Quick start guide

Your first API call in under a minute.

Real-time sports odds from 50+ sportsbooks across 26 sports. One API key, one header, normalized JSON.

Authentication

Pass your API key as the x-api-key header on every request. You can also pass it as a query parameter for quick browser testing.

Use the x-api-key HTTP header (recommended). For browser testing, ?apiKey=YOUR_KEY (or ?x-api-key=YOUR_KEY) also works. Don't put keys in production URLs.

Browser — paste this into your address bar

https://api.theoddsapi.com/me/?x-api-key=YOUR_API_KEY

cURL

curl -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  https://api.theoddsapi.com/sports/

Python

# pip install requests
import requests

API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY"
headers = {"x-api-key": API_KEY}

resp = requests.get(
    "https://api.theoddsapi.com/odds/",
    headers=headers,
    params={"sport_key": "basketball_nba"}
)

print(resp.json())

JavaScript (fetch)

const API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY";

const resp = await fetch(
  "https://api.theoddsapi.com/odds/?sport_key=basketball_nba",
  { headers: { "x-api-key": API_KEY } }
);

const data = await resp.json();
console.log(data);

Get live odds

Pull real-time odds from DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Pinnacle, Betfair, and 45 more sportsbooks in a single call.

# NBA odds — all markets, all books
curl -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.theoddsapi.com/odds/?sport_key=basketball_nba"

# EPL soccer — Business tier adds Pinnacle + UK/EU books
curl -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.theoddsapi.com/odds/?sport_key=soccer_epl"

# MLB run lines (spreads) only
curl -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.theoddsapi.com/odds/?sport_key=baseball_mlb&markets=spreads"

# Champions League totals (over/under)
curl -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.theoddsapi.com/odds/?sport_key=soccer_uefa_champs_league&markets=totals"

Prices default to American. Pass oddsFormat=decimal to receive decimal odds (1.909, 2.45). Currently applies to /odds/ only; other endpoints serve American.

The odds feed is live — it returns upcoming and in-play games, and finished games roll off. Poll before the first start to capture a full card, or scope a specific day with commenceTimeFrom / commenceTimeTo (ISO 8601 UTC — they filter on each game's start_time). For games that have already concluded, use /historical/odds (Business tier).

# Today's full MLB slate, regardless of when you poll
curl -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.theoddsapi.com/odds/?sport_key=baseball_mlb&commenceTimeFrom=2026-05-27T00:00:00Z&commenceTimeTo=2026-05-28T00:00:00Z"

Response shape (live feed):

{
  "success": true,
  "source": "cache",
  "data": [
    {
      "event_id": "a1b2c3d4",
      "sport": "basketball",
      "league": "NBA",
      "home_team": "Los Angeles Lakers",
      "away_team": "Boston Celtics",
      "start_time": "2026-05-27T23:40:00Z",
      "books": [
        {
          "book": "draftkings",
          "market": "h2h",
          "updated_at": "2026-05-27T22:10:01Z",
          "outcomes": [
            { "name": "Los Angeles Lakers", "price": -110 },
            { "name": "Boston Celtics", "price": -110 }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Try it live in Swagger — click Authorize, paste your key, hit Try It. No terminal needed.

Using an AI assistant to write your integration? Paste our copy-paste spec for Claude / ChatGPT so it uses the right base URL, auth, and field names.

26 sports available

Hit /sports/ to see what's available on your tier.

sport_key is the specific league, not the general sport — e.g. basketball_nba, not basketball. Full list at GET /sports/.

Endpoints

Markets

Query parameters

Rate limits

Rate limit headers on every response: X-RateLimit-Remaining, X-RateLimit-Reset

50+ sportsbooks

Pro tier — US sportsbooks: DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars, BetRivers, Fanatics, Bovada, and more.

Business tier adds international books: Pinnacle (sharp anchor), Betfair Exchange, William Hill, Marathonbet, Paddy Power, Sky Bet, Ladbrokes, Unibet, Coolbet, Matchbook, plus AU coverage (Sportsbet, TAB, Ladbrokes AU, PointsBet AU) on AFL/NRL/EPL/cricket/tennis. Coverage varies by sport.

Troubleshooting