What you Need to Know

NFL Spread Betting Easily the most popular type of betting for NFL football is “spread” betting or more commonly known as betting against the spread. Bettors who are new to NFL betting or betting in general may be a little confused with NFL spread betting, but it is pretty easy to. American football betting is explained, along with NFL sports betting strategies, tactical tips and how to bet on sports. Begin with the markets and teams that you are most familiar with. Keep in mind that bookmakers will underestimate teams at the beginning of each season.

Whilst North America's sports betting market is finally benefitting from more progressive regulatory measures, a staggering amount continues to be wagered illegally in the U.S. each and every year. According to the AGA, a total of $93 billion is wagered illegally on the National Football League (NFL) alone each and every year, with this accounting for a staggering 98% of all bets transacted.

Fortunately, punters in the UK already benefit from open and progressive betting regulations, which means that they’re free to wager on the hugely-popular NFL throughout the season. So, here’s our brief betting guide and the key things that you need to know as a punter!

Getting to Grips with NFL Rules

American football and the NFL have become increasingly popular in the UK, with Wembley Stadium and the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London scheduled to host 4 NFL games before the end of 2019.

Many Brits struggle to fully understand the rules of American Football, but the main objective during a two-team contest is simply to score more points than the opposition.

To achieve this, each side must endeavour to transition the ball into the opposition’s ‘end zone’ and score a ‘touchdown’.

This is worth six points to the attacking side, who then have an opportunity to add another point by kicking a conversion through the goalposts.

But how exactly can sides craft scoring opportunities? Like Rugby, there are different phases of attacking play, and whilst American footballers can move the ball forward, they have a total of four attempts to move the ball 10 yards.

If they fail to reach the end zone during this time, the ball is then turned over to the other team. However, if they’re able to gain at least 10 yards of territory, a new set of four attempts will begin.

Each team will line up with distinct defensive and offensive elements, with the former responsible for repelling the opposition and the latter tasked with scoring points.

The quarterback is key to a team’s attacking unit, as he must decide whether to throw the ball to a runner or make ground himself once it has been ‘snapped’ back to him. The defence will often target the quarterback from the outset, and it’s commonly referred to as the ‘sack’ in instances where he’s tackled.

An NFL game also lasts for four quarters of 15 minutes in length, whilst teams that are tied at the end of the match will enter into a period of overtime. The first team to score during this period will win the game, and overtime tends to create some enthralling passages of gameplay.

NFL Betting and Wagers Explained

In many ways, NFL betting shares numerous similarities with wagering on other sports, with the popular ‘match bet’ offering a relevant case in point.

This is a simple wager on which one of team competing sides will win a single game, with this type of bet particularly popular given the rarity of draws in the NFL.

This simplifies the wager and marginally increases your chances of success, as you bet on either the home or the away team to prevail (either during normal or overtime).

The issue with match betting is that you’ll usually find one side heavily favoured to win over their opponents. These teams will pay out at prohibitive odds, which deliver a minimal return on your stake.

Punters can negate this by engaging in handicap betting, which levels the playing field between two competing sides and balances the odds presented by bookies.

For example, let’s say that Atlanta is set to do battle with San Diego at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Georgia. In this instance, the home side are the favourites and priced at 1.30 to win, whereas their opponents can be backed at a hefty 5.00.

In essence, there are two ways in which you leverage handicap betting to your advantage. You can increase your chances of winning by placing a +10.5-point handicap bet on San Diego, for example, creating a scenario where Atlanta has to win by a margin of 11 points or more for you to lose.

Conversely, you can lengthen the odds of an Atlanta win by applying a –10.5-point handicap on the home side.

This means that the hosts will need to prevail by 11 points or more for your wager to come in, which depending on the difference between the two sides may increase your returns without overly compromising your chances of winning.

The Last Word – What Else do you Need to Know?

There are other team-betting markets that you can access, from outright NFL and Super Bowl winners to the number of points that will be scored in a specific game.

