Football
When the NFL season comes around, the sports books find themselves busier than any season. Sports bettors love the National Football League. Collegiate football is also a popular sport to wager on, as well. Football can be a difficult sport to wager on due to the injury rate – bettors never know who will get hurt early in the game, and affect the entire outcome.
Wager Types
Football betting is just like a lot of the other sports, where there is an odds line, and there is also a money line available. The odds line places one team as a favorite and another as an underdog. The favorite is listed (-6.5) and the favorite is listed (+6.5). What this example shows us, is one team is predicted to win the game by 6.5 points. With odds line betting, a bettor is to wager on whether they feel the team can “cover the spread” or not. For example, if a bettor places $100 on the Bears (-3.5), and the Lions win the game outright, that bet would be wrong. If the bettor placed the wager on the Lions (+3.5), they would win. The Lions could have even lost the game by 3 points, and the bet still would have won. Detroit would have “covered the spread”. Most, odds lines bets are given -110 juice, which means if you wagered $110 and won, you would win an additional $100.
With money line betting, it is a bit easier. With this, a wager is made on strictly who will win the game. No points added or subtracted, just simply the winner of the game. This is where “juice” is taken into account more. A money line could look something like this: Bears (-325), Lions (+400). How this works, is, since the Bears are the favorite in this game, you would not win even money for them winning the game. If you wagered the Bears to win the game, and they did win, you would have to place $325 down to win $100. The Lions are where you would win some big time money. The same example, if you placed $100 on the Lions to win, and they did, you win $400. This is why many bettors wager on the underdog.
Totals are also very big when betting on football. For each game a total number of points will be listed for each game. For example, in the Detroit/Chicago line there would be a number, let’s take 45.5 for example listed with an o/u nearby. Bettors are able to select whether they feel the total amount of points, between the two teams will be more or less than 45.5. This is just like odds line betting, where you most likely will receive -110 juice.
NFL Football Betting Advice
Follow the teams! Know the league! Know each team’s strengths and their weaknesses. Know which teams are at home, and which teams are on the road. Home teams win more often than road teams, but what about “covering the spread”. Definitely know the injury report. Find the best odds listed on the Internet. Just because the line is 6.5 at one place, does not mean it is all over. You may be able to find the same game at 7.5 somewhere, which is a huge difference (many games are separated by 7 points). Stay away from impulse betting. The best thing about football is, teams have typically a week to prepare, you the bettor, also has a week to prepare. Just because the line comes out Monday for a Sunday game, does NOT mean you have to wager on it then. Some lines you may love, and jump on early, but be careful, many things could happen during a week.