17-03-2021

Football Spread Betting

Easily the most popular type of betting for NFL football is “spread” betting or more commonly known as betting against the spread. Bettors who are new to NFL betting or betting in general may be a little confused with NFL spread betting, but it is pretty easy to understand once it is explained to you. We will explain what betting against the spread means below.

What is Betting Against The Spread?

For each NFL game the oddsmakers set a number of points in which the favored team is favored by. Bettors can then either choose for the favored team to win by more than the number of points set, or bet on the underdogs to lose by less than the number of points they are underdogs by or win the game straight up. For example, the spread could be set on the favored team at 6.5 points. This would mean in order for a bet on the favored team on the spread to win they would need to win by more than 6.5 points (7 or more) in order to win the bet. It also means that a bet on the underdog team would win if the underdogs lost by less than 6.5 points (6 or less) or won the game outright.

  1. Get the Best NFL Odds. Locking in the best odds is the key to maximizing your potential profits sports betting. Sports Betting Dime makes it easy to find the best NFL lines and odds quickly – whether you’re looking for this week’s NFL lines or futures odds for Super Bowl, playoffs, and player awards.
  2. Point spread betting is the most popular form of sports betting. The vast majority of sports wagers use a point spread thanks to the popularity of football and basketball. Even though this type of betting is so popular, it may take awhile to understand. The point spread is sometimes known as an equalizer for sportsbook operators.
  3. CFB Playoff Championship: Alabama, Ohio State football betting line As of Monday afternoon, the Alabama Crimson Tide are an 8.5-point favorite against Ohio State, according to BetMGM.

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Example of NFL Spread Bet

Below is an example of what NFL spread betting would look like:

Matchup

  • TeamsSpread
  • Dallas Cowboys -2.5
  • New York Giants +2-5

The negative (-) sign indicates that the Cowboys are the favorites, while the positive (+) sign indicates that the New York Giants are the underdogs. With the spread set at 2.5 points, a bet on the Cowboys would mean that they would have to win by more than 2.5 points (3 or more) in order for you to win that bet. A bet on New York would mean that the Giants would have to either lose by 2.5 or less points (2 or less) or win the game outright in order for your bet to win.

Here is another example with a screenshot taken from 5Dimes.eu during Week 3 of the 2013 NFL season:

Nfl Point Spread Betting Explained

Here you can see that the Rams are +3.5, while the Cowboys are -3.5. So for this example the Cowboys are 3.5 point favorites, while the Rams are underdogs of 3.5 points. If you were to bet on St Louis you would need them to lose by 3 or fewer points or just win the game outright. If you were to bet on Dallas you would need the Cowboys to win by 4 or more points.

If the Cowboys were to win by 3 points, lets say 30-27, any bets on the Rams +3.5 would win. Even though the Rams didn’t win the game they covered the spread of 3.5 points.

Now if the Cowboys were to win by 4 points, lets say 31-27, the Cowboys have covered the spread and anyone who wagered on Dallas would win their bets.

Other NFL Spread Betting Information

You may often notice that the spread is sometimes set at an even number such as 3, 6 , 10, etc. In this case if the favored team won by the exact amount set for the spread the bet would be pushed, and all bets would be returned. For example, if the Patriots were 3 point favorites and they won by a FG (3 points) than this would results in a push, meaning no matter which side you bet on you would get your money returned to you.

The most common NFL spreads are usually set between about 2.5-10.5 points, but you will also almost always have games each week with spreads lower than 2.5 and higher than 10.5. In the event that the oddsmakers feel the game doesn’t need a spread, it would be set at 0 or what some call a pick’em (both teams are given even odds to win for this type of bet).

The odds given on the spread are usually -110 unless otherwise noted. It is not uncommon to see one side of the spread being -105, with the other side being -115. If you don’t see any odds listed for each side of NFL spreads you are supposed to assume the odds are -110 on each. Not sure how to read NFL betting odds? Check out our Sports Betting Odds guide.

Now that you know the basics of NFL spread betting you’ll want to check out our Sports Betting Strategy guide which has some great NFL strategy articles written by a professional bettor.

Betting spreads explained© Provided by Fansided

College Football betting picks against the spread December 31

We only have three games on New Year's Eve this year and both of the scheduled night games were COVIDed. We can still make some money to close out 2020. Let's check out how!

For those of you that are new to this, I pick every college football game every week. Not a top five. Not a top ten. All of them. Big deal, right? Lots of people make picks. Well, I do them all against the spread! I take the odds of each game and average them out at all the Vegas casinos and round to the nearest half. There will be no ties here. Ties are for the other football.

I also assign a point value based on the confidence I have in each pick. 1 means that I have little to no confidence. 5 is one I would place a decent wager on. I keep track of my record and my points back from year to year.

As we all well know, this is not an exact science. Due to the volatile nature of betting in general, this is for entertainment purposes only! I cannot be responsible for the loss of money, possessions, spouses, or limbs because of my picks. I can't have that on my conscious.

Without further delay, let's get to the next couple of bowl days!

Football Spread Betting Explained

(24)Tulsa(-1.5) vs. Mississippi State at Fort Worth(2): This one makes me nervous. You can throw out most of the stats pertaining to the Bulldogs. They are a far different team than they were, say, six weeks ago. K.J. Costello is benched. Kylin Hill opted out. The defense is better. However, but the Bulldogs have really struggled against tough defenses this year. That's Tulsa. Give me the Dust Devils.

Football Spread Betting Tips

Ball State vs. (22)San Jose State(-9.5) at Tucson, AZ(2): I want to put more on this, but every time I bet against Ball State, they burn me. The Cardinals are a solid team and their passing offense is plenty good enough to keep this interesting. I think the Spartans win, but I'll say they don't cover.

Betting Spreads Explained

West Virginia(-6.5) vs. Army at Memphis(4): I don't buy this. The Big 12(10) has had a good bowl season so far, but this is a hiccup. Army straight up. They have been getting disrespected by Vegas all year.

Soccer Spread Betting Explained

Stay tuned throughout the bowl season for every college football game picked against the spread! I usually have my picks up about 24 hours before kickoff in order to get the most accurate spread possible. If I change one, I will post it on Twitter.