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Whether you’re a seasoned expert, or just working out how to bet on football, this is the most wonderful time of the year for sports fans.
The summer heat has passed, which means it is officially football season.
Nothing makes a fall weekend more exciting than winning big by betting on the teams you love or against the ones you love to hate.
If that sounds appealing, but you don’t know how to get in on the action, we have put together this helpful guide to betting on football just for you.
How Does Football Betting Work?
Everyone wants to win big, but the first step in doing so is learning the rules of the game.
Knowledge is power, which will help you make better, more educated decisions on what to wager and when to target a specific matchup.
Plus, there are hundreds of betting markets for fans to wager on each week, and it can be intimidating to see all those available bets when you aren’t 100 percent confident what each means.
Luckily, even if you’ve never watched a game, football is rather simple to grasp, so you can pick up the ropes pretty fast to get started sooner rather than later.
How to Bet on Football Games
Let’s look at your possibilities before you get started, and learn how to bet on football online.
Football betting possibilities are plentiful at all the top NFL sportsbooks, so it’s critical to understand which bets suit your betting style the best.
Moneyline Bets
Simple: which team will win or lose.
Bookmakers will take into account the advantages and disadvantages of both sides before releasing moneyline odds on which team they think will win the contest.
The team with a minus in front of its number is generally the favorite, and the number listed is the amount needed to wager to win $100 in profit.
The underdog will be the team with + in front of its number, and the number is the amount in profit a bettor will win if he/she put $100 on the result.
For example, if BetOnline.ag is giving the Baltimore Ravens +132 odds to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL season opener and the Chiefs’ odds are -152.
That means a $152 wager on the Chiefs would be required in order to win $100 in profit or about $0.57 profit per dollar bet.
Conversely, if a bettor placed $100 on the Ravens, and they defeat the Chiefs at Arrowhead, you would claim your initial stake ($100) plus $155 in profit based on the odds.
If you wagered $10 then you’d get $15.50 in profit plus your initial stake..
Points Spread
Point-spread betting is especially prevalent in football but is available to bettors across the sports-betting landscape.
Point-spread betting may seem confusing at first to new or novice bettors, but it is very self-explanatory once you get the hang of it.
When all things are considered equal in an NFL game, the home team will be favored, or “lay” three points. Spreads can vary based on how lopsided the games appear on paper, but in NFL games the spreads typically will sit in the 1-point to 14-point range.
When point-spread betting, the bettor will need to decide if the favorite will win by a certain number of points or if the underdog will beat the spread.
For instance, in the above-referenced Chiefs vs Ravens game, Kansas City is listed as three-point favorite. If the Chiefs won by four points they would cover, and if the Ravens lost by two or fewer, they would beat the spread.
If the game was decided by exactly three points the wager would push, and players would get their initial betting stake back.
Totals (Over/Under)
A totals bet is a wager on how many points will be scored in a game.
If you think the Ravens and Chiefs will combine to score at least 47 points, you might wager on over 46.5.
Some sportsbooks also offer alternative totals with over/under numbers below and beyond the predetermined total – with varying odds.
Additionally, you may place an over/under wager on the total points scored in a half or quarter, just as you can place straight bets and point spreads.
Parlays
Parlay bets are combinations of two-or-more outcomes in a single wager.
Parlays are useful bets at getting better odds on favorites winning.
The more outcomes you have in a parlay, the more your risk increases, though, as a parlay only wins when every selection hits.
Your overall profit increases because the prizes from each accurate selection, or “leg,” carry over to the following pick.
Single Game Parlays / Same Game Parlays (SGPs)
Just as the name implies, this bet allows a player to add multiple outcomes from the same game.
As an example, you could bet on player props combined with a points spread or moneyline bet on the same game.
The odds will be longer due to the fact it is harder to combine multiple outcomes in a single wager.
Prop Bets
Prop bets are any wagers that aren’t tied to the final outcome of a game.
There are two types of prop bets: game props and player props, the latter of which is one of the most popular, especially SGPs.
In prop wagers, a bettor may put down his/her money on an individual like Lamar Jackson to surpass a given rushing yards or passing yards number against the Chiefs.
If Jackson passes for 230 yards, and his passing prop line is 222.5 yards, over bettors will hit. Under bettors will only hit if he had 222 yards or fewer.
There are game props too like for a specific team to go over or under a predetermined total number of points or for that team to produce over or under touchdowns in a game.
First-Half/Halftime Bets
This could apply to either a moneyline bet or a point spread bet but is applicable to only to points or the score in the first half or second half of the game you’re betting.
Live Betting
Live betting starts as soon as the game starts and is a unique element to online betting.
The odds on markets including the moneyline, over/under, point spread, alternate lines, and props are updated by online sportsbooks to reflect the game flow based on the starting position of the market.
