Sports Betting Odds

Get live betting odds from multiple sportsbooks using The Odds API. Free tier includes 500 requests/month.

Setup

1. Get a free API key at https://the-odds-api.com/
2. Set the environment variable: export ODDS_API_KEY=your_key_here

Available Sports

List all available sports:

curl -s "https://api.the-odds-api.com/v4/sports?apiKey=$ODDS_API_KEY" | jq '.[] | {key, title, active}'

Common sport keys:

• americanfootball_nfl - NFL
• basketball_nba - NBA
• baseball_mlb - MLB
• icehockey_nhl - NHL
• soccer_epl - English Premier League
• soccer_usa_mls - MLS

Get Odds

Get current odds for a sport (NFL example):

curl -s "https://api.the-odds-api.com/v4/sports/americanfootball_nfl/odds?apiKey=$ODDS_API_KEY&regions=us&markets=h2h,spreads,totals" | jq '.'

Compact odds view:

curl -s "https://api.the-odds-api.com/v4/sports/americanfootball_nfl/odds?apiKey=$ODDS_API_KEY&regions=us&markets=h2h" | jq '.[] | {game: "\(.home_team) vs \(.away_team)", commence: .commence_time, bookmakers: [.bookmakers[] | {name: .title, odds: .markets[0].outcomes}]}'

Compare spreads across books:

curl -s "https://api.the-odds-api.com/v4/sports/basketball_nba/odds?apiKey=$ODDS_API_KEY&regions=us&markets=spreads" | jq '.[] | {matchup: "\(.away_team) @ \(.home_team)", books: [.bookmakers[] | {book: .title, spread: .markets[0].outcomes[0]}]}'

Markets

• h2h - Moneyline (head-to-head)
• spreads - Point spreads
• totals - Over/under totals

Regions

• us - US sportsbooks (DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, etc.)
• uk - UK bookmakers
• eu - European bookmakers
• au - Australian bookmakers

Best Line Finder

Find the best available line for a game:

# Get best moneyline odds
curl -s "https://api.the-odds-api.com/v4/sports/basketball_nba/odds?apiKey=$ODDS_API_KEY&regions=us&markets=h2h" | jq '
  .[] |
  {
    game: "\(.away_team) @ \(.home_team)",
    best_home: (.bookmakers | map(.markets[0].outcomes[] | select(.name == .home_team)) | max_by(.price)),
    best_away: (.bookmakers | map(.markets[0].outcomes[] | select(.name == .away_team)) | max_by(.price))
  }
'

Check API Usage

curl -s "https://api.the-odds-api.com/v4/sports?apiKey=$ODDS_API_KEY" -D - 2>&1 | grep -i "x-requests"

Headers show: x-requests-used and x-requests-remaining

Tips

• Cache responses to save API calls
• Use oddsFormat=american or oddsFormat=decimal parameter
• Free tier: 500 requests/month, paid plans available for more