Best Way To Bet On Football Games
Football is the granddaddy of them all when it comes to wagering on sports, and with a week in between the bulk of the action every week, there is never any shortage of ways you can bet on it. Below is a look at the most common types of wagers placed in football.
Using an online sports betting site is far and away the best way to bet on football, or any sport for that matter. It’s the most convenient and accessible option, and there are several other advantages too.
Point Spreads – Unlike most sports on which money lines are the most popular way to bet, point spread bets are king in football. Both sides are generally set at -110 (Bet $110 to win $100), and bettors can bet the favorite while surrendering points (such as -4.0) or the underdog while receiving points (such as +4.0). If a bettor bets the favorite, the favorite must win by more than the amount of points it is giving up; if on the underdog, the underdog must either win outright or lose by less than the amount of points it is receiving. Point spreads in pro football usually range from +1.0/-1.0 to +14.0/-14.0, while college football point spreads can go high into the 30’s.
- Bet With Your Head, Not Your Heart. It may sound obvious, but avoiding emotion when wagering.
- The three most common football bets someone can make on an NFL game are on the point spread, moneyline or total. Let’s break down each of these betting types and how to understand the associated.
Over/Unders – Over/Under wagers in football is also very popular, where sportsbooks set a points total and bettors can bet on whether the combined score of both teams will go over or under the bookmakers’ set total. Totals in pro football usually range from about 35.0 in games expected to be low-scoring to 50.0 in games expected to be high-scoring. College football’s low range is about the same, but two offensive-minded teams can see totals high into the 70’s. 35 is a key number due to the fact that it amounts to five touchdowns scored.
Money Lines – While point spread betting is more popular, money lines (or simply wagering on a team to win outright) is still available. Money lines are most popular among underdog bettors and in games with small spreads. Bettors that feel that their underdog has a good chance of winning outright may opt to give up the points in exchange for a better payout on an outright win. In games with spreads of 3.0 or less, underdog bettors often feel that since they aren’t receiving many points, they are better off taking the better payout; favorite bettors on the other hand are sometimes willing to pay a little extra juice to bet their team on the money line to avoid being burned by a close win that fails to cover the spread.
Parlays – A football parlay is a wager in which two or more football sides are chosen, and all must win for the wager to pay out. Football parlays are extremely popular; some bettors like to parlay low-scoring teams with the under or high-scoring teams with the over (semi-correlated parlays) to try to make a bit more money on their sides. Other bettors like to bet big 10 or 12-team parlays, betting a small amount for potentially massive winnings if one of these “lottery ticket” bets happens to hit.
Propositions or “Props” – Proposition bets are also extremely popular as bettors can bet on various team and player statistics as well as specific game events. Common prop bets in football include which team will score first, which player will score first, whether a team’s first possession will be a touchdown, field goal, or turnover, and many more. Bettors can also wager the Over/Under on statistics such as a quarterback’s total yards or passing attempts, or a running back’s total yards or carries. With so many sportsbooks carrying so many proposition bets, if you can think of it, you can probably bet it.
Football Betting Systems – Some bettors like to take the guesswork out of where and when to place wagers, and opt to develop or follow football betting systems. Football betting systems look for specific statistics or game factors (unique to each betting system) that meet a certain criteria, and if that criteria is met, a bet is placed. For example, a bettor may decide that he wants to bet on every team coming off of a double-digit win every time they are at home against a road team with a losing record the following week. Each week, the bettor will look for situations like this, and if they are found will bet on them. Obviously enough, the success of betting systems varies depending on the system followed.
Teasers and Pleasers – Another common way to bet this sport is football teasers and pleasers. These are parlay bets that use alternative point spreads. In a teaser the point spread moves in your favor resulting in a lesser payout, in a pleaser the point spread moves in the bookmakers favor resulting in a higher payout.
A wager type similar to teasers, but also helpful in line shopping, is purchasing half points. You can learn about these on our page the contains our NFL Half Point Calculator.
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Author: Jim Griffin
Betting on football is a lot about learning all the finer points of the game and staying constantly updated about the happenings in the football world. You must always do some basic due diligence, no matter how effective your betting tips provider (for instance, SBAT etc.) may be. You should also be very sure about the type of bets you’d like to place, in order to maximize your returns. Let’s take you through the different ways in which you can bet on football games.
Two-way moneyline bets
Also referred to as a ‘draw, no bet,’ in this type of football bet, you back a certain team to win the game. The winner is decided based on the score line after 90 minutes of the game, excluding any overtime, golden goals or penalty shootout. You get a pay out if the team you had bet on wins the game, else you lose the bet.
Three-way moneyline bets
These bets are exactly the same as two-way moneyline bets, except for the fact that there’s an additional option of betting on the possibility of a draw. As expected, the offered odds on these bets are usually lower compared to two-way moneylines.
Totals bets
Betting on totals is about guessing the average number of goals scored by each team in a football game. You’d normally find these bets offered as ‘under 1.5,’ ‘over 1.5’ or under/over some other figure. It means that you’re placing a bet on the possibility that the average number of goals scored by each team would be under or over 1.5. To give you an example, let’s say you place a totals bet on under 2.5. Now, if both the teams score 3 goals each, the total number of goals scored in the game would be 6. Hence, the average number of goals scored per team would be 6/2 = 3. Hence, you’d lose the bet as the total would not be under 2.5, but over 2.5.
Goal lines
Best Way To Bet On Football Games Online
Placing bets on goal lines implies betting on the difference in the number of goals scored by the two teams. Just as in case of totals, these bets are also offered in the form of under/over, normally ‘over 0.5,’ ‘under 0.5.’ or under/over some other value. To give you an example, if you place an ‘over 1.5’ bet on a football match, it would mean that you are certain that the winning team will win by a margin of at least 2 goals. Please note, it’s always advisable to keep the under or over values relatively low in these bets, as the bets become riskier with higher goal lines. This type of betting is also referred to as betting on point spreads.
Split bets
In these bets, you bet on a certain variation of goal lines bets, mostly involving under/over two close numbers. To give you an example, you may place a split bet of over 2 / 2.5. It would mean that half of your money would be bet on the possibility of the goal difference being more than 2 goals, and the remaining half would be bet on the goal difference being more than 2.5 goals.
