Football Betting Odds Meaning

1. Football Betting Odds Explained
2. College Football Betting Odds Predictions

In short - if you see a 'minus' symbol before a set of odds, this means that the team (or person in an individual sport) is a favourite to win. Sometimes referred to as ‘totals’ betting, over/under odds are a bet on the total combined score in a game. It doesn’t matter who wins or loses. Instead, the bet depends on whether the combined amount is over or under a predetermined number set by the bookmaker.

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.

Football betting explained, how football odds work

Football bettors world-wide have a good understanding of how the football odds work, but for those of you who are absolutely new to this area of gambling, we have done our best to explain football betting to you in the simplest way possible. Before we begin, note that this is a brief and a basic guide to football betting and the works of the odds. If you are past the beginner stage, you should skip this guide as it will not teach you anything new - visit our betting tips section for intermediate and expert advice. But if your are a newbie in the sports betting, read on to learn about the football odds and how betting on football works.

Ok, if you are a beginner bettor, you have two big questions ahead of yourself - how the whole football betting thing works and how the odds, spread, totals etc. work. We will answer theses questions below in the simplest way possible; don't worry, examples will be included.

Let's begin with football betting explained. Football betting is basically risking money on one or more football games with the purpose of guessing the correct outcome of the football game or games. You place a wager with a sportsbook on a football game and if your prediction is correct - you win money relative to the odds on the correct outcome, and if you are wrong - you lose your wager. In this way football betting is not much different than betting on any other sport. The difference comes when we look at the odds:

How football odds work - this is where the complicated part of football betting comes. When wagering on a football game, you will have three basic choices - line, point spread and total, all three commonly referred to as 'odds'. Let's look at all three types of football odds with an example. Here are the odds on the Indianapolis Colts vs. Green Bay Packers football game at the online sportsbook Bookmaker:

If this is your first time looking at football odds, the numbers probably mean nothing to you, so let's break them down. In the first column are the football teams competing, in this case the Colts and the Packers. The second column shows the point spread on the game, the third column is the total and in the forth column are the betting lines. We now know what the odds arrangement means, but still have no idea what the terminology stands for. So let's go ahead and explain each of the football betting odds we just mentioned.

The point spread (column 2) - the football point spread is the most popular form of odds on football. In its simplicity, the point spread is a points handicap for the team with the plus '+' sign. In the above example, the plus sign is for the Green Bay Packers and the value is '1', which means that the odds makers are giving the Packers one point advantage, i.e. the game starts from the result 'Indianapolis 0 - Green Bay 1' and then you ad the points scored in the game. The number '-110' behind the spread is the payout on that bet. If you bet the spread on the Colts and they win the game by more than one point (i.e. final score-1), your wager will pay out on -110. Here is the best place to explain what that -110 means. In betting, using American odds, the payout takes the form '-' or '+' and then a number, in this case -110. If the sign in front of the number is minus, the number shows you how much you have to risk in order to win $100. In the above case, if you bet on the Colts covering the spread (i.e. the Colts win by more than 1 point) you have to bet $110 to win $100. If the sign in front of the number was '+', the number shows you how much you will win if you bet $100. For example, if the payout on the odds was +190, this means that for every $100 you bet, you will win $190.

Football Betting Odds Explained

The total (column 3) - the total in football betting is the combined score of the game, i.e. the Colts points combined with the Packers points = total points. The odds makers employed by the sportsbooks evaluate past performance (betting trends) and current team conditions and choose a number that best reflects the possible total outcome of the football game. In the example above, the odds makers have decided that the most likely total of the scores by the Packers and Colts will be 47 points and you have to decide whether the final score total will be OVER 47 points or UNDER 47 points (Over is marked with 'o' and Under is marked with 'u'). Either way you chose, if you are correct you will win $100 for every $110 wagered (-110). If the final score total of the football game is exactly 47 points the bet is called 'no action', meaning you neither win nor lose, similar to 'push' in blackjack or a draw.

The betting line (column 4) - the betting line is he easiest to play, you simply have to guess which football team will win the game. In the above example, the betting line on the Colts is -120 - means you will have to bet $120 to win $100 if Indianapolis wins the game outright and the betting line on the Packers is 'EV', which stands for 'EVEN', or you will get even money if the Packers win the game ($100 for every $100 bet). Using the betting lines in football is the easiest way to call a team 'favorite' or 'underdog' - if the odds on a football team have the minus '-' sign in front, this means that the team is favorite to win the game (you have to bet more to win less than what you bet), if the football team has a plus '+' sign in front of its odds, the team is underdog (you will get even money or win more than your bet).

And here you have it - the football betting explained and how the football odds work. Note, this is just the basic explanation of football betting, read the rest of our free guides to learn the tips and tricks of betting on football.

See Also:

College Football Betting Odds Predictions

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