Knowing how to bet on NFL football is the first step to successful wagering. Whether you are football betting for fun, NFL betting as a hobby, or are looking to take it to the next level, there are a few things that you absolutely, positively have to know about wagering on college football or the NFL.
Whatever your bet size and your bankroll winds up being, there are some fundamental things about NFL betting that you need to know.
What Bet Types are Available for Betting In The NFL?
When looking for the right NFL betting site, you are going to be hit with a lot of different bet types. Lets take a look at what sportsbooks will offer. You can also check out our complete How To Bet On the NFL for a full breakdown on betting types, strategies and more.
- Point Spread: Choosing who will cover the spread based on a handicap determined by the sportsbook
- Moneyline: Simply choosing who will win the game, with odds
- Totals (Over/Under): Betting on total points scored in the game
- Props: Betting on individual or team performances such as rushing yards or total field goals
- Parlays: Combining multiple bets for a bigger payout
- Teasers: A parlay where you can move the line up or down for all the bets in the parlay
Readings & Understanding NFL Betting Lines
451 Pittsburgh +6 (-110) | +230 | Ov 51.5 (-110)
452 Cleveland -6 (-110) | -270 | Un 51.5 (-110)
Let’s say you come across this one of your NFL betting sites. This would be the normal format for a betting line in the NFL.
137 South Carolina +14.5 (-115) | +450 | Ov 58.5 (-110)
138 Georgia -14.5 (-105) | -600 | Un 58.5 (-110)
The above would be the normal format for a college football line.
For reference, each portion of the betting line is broken down as follows:
Rotation number Team Point Spread (odds on point spread) | moneyline | game total (odds on total)
Knowing what each element of the line means is very important to ensuring that you make the right bet and understand what it is that you are betting. With football betting, it isn’t as simple as just picking the winner of the game, unless you want it to be with laying or taking odds on the moneyline. The most common type of bet in the NFL is the “Spread Bet.” Betting the “Total” is the number of combined points over or under you expect in the game.
Let’s break this down section by section to talk about what all of this means:
Spread betting on the NFL
With the NFL example above, the spread for the Pittsburgh/Cleveland game is six points. Cleveland is the favorite, so they are designated as “-6”, while Pittsburgh is the underdog, so they are “+6”. You can bet on either side of the game.
In NFL betting, in order for Cleveland to “cover the spread”, the Browns must win by 7 or more points. In order for Pittsburgh to “cover the spread”, the Steelers must lose by 5 or fewer points or win the game. If the difference between the two teams’ final scores is 6 points, that is called a push, and no money changes hands on wagers.
The -110 in parentheses is called the “vig” or “juice”. Short for vigorish, it is the built-in house edge. If an NFL betting site took 100 bets on the Steelers and 100 bets on the Browns for the same amount with no vig on either side, there would be no profit for them.
The -110 figure is based on a $100 wager. This means you would have to lay $110 to win $100, or more simply, you have to bet $11 to win $10. As follows, -105 would mean a required lay of $105 to win $100.
Moneylines
The goal of a Moneyline bet is to pick the winner of the game and take the point spread out of play. This is of course an odds based endeavor. Betting favorites will require laying heavier odds and betting underdogs will return higher odds.
Instead of the -110 level $11 to win $10, you will see something like the -270 on the Browns or +230 on the Steelers. That means a wager on the Browns to win outright requires betting $27 to win $10. If you think the Steelers can win as an underdog, the +230 means that you can bet $10 to win $23. You can bet anything you want up to the limit or as little as you want down to the minimum bet, the proportion on the line will remain the same.
The larger the spread for the favorite, the more expensive the money line will be. In the college football example using Georgia, you have to bet $60 to win $10 on the -600 moneyline. LIkewise, the larger the spread for the underdog, the larger the return odds. A moneyline wager costs $10 to win $45 on South Carolina at +450.
Over/Under Bets
The Total is the sum of the combined points of both teams. If the two teams score more points than the total, then that game has gone “over the total”. For example, if the Browns beat the Steelers 30-27, the total number of points scored is 57 and that is higher than the 51.5 betting total.
If the two teams score fewer points than the total, then that game has gone “under the total”. For example, if the Browns beat the Steelers 24-10, the total number of points is 34 and that is less than 51.5.
Similar to spread betting, most totals will have vig of -110, so the $11 to win $10 comes into play once again, much like a point spread.
