Sport Lines And Odds

COLLEGE FOOTBALL POINT SPREADS EXPLAINED:

• Nfl Lines And Odds
• Betting Lines And Odds
• Nfl Betting Lines And Odds
• Sport Betting Lines And Odds Vegas
• Sport Odds And Lines

While the NFL is the most wagered upon sport in North America, college football is the most exciting brand of football you can watch on TV. The passion these kids play with is second to none and the century old rivalries amongst some of college's elite programs makes that one game a season sometime mean so much more than a national title. Since Michigan is generally out of the CFP discussion by November, there game against Ohio State is the be all and end all of their season. Michigan wants to beat Ohio State so badly, that some of the fan base would be considered there season a success if that's the only marquee win on the schedule.

The money line betting odds correlate to the listed point spread. In this example, Alabama are the favorites and you must wager $450 dollars to turn a profit of $100. If you are a homer or love. Here at OddsShark, we take sports odds seriously and have devoted our entire site to gathering them, explaining them and educating people on what is a “good line” and a “bad line.” And we try to make sense of the odds, illustrating with graphs and charts what is sometimes not so apparent on a screen full of flashing numbers. Get all your NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and college scores and odds in one place. Covers is your source for Sports Betting information.

• Without 162 game season per team and 30 teams, MLB is the ultimate sports action for sports gaming. The best MLB betting sites include Betway and Spin palace sports. It is no secret that many people crush bet on MLB, as it has most of the experts. Soccer Odds, British Open Championship and Premier League Betting Lines Betting is also done in.
• Sports Predictors. Predictem.com Check this site out for tons of free sports picks against the point spread and betting advice from their team of prognosticators! OddsShark.com Betting odds and total lines aren't the only thing they have. Get predicted outcomes on every game on the board - ALL FREE!

Nfl Lines And Odds

If you don't know some of the history of college football, I suggest looking into it. If you are like everyone else who reads this piece and want to understand how to bet on the basic college football options, you can keep reading. If you are a little more seasoned, you can skip down to the advanced wagering options by clicking here. If you want to know how to lay a few bets down on the futures market, I suggest you click here.

Betting on the Money Line in College Football

As a concept, this is the simplest wager you can make on any game in any sport. The money line betting option allows you to place a bet on the team you think is simply going to win the game. In college, this bet includes overtime. Unlike the NFL, college football games cannot end in a tie due to their overtime format.

Example:

Alabama Crimson Tide: -450 ML
Kentucky: Wildcats +300 ML

The money line betting odds correlate to the listed point spread. In this example, Alabama are the favorites and you must wager $450 dollars to turn a profit of $100. If you are a homer or love betting on the underdog, the Wildcats will return you $300 for every $100 you wager on them if they pull off the upset.

Betting on the Point Spread

Regardless of if I am talking about the NFL, CFL, NCAA, Arena League or upcoming XFL, the point spread is the most popular wagering option for bettors who love to test football betting skills. The point spread is an indication of which team is the favorite and underdog heading into their matchup.

A negative betting line such as -7.5 indicates that the favorite team is expected to not only win the game outright, but win by eight or more points. On the flip side, positive betting lines such as +7.5 indicate a team's underdog status. Not only is the underdog expected to lose, but they are expected to lose by at least eight points.

When looking over betting options for the college football, you will come across lines that look like the following:

Alabama Crimson Tide -7.5 (-110)
Kentucky Wildcats: +7.5 (-110)

Depending on which side you select, your team must 'cover the spread' in order for your wager to be graded a winner.

If you choose to take Kentucky +7.5, you will be a winner if either of these two scenarios play out. The first being Kentucky wins the game outright by any score. The second being Kentucky loses by seven or fewer points, thus 'covering' the +7.5-spread.

If you decided to wager on Alabama as -7.5-point favorites, they must win by eight or more points in order for wager to be graded as a winner.

One thing to keep in mind when betting on the point spread is that the point spread moves up or down depending on how much action a certain side is receiving. If you are able to lock in your bet at -7.5 and the line goes down to -5.5, your ticket would only be a winner if your team won by eight or more points. If they won six or seven, they would have beat the closing spread of -5.5, but your odds are locked in from the time your ticket is printed or you click place bet.

Betting Game Totals

Despite being classified as the same sport, NFL and college football totals are apples and oranges. In college, it's easy to spot the teams that play absolutely zero defense. The scores from their games are typically in the 70's/80's on a consistent basis. In the NFL, there were only a handful of games that games that reached those totals. College football is more receptive to the spread offense, which is why sportsbooks have no choice but to inflate totals to try and cover their own butts.

Let's look at an example of a game total:

Texas Tech Red Raiders/Oklahoma Sooners – 'Over' 78.5 -110, 'Under' 78.5 -110

If you bet the 'over' 78.5, there must be a total of 79 points or more scored in the game in order for you to be a winner. If there are 78 or fewer points scored, then those who bet on the 'under' will cash their tickets.

If totals are whole numbers such as 78 or 80 and the total happens to land exactly on the number, your bet, regardless whether it's an 'over' or 'under' bet, will be graded as a push and your money will be returned to you.

