Sports Odds

Retrieve live betting odds and compare moneyline, spreads, and totals across sportsbooks for NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and other sports using The Odds API.

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