Side outcome has no bearing on total betting. The Browns could win by 50. The Steelers could win by 50. You are still paid the same amount of winnings based on your bet amount if you are correct.
NFL Prop Betting
NFL betting sites have gained a lot of popularity for allowing users to parlay player props. Places like FanDuel Sportsbook have gotten a lot of attention and free marketing on social media from bettors placing small wagers to win large sums on player props.
Whether you bet player props straight or parlay them together looking for that magic lottery ticket, the NFL betting sites with the most player props are going to have the most options. You want to exercise safe and responsible gambling with these because they can get a little bit dangerous if you try to bet too many, but the options are there for those that want to look more at the player props.
There can be team props as well, like over/under number of touchdowns or over/under team interceptions or sacks.
Basically, what the best NFL betting sites have found is that their customers simply want choices. Whether or not they bet on those choices is up to them, but there is something for everybody out there in the sports betting world. Some online sportsbooks do more than others in that regard.
The best NFL betting sites are going to do as much as they can to provide the best possible user experience. The best experience for you, both as a bettor and as somebody hoping to win money, is to take all of it under consideration and see what the best NFL sportsbook is for you.
NFL Parlays
An NFL Parlay Bet is an advanced type of wagering strategy where a bettor combines multiple individual NFL bets into one single wager to potentially achieve a higher return. The intriguing aspect of a parlay bet is the requirement for all the chosen individual bets, whether they’re games, totals, or props, to be correct for the parlay bet to yield a win. To illustrate, consider a scenario where you make a parlay bet on the Chiefs with a spread of +3.5 and the Jets with a spread of +7.5. The bet is only victorious if both these spreads are covered in their respective games, thereby enhancing the thrill and potential payout of NFL parlay betting.
NFL Parlay Betting
Parlays are all the rage these days. The idea of doing Same Game Parlays has caught on like wildfire and there are a lot of people that also look to parlay props with low-risk, high-reward wagers that feature small bet amounts and big payouts. While the chances of hitting these lottery tickets is fairly low, success stories are shared on social media each and every day from these bet types.
As long as you keep a responsible approach to making these bets, you can make some “fun money” wagers in hopes of hitting that big long shot.
The Best NFL Parlay Sportsbooks are going to be the ones that don’t restrict what you can add to the ticket. You’ll have the Same Game Parlay options. The player props. The fairest parlay odds and the industry-leading payouts. FanDuel Sportsbook is definitely thought to be at the top of the list for those types of wagers, especially with parlaying player props.
Most NFL betting sites offer Parlay Boosts nowadays as well, so they’ll put together pre-selected parlays and sweeten the pot a little bit with higher payout amounts. A lot of these are done geographically, depending on the sportsbook. Places like PointsBet really hammer home the local angles of supporting the home team. You’ll see that with BetRivers or Unibet, too.
The sky is the limit for the NFL parlays that you can put together, but, again, bet responsibly. While parlays are fun and the draw of betting a little to win a lot has a very strong pull, just remember how many things need to go right in order to cash a big parlay ticket because you have to be correct with each and every bet.
NFL Teasers
A lot of recreational bettors will play parlays and won’t even think about teasers. If you ask sharp bettors and those that bet for a living, they will tell you about the importance of teasers in the NFL. Teasing NFL spreads through key numbers like 3, 4, 6, 7, and 10 can create a +EV environment for those that properly utilize teasers.
The Best NFL Teaser Sportsbooks don’t shy away from taking that kind of action. They can anticipate it and know when it is coming. An underdog of +2.5 is going to be a big teaser consideration to go up to +8.5. Similarly, a favorite of -8.5 will be a big teaser leg to go down to -2.5 on a six-point teaser, which is the industry standard.
The best teaser sportsbooks are willing to put lines out there knowing that they’re going to get those teaser bets and will balance the books accordingly. They’re also going to offer -110 on a 2-team, 6-point teaser instead of the -120 that a lot of NFL betting sites offer. Teasers are a great weapon in a very tight and efficient NFL betting market. They are inevitable and they are usually sharper in nature.
When you see a sportsbook willing to put some lines up that could get exposed to some teaser liability and will do so with a -110 payout, you know that’s when you are betting with one of the best. If you see -120 when other online sportsbooks have -130, at least you aren’t getting the worst of it.
Be sure to check out the Help section of a sportsbook or the terms and conditions pages to see which sportsbooks offer the fairest payouts on teasers because it will vary from sportsbook to sportsbook.