Football Betting Lines, The “Spread”
Probably the most popular choice among online bettors is the ‘spread,’ a betting line that will let you bet on the game’s favorite or underdog to win or lose a game by a pre-established amount of points. As in most lines, the favorite will be determined by a minus sign(-) while the underdog will be determined by a plus sign (+) A spread betting line on a football game may look like this: Dallas Cowboys -7 Buffalo Bills +7 This means that the sportsbook believes the Dallas Cowboys will win the game by at least 7 points. So if you take them, they would have to win the game by that many for your bet to be considered a winner. On the other side, if you take the Bills, the can lose the game by less than 7 points and you will still have a winning bet. Point spreads are usually attached to flat -110 odds, meaning no matter which side you choose, you have to risk $110 to win $100.The Money Line Wagers
Maybe you don’t want to risk giving away points and just want to bet on which team will win the game outright, if so, then the money line bet in for you. A money line may look like this: Dallas Cowboys -220 Buffalo Bills +180 As in the example above, the Cowboys are still favorites to win but, since we don’t have a point spread, they only need to win the game by one point for your wager to win. The downside? Since you are not giving away points, then you will have to risk $220 to win $100. On the other side, if you think the Buffalo Bills can win the game by at least one point, then you will only need to lay $100 to win $180.