Betting on Multiple Football Games A lot of people like to bet on multiple games at once, as this can provide the potential for big payouts. It’s not something we particularly advise beginners to get. Bet on this weeks Football with Betfair. Join Betfair and bet with the best odds. We also offer Casino, Poker, Games and Bingo.

• Bet on this weeks Football with Betfair. Join Betfair and bet with the best odds. We also offer Casino, Poker, Games and Bingo.
• With ample time between games and a wealth of strategy to consider, football is an understandably popular sport for mainstream bettors. Using analytics to gain an edge in predicting how games will.

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.

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:

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.

If you want to bet on football, then you have plenty of options.
There are not only lots of games you can bet on, there are also
lots of different types of wagers you can place. Point spreads
and totals are the most popular types, by quite a distance, and
many football bettors stick solely to those. This isn’t really the
ideal approach, as some of the other wagers can be very useful
in the right circumstances.

The moneyline is definitely one of those wagers. This is often viewed as an
alternative to the point spread, and in some respects it is, but
that doesn’t mean it should be ignored just because you like betting on the spread. We explain why in this
article, and we also offer some tips for betting football moneylines.

First, though, we’ll explain exactly how moneylines work when betting on football. You can watch this video we have put together or read on for even more information down the page.

How Football Moneylines Work

Betting the moneyline for a football game is simply betting on which team you think is going to win. There is no point spread involved. Whichever team you select has to win outright for a wager to be successful. In the unlikely event of a tie, your stake will be returned.

In most football games there is a favorite and an underdog. Very occasionally there are games where the two team are completely evenly matched, but for the most part one team is favored over the other to win. With point spreads, the idea is to create an even money proposition when betting on the game. So the favorite has to win by at least a certain number of points for a wager on them to be successful, and the underdog has to lose by no more than a certain number of points for a wager on them to be successful. The bigger the gap in quality between the two teams, the bigger the point spread.

Because there’s no point spread involved with moneyline wagers, the odds are adjusted to reflect this. So whereas both sides of a point spread wager both have the same odds, or very close to the same (typically around -110), moneyline odds can be very different. Here’s an example.

For this game, the Cardinals are the clear favorites. The bookmakers consider them very likely to win the game, so the odds are quite low. By contrast, the odds for the Packers are quite high because they’re not considered very likely to win. Here’s how the potential payouts look for the two wagers.

As you can see, you stand to make a much better return when backing the Packers. This is because the risks are higher, due to their chances of winning. The Cardinals are far more likely to win than lose, so a wager on them doesn’t offer a great return.

This highlights a notable advantage of the moneyline wager. You get to control, to some extent, the risk versus reward. For example, you might be quite certain that the Cardinals are going to win this game, but not convinced that they’re going to cover the spread. So a moneyline wager is the safe option. There’s less money to be made, but less chance of losing. On the other hand, you might think that the Packers are going to cause an upset. Rather than betting on them to cover the spread, you can bet on them to win outright. There’s less chance of winning such a wager, but the potential returns are much greater.

We mentioned earlier how point spreads change depending on the gap in quality between the two teams. The same principle applies to moneylines, but it’s the odds that change. So, for example, if two teams are fairly evenly matched then the following odds might be available.

The potential payout for a bet on the underdog here is lower than in the previous match, because they have a better chance of winning. The potential payout for a bet on the favorite is higher because they’re not AS likely to win.

When to Bet Moneylines

We’re often asked a question along the lines of “why would I place moneyline wagers rather than point spread wagers?” There’s no simple answer to this question really, as point spreads and moneylines shouldn’t be viewed as “either/or” options as such. You don’t have to decide that you’re always going to bet on the spread, or that you’re always going to bet moneylines. These are two different wager types that have their own merits, and any bettor should have them both in their arsenal.

We’ve already mentioned how moneyline wagers give you more control over the risk versus reward element of betting. There are also other reasons why you might choose this type of wager over a points spread. If you fully understand how both of these wagers work, you’ll find that there are games when a moneyline wager is the right option, and games when the point spread wager is the right option. There are no definitive rules about which one you should use and when, only a general principle that you should try to follow.

