Interested in betting on the NFL? Learn all about how you can do so and the various types of wagers that you place with a range of betting sites, including offshore sportsbooks, below.
How To Bet On The NFL
Have you ever wanted to bet on the NFL? You’ve come to the right place. Here you’ll find how to use the best football betting strategy and make winning picks in NFL games. Many people are interested in going to NFL games but don’t have much experience when it comes to making a bet. To help you get the most out of your experience and help you learn how to bet on the NFL, here are some tips that will help you get ready for the game and give you an advantage when betting on any sport.
NFL Betting Basics
Betting on the NFL can be a fun way to make the season just a bit more exciting and maybe even lucrative. However, if you don’t have a firm grasp of the basics of betting on football games, it can also cause a lot of stress.
There are many betting options available that are easy to learn and implement. If you’ve ever been to a sports betting site, you know that there are many different options for betting. If you’re looking to place a wager on the NFL, understanding your options is a great way to get started.
To begin, it’s essential to understand the basic idea behind betting and NFL odds: to win your bet, the outcome of the game or event you bet on must happen. So if you bet that the Packers will beat the 49ers, they will have to win their game for your wager to payout.
What Kind Of Bets Can I Place?
A moneyline is one of the most common types of bets. It’s a very straightforward wager to pick the team you think will win their match. The odds will be represented by a positive or negative number next to each team.
If you’re a sports fan, there are plenty of ways to have fun while betting on your favorite team or player. But if you’re new to the world of wagering, it can be hard to know where to start. Here are some of the basic terms and concepts you’ll need to understand to make NFL betting work for you:
Sportsbook
To place bets, you’ll need to find a real money sportsbook that accepts NFL bets. That’s a place where people bet on all kinds of sports—from horse racing and darts to basketball and football. These can either be online or at land-based venues.
Spread
The spread is the expected margin of victory for one team over another. For example, if Team A has a -7 spread against Team B, Team A is expected to win by 7 points (or more). If you put money on Team A with that spread, they need to win by 7 points or more for you to win your bet. On the other hand, if Team B has a +7 spread against Team A, that means they’re expected to lose by less than 7 points. In that case, if you bet on Team B, they need to lose by less than 7 points.
There’s a lot to understand about betting on NFL games. Follow these steps to get started:
1. Understand that you can place many different bets on an NFL game.
2. Choose the type of bet you want to make.
3. Learn how the odds and wagers work for the type of bet you choose.
4. Find a bookie or a website that lets you place your bet, depending on regulations in your state.
Point Spreads Bets
Point spreads are the number of points you can “win” by or “lose” by. For example, if the Patriots were playing the 49ers and it was a point spread of two points, that means that if you bet on the Patriots and they won by two points or more, you would win your bet. If it were a -2 point spread, you would have to lose by one point or less for your bet to win.
The sportsbook sets a line based on how much money has been placed on each team: the favored and an underdog. It’s easy to tell who’s favored and who isn’t. You need to look at which team has a positive (+) next to its name and a negative (-) next to its name. A positive number indicates the team is favored to win by that many points, while a negative number indicates that the team is predicted to lose by that many points.
Moneyline Bets
A moneyline bet is when you make a bet on who will win a game straight up. The team’s odds are represented by the amount you can win per $100 that you bet. If you want to bet on the Kansas City Chiefs against the New England Patriots, and the odds for KC are -150, that means that you need to bet $150 to win $100. If the odds for New England are +250, then if you bet $100, you will win $250. It is essentially buying or selling points depending on which side of the spread you believe in.
Total Bets
Total bets are among the most popular to make. They are also known as over/under bets, which means you’re betting on whether the total points scored will be more or less than a certain number.
For example, if you’re betting on a game where the over/under is 43 points, and the final score is 20-22, you lose if you bet over because the total points scored was 42. Or let’s say it’s 42-12; that’s 54 points, so anyone who bet on “over” would win. All total bets payout even money at -110 odds unless otherwise specified by your sportsbook.
So here’s how it works: First, find a game you want to place a total bet on. At your sportsbook, look for a line that says something like “O/U 43.” That means the over/under is set at 43 points. Then pick whether you think the total number of points will be more than or less than that number.
NFL Wagers
NFL wagers involve many betting options, from the basic straight bet to more complicated wagers like parlays and teasers.
