Bet on Proposition

NFL Football Betting
Football Wager Types
Football is the most popularly wagered upon sport in the U.S., by a wide margin, for a couple of reasons. The games themselves are entertaining, and the wagering on games is easy to understand and readily available. Many proposition bets can be made on any number of games, but the most popular football bets concern the simplest outcomes; the winners of the game and the number of points scored.
A "point spread" or "line" is attached to just about every pro football and major college football game. Basically, the point spread is a number that represents a combination of two things; the oddsmaker's opinion as to which team will win a particular game and by how much, and the oddsmaker's opinion as to which team the betting public thinks will win the game, and by how much.
For example: In a game pitting the Bears against the Packers, Chicago is listed as a seven-point favorite, ( -7). So for a bet on the Bears to be a winner, Chicago must win the game by more than seven points. If the Bears win by less than seven points, or if they lose outright, the wager is a loser.
On the other side, a bet on the Packers is a winner if Green Bay wins outright or if they lose by less than seven points. If the Packers lose by more than seven points, the bet is a loser.
A Chicago win by exactly seven points results in a push, or no wager. And points scored in overtimes count toward the final result of point spread bets.
The other basic bet on an individual football game is the "total," or "over/under." The total is a number, usually between about 32 and 50 in NFL games, that represents the oddsmaker's opinion as to how many points will be scored by both teams together in a particular game. Bettors then have the option of betting that the total number of points scored in a game will go over the posted total for that game, or stay under.
For example, if the total in the aforementioned Chicago-Green Bay matchup is 35, bettors can wager that the two teams will combine to score fewer than 35 points, or more than 35 points. Points scored in overtimes count toward the game's total.
Another football bet is the "money line" wager. This is a bet in which the bettor just has to pick the winner of the game, without a point spread. But, of course, it's not that simple.
A money line involves a number that is based on 100. That number, usually anywhere from 110 to 1000, generally defines the oddsmaker's opinion of which team will win a particular game. It works like this: Our sample game lists Chicago as a -200 favorite. That means in a money line bet on Chicago, the bettor must put up $200 to win $100. If the Bears win, the bettor collects $100. But if Chicago loses, the bettor loses $200.
Conversely, a winning $100 bet on Green Bay will net the bettor $180, while a Packer loss only results in the loss of the $100 wagered. If the same amount is wagered on both the favorite and the underdog, and the favorite wins, the bookmaker makes nothing. But if the underdog wins, the bookmaker collects $200 from the favorite bettor and pays out $180 to the underdog bettor. The difference between the $200 collected and the $180 paid out is known as the "grease," "juice," or "vigorish," which is the profit made by the sportsbook.
The percentage of juice involved in a particular game increases as the odds on the favorite go up. With a favorite of -300, a $100 bet on the underdog, and a win, nets the bettor around $250. A game with a favorite of -500 and a winning $100 bet on the underdog is probably worth around $400. And so on.
When it comes to money lines on football games, a few specifics should be noted. Many sportsbooks don't put out money lines on games with very small point spreads. After all, a game that is a pick 'em, or close to it, is really just a money line bet anyway.
And many games with very large point spreads, common in college football, also won't have money lines attached to them. A seven-point spread equates to a money line of about -200. A 14-point spread might have a money line of around -600. But most sportsbooks do not put out money lines on games that have point spreads of -15 points or so or more.
Point spread and totals can be found at many sportsbooks not just on the final scores of individual games, but on the quarters and halves, too.
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