Spread Betting Explained
by Jason Shimberg - 01/15/2008

Betting the spread on the first or second half is a popular betting strategy of NFL bettors. These are just like betting on the normal spread, but it only covers one of the halves. The line in the second half allows bettors to make a wage after oddsmakers see the first half of play. Learn how point spreads work. NFL Moneyline Betting Odds Explained - Straight Up Betting Lines To Win. NFL Spread Bets Betting the spread is one of the most common ways to bet on the NFL online. When learning how to bet real money on the NFL, these are the bets you should start off with. The idea behind spread betting is to “level the playing field” between two teams with different levels of skill and different expectations. A point spread is used in sports betting to even the odds between two unevenly matched teams. Each team is given a point total by the oddsmaker that can either be added or subtracted to the final score, thus factoring into if the bet was won or lost.

NFL Betting – The Point Spread. This is the most popular bet on any NFL game and is also.

Doc's Sports offers spread betting explained in a way that is easy for even novice bettors to understand. The definition of point spread is the predicted scoring differential between two opponents as quoted by a sports book. The point spread is also called the line. If you have have bet a sporting event in the past, but have never bet on the point spread this will ease the process and explain how it works.

How the point spread works - When two teams meet on the playing field or on the basketball court, one team is typically better than the other or in a more favorable position because of factors like playing at home. If all you had to do were pick the winning team in a game, everybody would simply wager on the best team or the home team in a even matchup and bypass all the lines and collect their winnings at a high rate.

A point spread - Lets take, for a hypothetical situation on one of the types of football bets (using the point spread), that the Kansas City Chiefs were visiting the Detroit Lions and Detroit was established as a six-point favorite at game time, which is commonly written as Detroit -6. Kansas City would be the underdog and displayed as Kansas City +6. If you bet the favorite, Detroit has to win by more than six points to win your bet. Remember, the Lions are favored by six points, so we subtract six points from their final score on a spread bet. If Detroit were to win 27-20, Lions bettors would win their wager. If the Chiefs were to win the game by any score and you picked the Chiefs you would win not including the extra six points. If the Lions were to win, 20-14, it would be exactly six and a push, so you would get your money back.

Betting against the spread - In the sports betting industry the acronym ATS is used to label a team's record when betting against the spread. ATS records are a valuable tool in sports handicapping. A team may be playing great straight-up, winning a lot of games but at the same time they could have a dreadful ATS record because they are overvalued by the general public and the oddsmakers. And, conversely, a team could be losing a lot of games but playing in a lot of close games as underdogs and have a good ATS record going.

Bookmaker's interest - In order to guarantee a profit for the house, a bookie needs to create even action on both sides of a particular game. In a perfect world the bookie would have 50 percent of the handle come in on the underdog and 50 percent on the favorite. This ensures that the sports books are guaranteed a profit because of the 10 percent commission or 'vigorish' charged on most sports wagers. This is why there is 'movement' on the point spread. If one side on a game is being bet more heavily, the bookie must move the number in order to attract interest on the other side in order to balance action.

Spread betting is not convoluted - Many people decide that it's too arduous without ever giving it a try. In fact, once the simple concept has been grasped it becomes exceedingly painless to comprehend. Settle on if you think the oddsmakers' prediction is too low or too high. It's that straightforward. Learn the basics, so you and your wallet are not spread too thin.

Although a little more advanced than a normal moneyline or spread bet, NFL Teaser Betting is fairly popular at sportsbooks during the NFL season. Teaser bets account for over 15% of sportsbooks handles for NFL betting, and is continuously becoming more popular.

NFL teaser betting is more common with intermediate or advanced bettors, but it isn’t a hard concept to understand – I will explain how NFL teasers work below.

What is a NFL Teaser Bet?

Nfl Spread Betting Explained The Spread

A teaser bet is a group of straight bets (two or more) combined into one bet, where each individual line has been shifted to your favour by the number of points of the teaser.

There are three main NFL teasers – 6, 6.5 and 7 point teasers.

In a 6 point NFL teaser the line would be shifted by 6 points in the favour of the bettors play. For example if you wanted to take the Ravens -8, it would be converted into Ravens -2 within a teaser bet. The spread was shifted 6 points (from 8 points down to 2 points). Another example would be if you wanted to play the Chiefs -2.5. In a 6 point teaser the -2.5 line would be changed to Chiefs +3.5.

The same rule is applied for 6.5 and 7 point NFL teasers, except, of course, the line is shifted by either 6.5 or 7 points instead of the 6 points shown in the example above. NFL teaser bets must include two or more bets “parlayed” (cannot do single teaser bets).

NFL Teaser Example

Here is what a two team 6.5 point NFL teaser bet would look like:

Your selections: Pittsburgh Steelers +3 and Dallas Cowboys -4.5

Nfl Spread Betting Explained Predictions

In a 6.5 point teaser these would then be changed to: Steelers +9.5 and Cowboys -2

In order for you to win the teaser bet both incomes would have to be correct. If one selection was a push the bet is often refunded, but some sportsbooks will count it as a loss if the other selection lost (check your sportsbooks‘ rules).

Below is another example of a teaser bet that I recently placed and won. I teased the Vikings and Eagles from +2.5 up to +8.5 in a 2 team 6 point teaser.

NFL Teaser Bet Payouts

Every sportsbook will have their own payouts and rules for teaser bets. Our favorite sportsbook for getting the best NFL odds is 5Dimes.eu. Of course the more points you use on the teaser the lower the payout will be, and the more teams you include in the teaser bet the higher the payout will be.

Here are the NFL Teaser Payouts at 5Dimes (subject to change):

Explain Point Spread In Football

6 Point NFL Teaser Bet Payouts
2 Teams – (+100)
3 Teams – (+180)
4 Teams – (+300)

6.5 Point NFL Teaser Bet Payouts
2 Teams – (-110)
3 Teams – (+165)
4 Teams – (+265)

7 Point NFL Teaser Bet Payouts
2 Teams – (-120)
3 Teams – (+150)
4 Teams – (+240)

Of course you can choose more than 4 teams in your NFL teaser bet, I just used these as example payouts so you could get a feel for what the payouts are like on teaser bets. Full payout charts can usually be found at the sportsbooks website.

Nfl Point Spread Explained

Now that you know what teasers are check out this advanced Teaser Betting Strategy article written by our professional sports bettor, Jim. In the article you will learn when teasers are +EV and how you can make a profit during the season picking spots to bet teasers.