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Online Football Betting

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Football is, without a doubt Americas favorite sport. Both the National Football League and College Football (NCAA) have huge followings, and with so many televised games it's watched everywhere. The scheduling of the games makes them perfect for TV with NCAA games in the main, taking place on Saturdays and NFL games spread over a Sunday, with a Monday night game and just lately more games on Thursday's. You will not be surprised to hear then, that football is also the most popular sport as far as wagering in the US is concerned. Online sportsbooks that serve the US market are focused on the NFL season, and with just a 16 week regular season it's a betting bonanza for many sports fans. Here we give you a basic online football betting guide to get you going and maybe add a new dimension to your enjoyment of watching the games. After all and as the saying goes....It means more when there's money on it! We'll take a look at the types of bets available in most online sportsbooks, money management basics and how to use stats. After reading this you won't be an overnight expert but you will have a solid knowledge of the basics and a good head start.

Online Football Bet Types

Wagering on NFL games as you will see is more than just about picking a winner, however that does of course come into the equation. The main bet types and the most commonly placed bets you will see available when using an online sportsbook are Moneylines, Point Spreads, Over/Under (totals) and Parlays. Below is a description of each type of bet with a simple example. It must be stressed that these are the basic bet types to get you going and as you learn more you can start thinking about bets that take a little more time to get to grips with.

  • The Points Spread - We'll take a look at this first as it's the most wagered on bet type and to win on NFL games you are going to need to know how this bet works. On every game there will be a points spread and it will be presented something like this....New York Giants -3.5 New York Jets +3.5. The visiting team is always listed first and so with this example the Jets have home field advantage. The team with the negative number, in this example The Giants, are the favorite and according to the spread of -3.5 then they would have to win by 4 points should you have wagered on them. Should you think that the Jets will win and place your bet on them, then as they have a +3.5 they can lose the game by 3 points but the +.5 would give you the win. Most sportsbooks will offer a line of just under evens at somewhere around -110 meaning that to win $100 you would need to wager on $110. Those are the basics of a points spread wager, and as you can see it's not rocket science but you will need to know how they work.
  • The Moneyline - Betting on the moneyline is betting on the team who will win the game outright with no points spread included. An example would be Denver Broncos -200 Miami Dolphins +150. Again the team listed first is the visiting team. The two main things to take note of here are that firstly there is no spread and secondly the odds are very different to the -110 you would see on point spread bets. The team with the - figure is the favorite and in this example that would be Denver. If you wager on Denver to win then it doesn't matter how many they win by, they just have to win, however the odds are different and therefore the payout. In this example you would have to wager $200 on Denver to win $100 as they are the big favorites. Should you like the look of the Dolphins, then a $100 wager would pay $150 on top of your $100. With no spread involved it is a good bet however the odds are always lower on the favorites, but there is some value to be found in picking out an underdog or two.
  • The Over/Under- The Over/Under bet is a very simple and fun bet to place. It's also known as the total as it means that you are wagering on whether or not the total points scored in the game will be over a certain number that is set by the sportsbook. An example of an Over/Under line would be Detroit Lions O/U Green Bay Packers 42.5. You have two options here, that the score at the end of the game will be either over or under the total of 42.5 points. Very easy and as mentioned, it's a lot of fun.
  • Parlays- Parlays are attractive bets because of the large payouts that can be won and there are many types of parlays. They are simple to make however a little more difficult to win. Betting a parlay means that you are betting on more than one team, anything from 2 teams to all 16 NFL games in the weekend schedule. Parlays can be made using either the spread, moneyline or over/under bets, or even a combination of all of them. To win a parlay you will need everyone of your choices to win, for example if you have a 3 team parlay and 2 teams win and 1 loses then the parlay is a loser. Many gamblers enjoy parlays as the accumulative odds can pay big and recreational players enjoy them as they offer big wins from small bets.

Money Management and Stats

First thing is, it's your money and it's up to you what to do with it, but there's nothing like a few tips right? Many NFL bettors choose to deposit a larger amount at the start of the season and use that for the whole season. This is the best form of money management as you have already decided the amount you wish to risk and if you can stick to your guns and not make another deposit then that's fine. It's also very common to make a smaller deposit at the start of the season and see how you get on and this is recommended for gamblers who are starting out. The first few weeks of the season should be used as your testing ground with very small wagers, even just the minimum the book will allow. This helps you get to know the books wagering platform and see how you actually like it. Larger gamblers will mostly start off small in week 1 up through around week 4 as this helps them build up a little statistical knowledge of the current season as opposed to using last years stats. If and when you feel the time is right to up your bets then that is your call and yous alone, just don't go in blind and only wager higher amounts for the right reasons. Remember that Pre-Season games can be a guide but you can only garner so much info from the games and it's not until you hit week 1 that you should really be paying attention to the stats, and therefore start to consider your wagering amounts. The main thing is however that you need to be getting more than just money out of it. Gambling on NFL should be seen as entertainment and it does get you involved in the games is so much more exciting to watch a game when you have a little riding on it.