How to Read NFL Odds

Betting on the NFL is extremely popular for NFL fans and sports bettors as it adds more excitement to each game and can be lucrative as well. Knowing how to properly read NFL odds or lines can however seem like an overwhelming task but this tutorial on how to read NFL odds will help you become a pro at it!

Point spreads (also known as lines, spreads or sides) is the most common type of NFL wager. Every game has a favorite and an underdog of a certain amount of points. This number is determined by an oddsmaker.

A negative number (-) will always represent the favorite, while the positive (+) number shows which team is the underdog. Let’s look at a Point Spread example:

• Chicago Bears +6.5
• Denver Broncos -6.5

In the example above, the Broncos are favored by 6.5 points against the Chicago Bears, who are 6.5-point underdogs.

If you were to bet on the spread for the Broncos, they would need to win the game by 7 points or more. For a winning bet on the Dolphins, they would need to win the game outright or lose by 6 points or less.

Point spreads will be listed as whole numbers (-3, +4, etc.) or in half-point increments (e.g. -7.5, +10.5).

Under normal circumstances you will need to add at 10 percent “vig” or “juice” to the amount you want to win on your wager.

This increased risk is the house edge. For example, if you want to win $100 on a spread wager, you would need to wager $110. When the odds are listed as American odds, this is represented by a number after the spread (e.g. -110 ).

Totals or “over/unders” are second only to spread betting in terms of popularity. They are also one of the easiest types of wagers to understand. A linesmaker sets a number for the total points that will be scored in a game and you simply bet if you think the final score will be more (over) or less (under) than that number.

As an example the Over/Under Total for SuperBowl XLVII was 48 total points, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined.

The final score of this SuperBowl game was 34-31 with both teams adding up to 65 points, so the game went over and Over bettors won and Under bettors lost.

Betting on the moneyline can also be used or in other words the straight up winner. Your Offshore Sportsbook will have a higher amount to risk on the favorite and less to risk on the underdog.

If players are looking for a bigger pay-out on their selections they will look at Parlay Bets. This is where you take multiple bets and combine them into one bet. All your bets have to be correct to cash a winning ticket. This is harder to do and the number of bets increases the payouts for the money you add and for the harder it is the rewards are greater.

 

A teaser bet is like a parlay bet where more than one selection must be made, but the difference is a players gets to add points to its wager.

For example in a 6 point teaser of a 10 point favorite you would subtract 6 points from the 10 points making your wager a 4 point wager. You will probably win more of these than parlays but your return on your money will be quite less.

A Future bet can also be made which is a wager on an event thats is happening sometime in the future. An example is to place at the start of the NFL season on which team will win the next Superbowl.

A Sportsbook Pay per Head company will adjust their lines during the year, depending on strengths and weaknesses of teams.

A recent addition to the player's arsenal is Live Betting. The Internet gives us the chance to wager together in real time. Live wagering is exactly what it says on the box: you can bet on updated point spreads, moneylines and totals as the game progresses during a live NFL broadcast. – that’s called live betting.

Enjoy this NFL Season.