If you have ever done sports betting online, you would have heard the term buying points. It simply means you can buy a half point if you feel it will increase your chances of winning a bet. The points that you buy can either decrease the amount of points that the team you picked has to win by, or it can increase the amount of points the team that you picked can lose by.
As you would have guessed, buying points has to do with betting on the point spread, in this case, if the odds makers set a line for a football game at -7.5, people placing bets are allowed to buy up to half a point, and if they do, the line will move from -7.5 to -7.0, so if the team you pick should win by seven points, the game ends in a push, instead of a loss if you had left the line at -7.5.
When you buy points, you also decrease the payout you will receive if you win, because the points increase the odds on your bet, but if it makes the difference that you hoped it will, then it is worth it. One of the most popular sports people buy points for, is football, according to statistics, most football game score differentials are seven points or three points, so the odds makers come out with lines of 7.5 points and 3.5 points, in an effort to make people buy points and reduce their payouts in the event that they win. Interestingly, buying points also favors the person placing the bet, because they can buy points on point spreads that aren’t comfortable with, like the 7.5 points and 3.5 points mentioned above, only this time, they take the lines as underdogs, and make larger by adding a half point to either one of them, which will take them from 7.5 and 3.5 to 8.0 and 4.0, increasing their chances of winning the bet.
For those of you that are wondering if buying points makes sense when placing bets, the honest answer is no, it doesn’t. While a lot of people like the fact that they can buy points, because it makes them feel more secure about their bet, you have to also consider the fact that if it was something that was really beneficial to bettors, would the sportsbooks allow people to do it? The obvious answer to that question is a resounding no, because odds makers are always trying to find ways to give themselves an edge.
Even though the odds makers don’t have your best interest at heart when it comes to buying points, it is actually a very decent tool to have when you are betting on a parlay, because you can buy a few points to make you comfortable, and the payout is still pretty decent, so you don’t mind that the odds went up because of the points that you bought.
Buying points also work very well when it comes to college football, because it follows the same basic principle as professional football, with the threes and sevens, so you can add an extra half point to your point spread, to increase your chances of winning the bet.
While point spreads are also used in basketball, it is hard to determine just how much of a difference it actually makes, because it is a high scoring sport. If two defensive minded teams are playing, the half point might make a difference, but more often than not, it doesn’t have the same impact that it does on football, because points are easier to come by in basketball.
Hockey and Baseball also don’t have much use for the point spread, because the point spread in most of their games, if not all of them is always at +1.5 or -1.5 goals. Now some people might be able to use the point spread to their advantage, but more often than not, the scores in both leagues end up being one point or so, so buying the points doesn’t really help you win bets. This is one of the reasons why the majority of the people who bet on both sports tend to go with the money line.
Buying points can be a very helpful tool when used right, but you always have to keep in mind that the odds makers didn’t create the option to help you out, so use the option very carefully.
