Football is by far and away the most popular sport to bet on in the United States, so much so, that over $100 billion dollars is spent annually. This is a staggering number and it begs the question, where is all of the money going? Is it going into the pockets of the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks or is much of it going back to the gamblers themselves in the form of winning? Honestly, the sportsbooks don’t really care who wins or loses the games. There are, of course, games that could swing a month’s profit or loss one way or another, such as playoff games, the college national championships, college bowl games and the Super Bowl. What the bookies are really looking for is cross action. The bookmakers make their money on the juice or the “vigorish” as it’s known in the gambling business.
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Betting the point spread:
Many years ago, when sportsbooks first got their foothold in the state of Nevada, the bookmakers quickly realized that this betting business was more than just a handshake over a friendly, straight up bet. They realized that if they were going to offer this kind of service that there must be a way to guarantee a profit. This is how they came up with vigorish. When bettors look at the lines and odd that are placed on football games, they see numbers like this… (Dallas vs. Atlanta) Dallas -7 -110. This is what’s called a typical “spread bet” or better known as “betting the spread”. Take a look at the example below for a better explanation of how to bet the spread.
Dallas -7- 110
Atlanta +7-110
In American odds, the home team is always on the bottom. In the above example, the Dallas Cowboys are playing in Atlanta and the Cowboys are favored to win the game by 7 points. What this means is this… If you like the Cowboys to win the game and you take this bet, then in order for you to win the bet, the Cowboys must win the game by 8 or more points. If the Cowboys win the game by 7 points, then this is what’s called a push and the bettor would get their investment back. If the Cowboys win the game by 8 or more, then the bettor gets the win plus the investment back.
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The -110 that you see is the money that is attached to the point spread and this number is industry standard. What the number is telling the bettor is this… For every $1.10 that is spent on the favorite, (in this case, Dallas) the bettor will get $1.00 in return, plus the $1.10 back for a total of $2.10 The .10 cents is the vigorish or the juice.
If you like Atlanta’s chances to either win the game or at least be competitive enough to not be beaten by 7 or more points, and you bet on them–then Atlanta can lose by 6 points or less and you have won the bet. Think of this in terms of $100. In order to win $100 on the Cowboys, you will need to play $110. If you are a winner at the end of the day, then you not only collect your $100, but you also get your initial wager of $110 returned to you.
Betting the moneyline:
There are many ways to bet on football, we have discussed the point spread and now, the next most popular way to bet this grand game is to bet what is called the moneyline. Moneyline betting is much the same as point spread betting, the big difference is the fact that no point spread posted for the money line wagers.
Example:
Dallas -175
Atlanta +75
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Remember, there is not a point spread, so the game that you bet on just has to win the game. It can be a 25 point win or a one-point win. The lines here are saying that for every $100 that you spend on betting Atlanta, they only need to win the game and they have won $175, plus their investment of $100. When betting the moneyline, because there is no spread; you must know the teams very well and be prepared. The two forms of betting that we have included here today, are truly the tip of the iceberg. The key to winning at football is to know your limitations, and by all means, get handicapping help.