You may also want to engage in individual player markets, particularly if you have detailed knowledge of the sport. One of the most common player wagers asks punters to speculate on the scorer of a game’s first touchdown, with quarter-backs and wide-receivers statistically more likely to earn this honour.

Interceptions also play a decisive role in determining the outcome of matches, as this turns over possession and allows defensive teams attack when their opponents are most vulnerable. You can, therefore, wager on the players most likely to earn interceptions during a game, and indeed over the course of a season.

Many of these markets are also available in-play in the UK, although the time difference between us and the States may make it hard to follow the action in real-time. So, we’d tread carefully when approaching live NFL markets, and instead embrace some of the more simplistic wagers on offer!

Easily the most popular type of betting for NFL football is “spread” betting or more commonly known as betting against the spread. Bettors who are new to NFL betting or betting in general may be a little confused with NFL spread betting, but it is pretty easy to understand once it is explained to you. We will explain what betting against the spread means below.

What is Betting Against The Spread?

For each NFL game the oddsmakers set a number of points in which the favored team is favored by. Bettors can then either choose for the favored team to win by more than the number of points set, or bet on the underdogs to lose by less than the number of points they are underdogs by or win the game straight up. For example, the spread could be set on the favored team at 6.5 points. This would mean in order for a bet on the favored team on the spread to win they would need to win by more than 6.5 points (7 or more) in order to win the bet. It also means that a bet on the underdog team would win if the underdogs lost by less than 6.5 points (6 or less) or won the game outright.

Example of NFL Spread Bet

Below is an example of what NFL spread betting would look like:

Matchup

• TeamsSpread
• Dallas Cowboys -2.5
• New York Giants +2-5

The negative (-) sign indicates that the Cowboys are the favorites, while the positive (+) sign indicates that the New York Giants are the underdogs. With the spread set at 2.5 points, a bet on the Cowboys would mean that they would have to win by more than 2.5 points (3 or more) in order for you to win that bet. A bet on New York would mean that the Giants would have to either lose by 2.5 or less points (2 or less) or win the game outright in order for your bet to win.

How Does Spread Betting Work Nfl

Here is another example with a screenshot taken from 5Dimes.eu during Week 3 of the 2013 NFL season:

Here you can see that the Rams are +3.5, while the Cowboys are -3.5. So for this example the Cowboys are 3.5 point favorites, while the Rams are underdogs of 3.5 points. If you were to bet on St Louis you would need them to lose by 3 or fewer points or just win the game outright. If you were to bet on Dallas you would need the Cowboys to win by 4 or more points.

If the Cowboys were to win by 3 points, lets say 30-27, any bets on the Rams +3.5 would win. Even though the Rams didn’t win the game they covered the spread of 3.5 points.

Now if the Cowboys were to win by 4 points, lets say 31-27, the Cowboys have covered the spread and anyone who wagered on Dallas would win their bets.

Other NFL Spread Betting Information

You may often notice that the spread is sometimes set at an even number such as 3, 6 , 10, etc. In this case if the favored team won by the exact amount set for the spread the bet would be pushed, and all bets would be returned. For example, if the Patriots were 3 point favorites and they won by a FG (3 points) than this would results in a push, meaning no matter which side you bet on you would get your money returned to you.

The most common NFL spreads are usually set between about 2.5-10.5 points, but you will also almost always have games each week with spreads lower than 2.5 and higher than 10.5. In the event that the oddsmakers feel the game doesn’t need a spread, it would be set at 0 or what some call a pick’em (both teams are given even odds to win for this type of bet).

American Football Spread Betting Explained Predictions

The odds given on the spread are usually -110 unless otherwise noted. It is not uncommon to see one side of the spread being -105, with the other side being -115. If you don’t see any odds listed for each side of NFL spreads you are supposed to assume the odds are -110 on each. Not sure how to read NFL betting odds? Check out our Sports Betting Odds guide.

American Football Spread Betting Explained

Now that you know the basics of NFL spread betting you’ll want to check out our Sports Betting Strategy guide which has some great NFL strategy articles written by a professional bettor.