How Do Nfl Betting Lines Work
The NFL is the most popular league in America. And while watching the games are fun enough, one way to get more out of games is having a personal investment in the outcome. That is where betting comes in. Wagering on a game adds excitement and intrigue — while increasing the emotional interest because of the money involved. It is similar to fantasy football, except with the rooting interest being in the outcome, not players’ stats.
NFL betting: Ways to bet
Access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list of sports betting odds and lines.
By finding betting lines that reward outcomes with 3 and 7 point margins of victory you can increase your chances of winning. The primary range of key numbers to pay attention to in NFL odds are:-2.5 to -3.5 and -6.5 to -7.5 for favorites +2.5 to +3.5 and +6.5 to +7.5 for underdogs. How to Read Sports Betting Lines. Sports betting lines on FanDuel Sportsbook are presented. Let’s say Carolina’s starters look good during the first preseason game, and bettors flock to the Panthers (-4.5). The bookmakers’ first response may just be to adjust the odds to -120 for Carolina with even money for San Francisco (meaning bettors have to wager $120 to win $100 when betting Carolina, but only have to wager $100 to win $100 when betting San Francisco).
The favorite is posted with a minus sign and a number. That number represents the amount of cash that has to be wagered in order to win $100. The underdog, on the other hand, is listed with a plus sign in front of a number. That number shows how much a bettor wins when they bet $100. How to Understand American Odds. If you're new to sports betting, the odds are usually listed in one of three ways: American; Fractional; Or Decimal; American odds work a little differently to the others. The odds for a favorite team to win the game are usually listed with a '-' sign, which indicates the amount a better would need to bet to win.
Futures betting: Wagering on an outcome beyond a single game result. The most common futures bets are Super Bowl champion, followed by conference/division champion, making the playoffs and regular-season win totals.
Single-game betting: Wagering on the outcome of a single game. It can be the straight outcome — which team wins outright. It can be against a point spread — whether a team wins or loses by a set number of points. Or it can be whether the combined point total goes Over or Under a predetermined number.Prop bets: Wagering on individual occurrences or individual player acts or performances, such as whether a player will score two touchdowns in a game or who scores the first TD of the game.Live betting: Bets made after a game starts. As the game goes on, the point spread and Over/Under total will change, as will odds of each team to win outright. If a team favored before the game falls behind early, they may become the underdog.NFL betting: Key betting terms to know
Moneyline:
This is betting for the outright winner of a game. The line is posted with a positive or negative number. A positive numbered line will profit more than the initial wager. Example: A line of +160 means that a $100 bet would profit $160. A negative number line profits less than the initial wager. Example: A line of -150 means one would have to bet $150 to profit $100 (getting $250 total — their original bet and the profit).Point spread: This is essentially a handicap for one team. A team with a negative spread number must win by more than that amount. If the line is Cardinals -3.5, they must win by 4 points or more to win the bet. A positive spread (ex: Bengals +3.5) means one can win the bet if that team loses by less than that amount. Betting the Bengals +3.5 means the bet wins if they lose by 3 points or less, or if they win outright.Over/Under: This is also referred to as the total. It is the line for the combined total points scored by the two teams. Often the lines are weighted. An Over/Under line of 45 (-120, +100) means one must bet 1.2-to-1 on the Over, while it’s an even-money bet (1-to-1) on the Under.Nfl Betting Online
Push: This is when the point spread or point total is matched exactly. If the line has a half point, this can’t happen. If the line finishes in a push, all money is refunded. If the line was Cardinals -3 and they win by exactly 3 points, the bettor gets his money back.Parlay: A combination of two or more bets in which all bets must win in order for the parlay to win; if any one bet loses the entire parlay loses. The benefit is a successful parlay pays more. Moneylines, point spreads and Over/Unders can be parlayed. Sportsbooks differ in payouts, but the average payoffs are:| PARLAY | PAYOUT |
| 2-teamer | 2.6 to 1 |
| 3-teamer | 6 to 1 |
| 4-teamer | 11 to 1 |
| 5-teamer | 22 to 1 |
| 6-teamer | 40 to 1 |
| 7-teamer | 80 to 1 |
| 8-teamer | 150 to 1 |
While they pay more than a straight bet, many consider these sucker bets. The sportsbooks make a lot of money on bettors’ losing parlay bets. Any bet that results in a push does not end the parlay; it is treated as if the game never happened. So a 4-team parlay with a push becomes a 3-team parlay and assumes 3-team odds.
