even money

American  

noun

1. the equal sum staked by each bettor.

2. equal odds in a wager.

   It's even money that the home team will win.

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even money Idioms  

1. Equal odds that something will occur, as in It's even money that he'll get the contract. The term comes from gambling, where it signifies equal odds in a bet. [Late 1800s]

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Other Word Forms

• even-money
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of even money

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

even money

For Australia-Paraguay and Austria-Algeria, the odds are close to even money.

From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026

That means even money isn’t always guaranteed to provide access.

From Salon ● May 30, 2025

It then became clear that Forbidden Kingdom, the even money favorite, was having trouble negotiating the 1-1/8-mile distance and he faded out of contention.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2022

There’s also funding for transportation research at universities, funding for Puerto Rico’s highways and even money for “congestion relief” efforts in cities.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 10, 2021

Actually, the bookies in the cigar shops in Poughkeepsie had Cal and Washington at even money, with Cornell lagging just behind at eight to five.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown