitions

The geographical size of the US gives the MLS and other American sports leagues a distinct format. As such, there are many different competitions running within an MLS season – here are the ones you need to know about:

• MLS Cup — The MLS Cup is awarded to the team that wins the playoffs at the end of the season. LA Galaxy have won the most MLS Cups in history with five; DC United are the second most successful team with four MLS Cup wins.
• MLS Playoffs — The MLS playoffs run from October (after the main season has finished) through to early December, when the MLS Cup Final takes place. There are four playoff rounds in each conference: the Wild Card round, round one, conference semi-finals, and conference finals. 
• Supporters’ Shield — The Supporters’ Shield is given to the team with the best main season record. It’s a curiosity of the league that the best team after the league season finishes won’t necessarily win the MLS. 
• Eastern Conference — 15 teams comprise the MLS eastern conference stretching from Miami to Chicago.
• Western Conference — There are 14 teams in the western conference stretching from Seattle to Houston.
• Leagues Cup — Introduced in 2019, the Leagues Cup sees all teams from the MLS and Mexico’s Liga MX compete in a group stage and knockout competition. It takes place in the middle of the MLS season in July and August, with the top three teams qualifying for the following season’s CONCACAF Champions Cup.
• All-Star Game — The annual All-Star Game is a summer fixture featuring the league’s best crop of current players. They play a one-off game against an invitational side, which in recent years has been Premier League clubs during their pre-season tours of the US. Arsenal won the latest All-Star Game 5-0 in 2023.
• MLS Top Goalscorer — The race for the golden boot is one of the best bets you can place on the MLS, stretching across the whole season.

MLS Betting Tips

We want you to make the most of our expert analysis and opinion, so here are some of our top MLS betting tips.

Analyse the Odds

Our odds comparison tables show you the best MLS betting odds on a range of different markets. Use this table to compare the odds of all the major UK sportsbooks, and note the prices highlighted in bold which represent the best price.

Research the League

We can give you all the MLS betting tips you need, but it’s still important to undertake some of your own research too. Before wagering on any MLS game, pay attention to recent form, home and away records, head-to-head records, recent stats, and any notable injuries to big players. This research alone gives punters the best chance of understanding the bets they make. 

Free Bets and Welcome Offers

With Lionel Messi now in the league, MLS betting sites are offering more free bets and other promotions than ever before. Welcome offers are also improving for new customers, so keep an eye out.

Never Bet More Than You’re Willing to Lose

Most importantly, never bet more than you’re willing to lose. If gambling is no longer an enjoyable habit, then this could be a sign that it’s time to seek help. If you’re borrowing or even stealing money to gamble, then we encourage you to get in touch with a professional problem gambling organisation. There are many in the UK that offer support, including:

• The NHS – gambling addiction is a recognised mental health illness and can therefore be treated on the NHS. Contacting your GP is a good place to start. 
• GamCare – A registered charity for problem gamblers offering a range of treatment services. 
• GAMSTOP – Now included on the homepage of every UKGC-licensed betting site, GAMSTOP is a self-exclusion tool that locks customers out of their gambling accounts for periods at a time. It also runs gambling treatment services. 
• GambleAware.org – A comprehensive resource for anyone suffering from the harms of problem gambling. 

Frequently Asked Questions