This should hopefully make perfect sense to you. Successful betting, on any sport, is all about finding value, so you should always look to get the best value that you can. If a moneyline wager offers the best value on a football game, then that’s the wager you should be placing. If a point spread seems the best option, then go down that route. There may even be occasions where it’s viable to place both wagers on the same game.

With all that being said, there is one situation where we’d suggest the moneyline wager is usually a better option than a point spread wager. This is when you like three point underdogs in an NFL game. Only a small percentage of NFL games are decided by three points or less, so if you think a three point underdog is going to cover then you might as well bet on them to win outright. This will generally give you a much better return.

The Seattle versus Carolina game we showed you earlier is a good example of just that kind of situation. Here’s how the point spread looked for that game.

Seattle are three point underdogs, and a bet on them to cover is available at odds of -110. If you liked that bet, it would actually be much more logical to place a moneyline wager at odds of +130. Let’s look at the potential returns for the two bets.

This is a huge difference. The potential profit on the moneyline wager ($143) is over 40% greater than that of the point spread wager ($100). You’re a little less likely to win, as there is a chance that Seattle would lose by one or two points, but there’s a more than fair chance that if they did cover they would actually win the match. And, of course, if they lost by three or more then you’d have lost either way.

Tips for Betting Football Moneylines

Now that you know how moneylines work, and have some idea of when to use them, you can start to consider how to bet moneylines effectively. The following tips will help you with this.

Work on Your Handicapping Skills

As with any type of football wager, your best hope of making money lies in being able to handicap games effectively. This means analyzing each team’s relative chances of winning, and then comparing those chances to the odds available. That’s a slightly simplified explanation of how handicapping works, but it’s accurate nonetheless.

Actually handicapping games is far from simple though. Or, at least, handicapping them well is. There are all kinds of different factors that can affect the outcome of a game, and you need to take as many of them as possible into account. You also need to assess just how much of an impact those factors will have, and try to accurately evaluate just how likely a team is to win. For more advice on how to do this, please see the following article.

Picks Your Spots

One of the biggest mistakes that bettors make is trying to make a judgement on every single game that’s taking place. This is especially true of those who only focus on the NFL. There aren’t that many games each week, and bettors think they stand the best chance of making money if they can predict the outcomes in all of them. This is not an approach we recommend.

The key to successful betting lies in quality and not quantity. Your overall chances of winning are much greater if you pick your spots carefully, and only bet when you find real value. There isn’t a huge number of NFL games each week, but there’s enough that it’s simply not realistic to think you can handicap them all. And if you’re also betting on college games then this is even more of an issue.

Be patient, be selective, and only bet when you have justified reasons to do so.

Get the Best Odds

This tip applies to placing wager of any type, on any sport. It’s important enough for us to mention it here though. If you only bet with one bookmaker or betting site, then you’re almost certainly hindering your chances of making money. At the very least you will be missing out on getting the best possible value.

This is because different bookmakers and betting sites price up games differently. So the odds they offer are not always the same. Remember the Packers versus Cardinals game we showed earlier as an example? We used the actual odds from a real betting site for that example. The following odds were also available for the same game, from various other sites.

• Packers +252 / Cardinals -285
• Packers +260 / Cardinals -290
• Packers +240 / Cardinals -270
• Packers +245 / Cardinals -280

Ways To Bet On Football Games

As you can see, there’s not an insignificant difference in what was available. By shopping around for the best odds you can ensure that your potential payout is always as high as it can be. This is a great benefit over time, and can even be the difference between winning overall or losing overall. Such as the fine margins of betting on football.

Moneylines are a viable alternative to point spreads when betting on football. If you’re one of those bettors who only ever bets on the spread, then you could very well be missing out on some good opportunities to find better value. We don’t recommend that you stop placing point spreads and only place moneyline wagers, but you should definitely consider both when betting on a game of football. Try to decide which one offers the better value, and then go with that option.

How To Bet On Football Games

It’s also worth backing big favorites on the moneyline if you like a low risk approach. Always take the odds into consideration though. The profit from winning a lot of bets at very low odds can soon be wiped out with just a couple of losing bets.