NFL Odds and Bet Types Explained

With American football being America’s most popular sport, placing wagers on NFL games has been a popular pastime for millions of people. Fortunately, betting on NFL games can be as simple as choosing one team to win the game and placing a wager on them. However, dedicated gamblers understand that few major sports can offer as much complexity and depth when betting as the NFL.

With so many football teams, players, and fans contributing to the games, the NFL is a giant in the sports gambling market. The league offers plenty of betting options and there’s a wealth of resources online to research the players and teams. However, the oddsmakers are incredibly good at setting NFL betting lines and odds. As such, it’s crucial to understand how to wager on NFL games before placing your first bet.

This online football betting guide is designed to help you become a smart punter who can consistently get an edge in NFL games and become successful in the long run. In this article, we’ll cover how NFL betting works, the betting markets, understanding the odds, and a lot more.

How NFL betting works

At its most basic level, betting on NFL games involves placing real-money bets on different outcomes, including the winning team in a game, the number of goals, and the players that will perform best. As such, NFL punters need to understand the betting options available in their sportsbooks and how to find useful stats to make informed betting decisions.

Here’s a look at different NFL betting markets and how they work:  

NFL Betting markets explained

Moneyline Bets

Money line bets are the simplest types of NFL bets that beginners can place. When placing money line bets, you’ll only need to choose the team that will win a particular game and wait for the results. If your chosen team wins the game, your wager will get paid. If the team loses, your bet will also be lost. However, a tie result is known as a “push” and you’ll receive back your wager.

When betting on the money line, the favorite features a negative sign on the odds and the underdog features a positive sign. For instance, if you’re betting on the Dolphins (-152) vs Patriots (+128), the money line odds suggest that the Dolphins are the favorites in this case. 

Point spread bets

NFL point spreads involve betting on whether a team will either win or lose by a certain margin. For instance, a point spread of -2.5 means that the favorite team must win the game by at least 3 goals for you to win the bet. On the other hand, a +2.5-point spread indicates that the underdog must lose by at least 3 goals for a winning ticket.

Over/Under bets

Besides choosing which team will win or lose an NFL match, you can bet on whether the final score will range over or under a specific value. Remember that the scores for both teams are combined at the end of the game to see whether the value exceeds a given number.

For instance, if your sports bookmaker posts the Over/Under line at 52.5 for the match you’re betting on, you’ll need to select whether the final score for both teams will be higher or lower than that. If you think the game will end with 53 or more points, you should wager on the Over bet. However, if you think the results will be 52 points or less, wager on the Under bet.

Prop bets

Prop or proposition bets are unique side bets that involve betting on practically anything that happens on the field. Many NFL sportsbooks propose dozens of unique side bets for their punters to choose from, featuring everything from the number of corners, red/yellow cards, injuries, and more. As such, prop bets can be a lot of fun for seasoned NFL punters looking to gain an edge.

By far, the Super Bowl is the best place for experiencing NFL prop bets. You can wager on hundreds of results that have little or nothing to do with the actual game or the sport itself. For instance, the Super Bowl allows you to bet on things such as the team’s Gatorade color or how long the singer will perform the national anthem. You can also find prop bets focusing on star players during the regular season.

Parlay betting

NFL Parlay bets are wagers that combine more than one outcome in a single ticket. Most sports bookmakers generally allow you to combine a maximum of 12 outcomes in a single ticket, but you must get every pick correctly for you to win. However, parlay bets have greater payouts since betting on more outcomes increases your risk of losing significantly.

NFL Futures Betting

Future betting is a type of prop bet where you wager will consider the result at a later date. The wagers can involve betting on individual players or a team’s performance throughout the season. As such, future bets require the punter to exercise some patience, although it offers bigger payouts for successful bets.