Betting the spread, betting the moneyline, over/under, these terms might seem like an alien language, but they are key terms when thinking about betting on the NFL. NFL betting is extremely popular, sometimes it’s more popular than the actual game itself. In 2019, 38 million Americans betted on the NFL, so if you are new to betting, you don’t have to be an expert, you just have to know how to bet.
If you are new to betting on sports, it is important to know that you can bet as low as $10, you don’t need to bet high amounts of money. What you need to do most of all, is become familiar with the type of betting options you have. In NFL betting, placing a bet can be as simple as betting on a winner or as complex as betting the over/under, which means if the two teams will score a total amount of points.
NFL betting is a part of the sporting culture and we want to make things easier for first-time sports bettors. So, we have developed a small guide of key terms and types of bets to help you get started in the world of NFL betting.
NFL Spread Betting
The Point Spread is a figure, a number, created by specialists to determine which team has an advantage or disadvantage in a given game. The team who is chosen as the favorite will be at a disadvantage in the point spread because said team would have to win by a certain number of points, while the team that is considered the underdog or at a disadvantage is given an advantage to not lose the game by a certain number of points or win the game directly.
Example of an NFL Point Spread:
New York Giants -7
New York Jets +7
This means that the Giants are favored to beat the Jets by 7 or more points. The sportsbook will assign a “-110” odds for the spread, as a way to match up and even the playing field for the bettor. The bettor will have to then choose if the Giants will win by more than seven points or if the Jets will win or lose the game within seven points. So if you bet on the Giants and they win the game by less than 7 points say 32- 28, then the Jets, who lost by only 4 points covered the point spread and you lose your bet. It’s all based on numbers, in this case, it’s all about covering the spread which is predetermined.
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Over/Under in NFL Betting
Over/Under or Totals is the total combined score of both teams. The total is set by the oddsmaker based on how many points they determine there might be in a particular game. The bet is placed when you determine if the game in question will be over or under a determined combine score.
Example.
The Green Bay Packers (Road) vs Dallas Cowboys (Home) - Total 44pts.
Given what the oddsmaker has predetermined you have to select if the game will end with a combined score of OVER 44pts or UNDER 44pts. If the game finishes Packers 7 and Cowboys 14 and you bet UNDER, then you will win your bet because the game finished under 44pts, in this case 21 pts total.
Moneyline Betting in NFL
This is the simplest form of betting on an NFL game, it is the amount of money you will win if you just pick a winner. This bet is referred to as an outright bet or straight-up bet. In this case, the sportsbook lays out that the game between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys the odds are as follows:
Giants - 160, Cowboys +150. This means if you bet $100 and the Giants win you get back your 100 plus 60 for a total of 160 since you bet on the favorite. If you bet on the underdog, in this case, the Cowboys you will get your 100 plus 150 for a total of $250.
The odds are determined by the team’s form, away and home records, place in the standings, among other components. Basically, the favorite team pays less than the team who would have more difficulty winning which pays out more.
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NFL Betting Futures
Future bets are bets placed on an event that will occur in the future. For example, who will win the Superbowl, you bet at the start of the season that the New England Patriots will win the Super Bowl. Usually, for futures, the odds are displayed well before the start of the season with the more powerful teams paying out less than the lesser teams who pay out more. This is where the term, “X team is a 100/1 underdog to win the Super Bowl” comes from. League MVP, Most touchdowns in one game, How many yards X player will run are all futures that can be established before or during the NFL season.
Different ways to bet on NFL Games
This is the basic overview of NFL betting. We will have more complex betting in our next article where we will examine parlays, Live betting, Quater and Half-time lines.
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