Parlay Wagers
Parlay wagers are among the most common and simplest forms of NFL betting. This type of bet is a combination of multiple bets with individual odds. The odds for each game are multiplied together to make up the overall odds for the parlay. The amount you stand to win is calculated by multiplying your bet by the overall odds.
There is a lot that can be won with parlays or, as they are also known, accumulators. But the risk is increased with every new bet added to the overall wager.
Teaser Wagers
A teaser wager is a combination of two or more specific wagers/bets in one. Teasers are a type of parlay bet in NFL betting. To win, all bets included in the parlay must win. The odds of winning are considerably lower than straight bets since you have to get it right on several different outcomes.
There are two types of teasers: regular and super teasers. Let’s look at some examples, assuming +110 odds for each game.
A regular six point teaser wager for three teams will pay out about +180 (1.8) odds if all three predictions are correct. A typical teaser would consist of three or four teams, but you can also find two team teasers with some sportsbooks.
A super teaser is a variation on the standard form of a teaser, which allows you to move the line even more – typically six to ten points – in your favor to increase your chances of winning, though at much lower odds, usually no higher than +130 (1.3).
Prop Wagers
Prop wagers are bets on things that happen during the game and are unrelated to the final result. They might have something to do with a player’s performance or a team’s performance. Prop bets can include:
- Who will score first?
- Who’ll get more sacks, the home team or away team?
Football is one of the most popular sports for prop wagers and many gamblers like to make their picks on these bets.
Futures Wagers In NFL
Futures wagers are bets placed on events that will take place in the future and not just at the end of a game. This means that you can bet on a team winning the Super Bowl, even if it’s months before the NFL’s showpiece occasion. These bets tend to offer some of the best payouts, with each team being assigned odds. These don’t change until after each week of NFL games.
As a result, if you think a team can win the Super Bowl, it’s crucial to place your bet early on in the season or risk missing out on great odds. Bettors can also place futures wagers on things such as whether or not a team will win their division and how many games they’ll win overall.
For example, during the preseason, you might see odds for teams to win their division, for quarterbacks to throw for X amount of yards, or for running backs to score X amount of touchdowns. At the end of each week, these numbers get updated based on what happened in recent games – who won and lost, how many yards and players accumulated touchdowns.
As you can imagine, this opens up a world of opportunities for betting on results over time that may not even happen in one single game. One of the most popular futures bet is which team will win the Super Bowl. At any point during the regular season or playoffs, you can place a bet on which team you think will win it all. This is called a “moneyline” wager because there are no points in picking a winner – pick the right team, and you’ll make money!
Season Win Totals Wagers
A sportsbook sets a total number of games it believes each team will win. Bettors then choose whether to bet that a team will win more or fewer games than the total. If a team wins the same number of games as the wager, it is considered a push, and all money is refunded.
Season win total wagers are NFL bets that you make on how many regular-season games a team will win. It’s also known as a season wins bet or a season wins over/under bet. Unlike with moneyline bets, where you have to pick the correct winner, you have to be close to the correct number of wins for your bet to pay off.
For example, let’s say the New York Jets are listed as having an over/under win total of six wins in the 2018-2019 NFL season. If you take the under, you will win if they had five or fewer wins during that season. You’d lose if they won six games or more during the season. If you took the over on that same bet, then you’d win if the Jets won seven or more games during the season.
Halftime & Quarter Wagers
Halftime and quarter wagers are a subset of the props bets available for the NFL. Props bets are wagers that are not directly tied to the game’s outcome and are instead designed to be a bit more fun.
These are bets on what will happen in a particular half or quarter of an NFL game. The most common halftime wager is which team will be ahead at halftime, but you can make many other types of bets.
The available wagers vary, so you should check with your sportsbook to see what options they offer. Here are some examples of the kinds of halftime and quarters wagers you can make:
- Halftime: Who will lead at halftime?
- Halftime: How many field goals will be kicked in the first half?
- Third Quarter: Will there be an interception in the third quarter?
- Fourth Quarter: What will be the total points scored in the fourth quarter?
Conclusion
When betting on the NFL, the critical thing to remember is that not all teams are created equal. Not every team has the same kind of talent playing for them. This is why it’s essential to formulate a strategy and work the odds when learning how to bet on the NFL.
Betting on NFL is exciting and it can also be a very profitable hobby. Like any other business venture, you have to be careful and do your research. Choose a few trustworthy sites, establish a budget, and stick to it. You should also make sure that you’re planning long term and not thinking of a “quick buck” to become successful at betting.