Advanced College Football Wagering Options

Advanced wagering options in college football are nearly identical to those of the NFL. The only thing you will not find in a sportsbook in relation to college football is the 'First Touchdown Scorer or Anytime Touchdown Scorer' market. Below are some of the more popular wagering options.

Team totals

This works almost exactly like the game total, but revolves around one team instead of both. With the 'team total' wagering option, you are essentially betting on whether you think Team X will score more or less than the line given out by the sportsbooks.

Example:

Texas Tech Team Total: 'Over' 35.5 -110, 'Under' 35.5 -110.

In this case you have two options. You can bet them to score 36 or more points or 35 or fewer. The decision is ultimately up to you. This bet also includes overtime, unless otherwise stated in the betting rules provided by your sportsbook of choice.

First Half Spread

The 'first half spread' betting option is a trickier form of betting the full-game point spread. This option takes into account the score at half time in order to determine a winner. The first half spread is usually half of what the full game spread is.

Example:

Alabama -3.5 1H
Kentucky +3.5 1H

Depending on what side you are on, the score going into half time is what is used to determine a winner. If the score is 31-21 in favor of Alabama, bettors holding an Alabama -3.5 1H ticket are winners since they were able to cover the -3.5- first-half spread.

Betting Lines And Odds

As I mentioned above, the first half point spread is typically half of what the full game line is.

Player Props

There are only a handful of sportsbooks that offer up player props in college football, but they are nowhere near as extensive as the NFL player props. Typically, there will be props offered on one or two superstars per team and the lines will typically be inflated depending on who is playing.

Examples:

Jalen Hurts: 'Over' 18.5 completions -110, 'Under' 18.5 completions -110
Nick Chubb: 'Over' 74.5 rushing yards -110, 'Under' 74.5 rushing yards -110
Calvin Ridley: 'Over' 4.5 receptions -110, 'Under' 4.5 receptions -110

For each of these three player prop options, each player must go 'over' or 'under' the posted line. If you think Hurts will complete at least 19 passes, you would take the 'over'. If you think Ridley will be held to four or fewer catches, you would bet the 'under'.

A futures bet is a wager placed in the time leading up to the start of the event on a team or player that you believe is going to win their respective competition. Heading into the 2018/19 College Football season, the CFP futures odds look like this:

2019 College Football Champions: Alabama +200, Clemson +700, Georgia +700, Ohio State +700, Michigan +1400, Penn State +1600, Oklahoma +2500, Wisconsin +2500, Florida State +2800, etc.

In order for you to successfully cash your ticket, you must correctly choose the team that will hoist the CFP trophy at the conclusion of next year's College Football Playoffs.

Team Win Totals

This is another popular type of futures bet amongst pro handicappers. The concept is straight forward. Every sportsbook will put out a 'win total' for every team long before the season begins. Handicappers must simply decide whether they believe that team will exceed the posted win total or fall short of it.

Example:

Alabama Crimson Tide Win Total: 'Over' 11.5 wins -110, 'Under' 11.5 wins -110

If Alabama wins at least 12 games, the 'over' would cash. If they win 11 or fewer, the 'under' would cash.

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Types of betting odds

Sports betting is slated to be introduced to multiple new markets every calendar year moving forward. That naturally means hordes of new bettors will constantly enter the marketplace for the foreseeable future. As such, an overview of the most common types of wagers is in order:

Moneylines, run lines and puck lines

Although bets based on point spreads may be more of a “mainstream” wager, moneylines (in football and basketball), run lines (baseball) and puck lines (hockey) are likely much more straightforward for a novice better to grasp and one of the most popular super bowl bets.

A wager of this type is simply a good, old-fashioned bet on which team will prevail in a sporting event. Typically, when one places a moneyline wager on the team favored to win the game, it will “cost” the bettor more than when placing another type of wager.

Favorites have a three-digit number with a “minus” sign preceding it in moneyline bets. This number quantifies how much the bettor would have to wager on that team in a moneyline bet in order to win $100. The minus sign is indicative of the fact that when placing money on a favorite in a moneyline bet, the bettor will to wager an amount greater than the one that he/she will potentially win.

Conversely, underdogs have a three-digit number with a “plus’ sign preceding it in moneyline bets. This number quantifies how much the bettor will win if they wager $100 on that team in a moneyline bet. The plus sign is indicative of the fact that when placing money on an underdog in a moneyline bet, the bettor will potentially win an amount greater than the one he/she puts in.

Incidentally, $100 is the figure because it is a round figure that helps to better illustrate how a moneyline wager works. Moneyline wagers are actually accepted in all types of amounts.

To more specifically illustrate how a moneyline wager would work, let’s utilize an NFL example.

In a Cowboys-Giants game where Dallas is listed as the favorite, the moneyline might be listed as such:

• Cowboys -150: This means that a bettor who wishes to wager on the Cowboys to win the game outright will have to bet $150 to win $100. Therefore, if the Cowboys win the game, the bettor receives his/her original $150 back, plus $100, for a total of $250.
• Giants +180: This means that a bettor who wishes to wager on the Giants to win the game outright will win $180 if he/she wagers $100. Therefore, if the Giants win the game, the bettor receives his/her original $100 back, plus $180, for a total of $280.