Sometimes you may place more bets on these markets up to the end of regulation time or overtime.
Futures
A futures wager is made before the start of the football season and continues throughout. In this type of bet, you’re betting on which team will win the championship, its division, or its conference.
You can also bet on season-long player awards like the NFL MVP or college football’s Heisman Trophy.
As sportsbooks continue to pop up throughout the country, there are more options than ever, with a wide array of varying prices.
Tips for Betting on Football
When considering how to bet on football there are several factors to consider
As with anything, you’re putting your hard-earned funds on what you think will hit, which is a tricky proposition.
Even the best-prepared bettors will lose sometimes when wagering on football, though the more homework you do the more likely you are to succeed.
Here are some tips.
Difference between College Football and NFL
There are numerous differences between the NFL and college football.
These differences also impact how to bet on football games. The key differences can be divided into three categories: pure league size, scoring, and information accessibility.
League Size
The NFL has 32 teams, but the NCAA Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) has over 130 teams.
That means there are at most 16 NFL games on the weekend, whereas there are at least 60 college football games involving FBS schools happening every week.
Scoring
College football games can have wide skill differences, especially early in the season before conference play kicks off.
This weekend, for instance, Georgia are 53.5 point favorites against Tennessee Tech.
Working out how to bet on college football with spreads that big can be difficult.
In the NFL the spread rarely exceeds two touchdowns, which is why the totals numbers are often far higher in college games than in the pros.
Information Accessibility
Information can be far easier to come by in the NFL since pro-football coverage is far greater than any other sport, including college.
Information is key, especially in the hands of sportsbooks, whose accuracy gives them an hard-to-beat sharpness.
This is also due to the pure volume and bet size that the NFL draws, making oddsmakers much more exposed when they get an NFL point spread vastly wrong.
How to Bet on Football Online
BetOnline is one of the best online sportsbooks around. It’s quick and easy to sign up and has a great welcome bonus for new customers.
Let’s take a look at how to create a BetOnline account and bet on football.
1. Sign up for an account
Head over to BetOnline’s homepage. You will see a variety of welcome bonuses right on the main page.
To register, tap JOIN at the bottom of the page.
From there, you’ll have to enter your email, preferred username, and password, then select ‘Create Account’. Accept the rules of the website and fill out the form.
2. Add funds to your account
Head to the cashier and choose to make a deposit. You can also claim the welcome bonus at this time.
Choose a payment method, enter the promo code, nominate your deposit amount, and follow any prompts to complete the transaction.
3. Select your wager and amount
With money in your account, plus potentially some bonus funds, it’s time to go and find your first football bet.
Now that you know how to bet on football games, navigate to the NCAAF or NFL tabs at the top of the page.
From there, pick the game and bet type you wish to wager on.
4. Place bet
With your bet now placed in the bet slip, the time has come to choose your amount to risk and lock in the wager.
When you enter a value in the ‘Risk’ box, the ‘To Win’ box will populate based on the set odds. The same applies if you populate the ‘To Win’ box, the ‘Risk’ box will automatically populate.
Once you are set and ready, hit the green button at the bottom of the bet slip and your bet is on.
Types of Football Leagues
Now that you have some football betting strategy ideas and tips on how to win a football bet, it’s time to get in on the action. It’s not just the NFL, however, that you can get involved with.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the leagues you can get involved with starting your football betting strategy.
National Football League (NFL)
Nothing compares to the volume of football bets the NFL receives each year. Featuring 32 teams with the best football talent in the world, the NFL begins its training camp in July followed immediately by three preseason games.
The regular season kicks off right after Labor Day, running through the first week of January. From there, the postseason culminates with the Super Bowl on the second Sunday of February.
College Football
College football is second in terms of most popular sports though it may command a larger betting handle due to the vastness of its betting markets.
There are 130-plus teams at the FBS level, plus nearly 130 more in Football Championship Subdivision which used to be known as 1-AA, which means there are hundreds of games at your disposal on college football betting sites each week.
Plus, college football betting has exploded in recent years with the legalization of sports betting in an increasing number of US states.
Canadian Football League (CFL)
As the name would imply, the CFL is Canada’s professional football league. The CFL is typically made up of the best pro American players that were a notch below the NFL.
It is worth noting that each CFL team can only feature a limited number of American players, since the league focuses on developing its own homegrown talent.
As of 2023, the league features just nine teams, with four in its East Division and five in its West. Featuring a 21-week regular season, the season typically runs from early June through the Grey Cup in November.
UFL
The XFL and USFL merged in 2023 and began play as the UFL in spring 2024. The sport is a developmental league designed at giving young and fledgling players added reps so they can make NFL rosters when training camps start.
The UFL season runs from the week after the Super Bowl through mid-June with the inaugural 2024 UFL Championship Game settled June 16 in St. Louis.
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