NFL betting: How do odds work?
Odds are usually given in two styles. One is as a positive or negative number. The other is a ratio.
The positive and negative numbers were explained above, but what about ratios?
One might see 8/1 odds. This is the same as +800. A winning bet profits eight times the original bet. Odds with a smaller number on top (or first) are the same as a negative number. 2/5 odds mean every $5 wagered will profit $2 if the bet wins. The smaller the ratio is the more likely the expected outcome.
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Welcome to the Sports Betting Odds section of The Sports Geek. If you are new to sports betting and don’t understand how to read betting odds (+150, -110, +2200, etc) we will lay it all out for you and help you learn how the betting odds work.
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Sports Betting Odds Explained
Many people don’t know how to read or calculate sports betting odds, so below we have done our best on explaining how betting odds work. The most common type of sports betting odds used in North America are the American style odds which we explain below.
American Style Sports Betting Odds
Most online sportsbooks will list their odds in what is called “American Odds”. There are a couple different versions of sports betting odds, but these American Odds are the most common odds used. Reading and understanding sports betting odds can bet a little confusing to beginners, so we have provided an example below using two NFL football teams:
American Odds
- Matchup Odds
- New England Patriots +120
- Pittsburgh Steelers -140
The number shown in the bracket represents the odds. The American Odds have two components to them, the first being the positive or negative sign, and the second being the number that follows the sign.
The sign in front of the number indicates whether placing a wager on that outcome will pay out more money then you have wagered or less money then you have wagered. If the odd is negative (-) it means that outcome is more likely to happen and placing a bet on that outcome would payout less than the amount you wagered, while a positive (+) odd shows that the outcome is less likely to happen and it would pay out more than the amount you wagered.
How Do Nfl Betting Lines Work
The next step is figuring out exactly how much the bet pays out, which is where the numbers in the odds come into play.
A listed odd with a – sign in front of it, such as the -140 in our example above, shows us how much money you would need to wager in order to win $100. So using the -140, this would show us that you would need to bet $140 in order to win $100 in profits. You can easily substitute the $100 bet for a $10 bet by moving the decimal place over one spot, showing us that you would need to wager $14 in order to win $10 in profits.
Examples:
A listed odd with a + sign in front of it, such as the +120 in our example above, shows us how much money you would win on a $100 bet. Using the +120 odds, it shows us that a $100 bet on that outcome would pay out $120 in profits. Again this can easily be converted into smaller or larger size bets. A $10 bet on +120 odds would pay out $12 in profits.
Examples:
Below is an example of NFL betting odds taken from an online betting site.
In this example you can see Los Angeles is listed at +130 ($100 bet pays $130 plus of course your original wager back) and New England is listed at -150 ($150 bet pays $100).
The great thing about betting online is that the online sportsbooks will do the calculations for you before you place your bet. You can click on the outcome or team you would like to bet on, and then input the amount you wish to wager and it will show you your potential pay out before you confirm your bet.
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Decimal Style Sports Betting Odds
Decimal style odds are used mostly in Europe, and are pretty easy to understand. To calculate the decimal style odds all you will need to do is simply multiply the amount you wish to wager by the decimal odds shown and you will get your payout. For example it may look something like this:
If you wanted to place a $10 wager on the USA at 2.40 you would simply need to multiply your $10 wager by the 2.40 odds (10 x 2.40) to find out that the payout is $24. It is important to realize that with decimal style odds it includes the amount you wagered, so to find out profits you would need to subtract your wager ($24 – $10) to find out your potential payout is $14 in profits.
If you wanted to place a $10 wager on Brazil you would again just multiply $10 x 1.55 to find out that you would win $15.50 total or $5.50 in profits.
Decimal style betting odds are very simple to understand, but you won’t see them displayed in many North American sportsbooks. With that said, most online betting sites will allow you to chose the style of betting odds you want displayed, with American odds set as the default.