Sports betting and sports often go hand in hand. Football fans always tend to be up-to-date. Following is a guide on how to bet on football and the NFL, as well as a reminder to be moderate.
Understanding Odds – It is Essential to Betting
There are three typical ways that odds are displayed, depending on where you are located in the world. In Europe, decimal odds are used, but in the UK, they prefer fractional odds. In the US, moneyline odds are preferred. All of that is subject to change, depending on the bookmaker, of course. Some bookmakers display odds in all three types.
Moneyline odds are displayed with a – and a + sign. The minus side is reserved for the team favorite to win and the plus for the underdogs. You can bet on either of the teams, but the – bet will pay less if you win than the plus, as is expected.
Fractional odds are often used in the UK and displayed as a 5/1 or a 5-1. The numbers are easy to understand, for every 1$ you bet, you would get five times more in case your team won. In this case, you would win 6 dollars. The same goes if the odds are the other way around. The higher the odds, the less of a chance that team has to win.
Decimal odds are displayed in decimals, for example, 1.5 for one team and 4.3 for another. Like with fractional odds, you simply multiply your bet with the odds and you get your coveted prize. The larger the number, the more dangerous the bet. Those closer to a 1 are always the favorites.
Types of Bets – Not Everything is In the Odds
Once you know the odds, you know how betting works, in general. In football, not every bet is the same and some can be more suitable if you want to simply win some money, while others are great if you want to take a risk on winning a lot of money. Here are some common football bets.
The Point Spread is the bet you will find most frequently among popular football bets. The better team gets a – while a supposedly worse team gets a +. There are, of course, some numbers, for example, -3 as opposed to +3. The favorite team would have to win by over three points while the underdog would need to either win or lose by no more than 3 points. This way, one would get their money refunded. If the points are exceeded for the winning team, you would get paid. The standard betting scheme is -110, meaning you would need to bet 11 dollars to win 10 or 110 to win 100, as is customary.
The Over/Under Bet is a simpler bet where one bets how many points will be scored in a match. If you bet that a match will have over 60 points and it does, you would win. You can also bet that a match will have under 20 points. The odds for these are standard in the US, between 1.90 and 1.95, which can help you calculate your potential prize.
The Moneyline Bet is a simple bet where you predict the winner of a head to head. There are no points to be scored here, unless you make another bet. Depending on the odds, you can win more or less.
These are some of the most common bets for football as well as the most common ways of displaying odds. Remember to bet responsibly.