Point spreads

Point spreads are one of the most popular forms of sports wagers, and they might be the most commonly known to a sports betting novice. The point spread is essentially defined as a projected margin of victory or defeat for the two teams in a given matchup.

• For example, if the Cowboys and Giants are squaring off and the point spread is Cowboys -3, that means Dallas is expected to win by at least three points. Those betting the Cowboys and “giving up” those points are banking on Dallas to outscore the Giants by at least that much in that game.
• Conversely, those who bet the opposite sides – the Giants +3 – are banking that even if the Giants lose, it will be by less than three points.
• If the Cowboys win the game but only do so by exactly three points, then the line is considered a “push”. Bettors who wagered either side of the game get their bets refunded.

Payouts on point spread bets depend on the odds assigned to either side of the wager. A favorite may nevertheless have better payout odds than an underdog, depending on the size of the spread. To utilize another NFL example, say the Rams are listed as 14-point (-14) favorites over the 49ers. Despite the fact Los Angeles is clearly expected to win the game, the odds of a two-touchdown or greater win in football are worse than one by a lesser margin.

Therefore, your payout if you bet the Rams to win by 14 or greater might be -105 (must bet $105 to win $100). Alternatively, your payout if you take the 49ers to cover – i.e. lose by less than 14 points – might be slightly worse at -115 (must bet $115 to win $100)

Point spreads are set by oddsmakers with the idea of getting wagers to come in on both teams as evenly as possible. Sportsbooks naturally want to avoid being “overexposed” to one side of a wager as much as possible. This helps prevent some potentially sizable losses for the casinos.

Totals (over/unders)

Totals, or “over/under” bets, are another fairly simple concept to grasp, even for the inexperienced bettor. In a totals wager, the bettor is simply putting money down on whether or not the cumulative point/run total of the two teams in a game will be more or less than the total set by the sportsbook.

Totals bets are usually set with odds of -110, meaning the bettor must wager $110 to make $100 (utilizing the “100” figure as the example once again).

A totals bet for a Yankees-Red Sox game might be listed as follows:

• 9.0 runs (-110): The sportsbook has set the projected total number of runs to be scored between the two teams at nine. Bettors who wager that the two teams combined will score either more or less than that total will need to wager $110 to win $100.

As with the point spread example provided above, there is also the possibility of a “push” when it comes totals bets. In our Yankees-Red Sox example, this would occur if the cumulative run total is exactly nine. Bettors would receive refunds on their original bets in such an instance.

Parlays

Parlay bets are wagers that involve at least two games. There are various forms of parlay bets based on the different bet types already discussed above. In other words, bettors can place point spread parlay wagers, moneyline parlay wagers and totals parlay wagers.

For a parlay to lead to a payout, there cannot be a losing bet within it. “Pushes” won’t disqualify a parlay wager from cashing, however. Parlays also survive eventualities such as a rainout in baseball or a game that ends in a tie. However, the payout in those cases is calculated factoring out that game, meaning that it will be less than if all of the “legs” of the parlay would have been valid.

Odds for a parlay vary from sportsbook to sportsbook. Once a parlay bet is placed, however, the odds and lines are locked in. That’s the case irrespective of any other changes the point spread, projected totals or moneyline involving any of the teams within the parlay undergo after the parlay wager has been made.

The more teams wagered on in a parlay, the better the payout. As with all other wagers, the more difficult the bet appears to be, the larger the reward if it hits.

Teasers

Teaser bets are a form of parlay wager that excludes moneyline bets. In a teaser, the bettor can manipulate a point spread or total within a certain predetermined range in order to improve their odds of winning the bet. Naturally, a teaser will pay out less than a conventional parlay because of the greater probability of the bettor coming out on the winning side.

The one requisite with a teaser bet is that the movement of the line or total must be applied to each team in that parlay. However, it can be applied in different “directions”.

An example of an NBA teaser on a two-team parlay that incorporates the above would be the following:

• In a Heat-Nets matchup where Miami is favored by 3.5 points, the bettor moves the line an additional four points up to 7.5 points and bets on the underdog Nets to lose by less than that amount.
• In a Warriors-Pelicans game where Golden State is favored by 7.5 points, the bettor likewise moves the line four points, except in the other direction. Therefore, the Warriors’ projected advantage goes down to 3.5 points and the bettor then places a wager on the Warriors to cover that spread.

Nfl Betting Lines And Odds

Futures bets

Sport Betting Lines And Odds Vegas

A futures bet is any bet made for an event which has an outcome that will occur in the future. Most future bets involve odds for a team to win a championship or division, but there are other futures wagers available for various sports. In golf, for example, a bettor can wager on a golfer finishing in the Top 10, Top 20, or Top 30 of a future tournament.

Sport Odds And Lines

Futures odds are set by an oddsmaker based on the potential outcomes.