Cover the spread meaning football
This represents an even-money wager, meaning the payout if your team covers will be equal to the amount you risked. Calculating Payouts Against the Spread. Now. Point spread betting in sports is a way for oddsmakers to make a matchup between two unbalanced teams more balanced by giving points to or taking points. To “cover the spread”, a team must win by a final margin larger than the point spread or, in the case of an underdog, lose by fewer points than. In this scenario, the Cover the spread meaning football Bobcats are said to have covered the spread, meaning that they won the game with their head start. On the other hand, if the.
Cover the Spread
What does a 7.5 spread mean? What Does 7.5 Spread Mean? If you're following how a 7 point spread works, you might find a 7.5 spread a bit confusing. A 7.5 spread means the favorite needs to win by at least 8 points. That's because you can't score half points, half goals, or half runs in sports.
What is cover the spread in football? What Does It Mean to Cover the Spread? A team “covers the spread” if it wins by a final margin larger than the point spread or, in the case of an underdog, loses by fewer points than the spread (or wins outright).
What does covered spread mean? If Team A is a 3-point favorite over Team B, Team A has to win by more than 3 points to win the bet, or "cover." Team B can win the game outright or lose by one or two points (but no more than that) and they "cover."
What is an example of covering the spread? Imagine an NFL game where the Eagles are playing the Lions, and Philadelphia is a 4.5-point favorite. If the Eagles win 27-20, they will have won and covered. Their 7-point margin is more than the 4.5-point spread. If the Eagles win 24-20, they will have won the game but not covered the spread.
Gambling 101: What is Covering the Spread?
In the first example above, the spread was 76ers First, if the Owls win the game outright, then those bets would win. But if the Wildcats won the game by 9 points or fewer, then Temple bettors would still win their spread bets, because Villanova did not win by more than 9. The run line is usually set at 1.
In baseball run lines , the odds for betting on the underdog are usually negative less than even money because sportsbooks believe it is more likely for the underdog to win the game or lose by 1 run than it is for the favorite to win by 2 runs or more. Point spreads in soccer are very similar to baseball. They are usually set at 1. In this example, the Galaxy needs to win by at least 2 goals for spread bets on the Galaxy to win.
When a team covers the spread, that means bettors who placed spread bets on that team won their bet. In our first example above 76ers -5 , if the 76ers won the game by 6 points or more, that means they covered the spread. A push means that the favorite won the game by a margin equal to the spread.
In our example, if the 76ers won by exactly 5 points, then all spread bets on that game would push. Online Sportsbooks often include 0. Since scoring in major sports does not include half-points, it is impossible for a spread bet to push when the line includes a half-point. This 0.
In our example, if the spread was 76ers A moneyline bet is a bet on the outright winner of the game. A point spread bet is a bet on the margin of victory. One reason to bet on the point spread instead of the moneyline is to get better odds for betting on the favorite. One of the main benefits of betting on the point spread is that the odds are usually pretty close to even money e.
This means that you have to risk less money to win the same amount as placing a bet with longer odds e. Betting on the point spread also means that watching a game can remain interesting even when the final outcome is no longer in doubt. Cover the spread meaning football If the Eagles are However, you remain interested in what happens because if the other team scores a late touchdown to bring the margin down to 13, suddenly the Eagles are no longer covering the spread, even though they still have a big lead and are likely to win the game.
That is an example of how spread betting can lead to frustrating end-of-game situations. Imagine you placed a spread bet on Eagles The game is tied with 1 minute left and the Eagles are driving down the field. They get down to the goal line but time is running out, and instead of trying to score the touchdown you need to win your bet, they kick a field goal to win the game by 3.
Now you are left with a bittersweet feeling where your team won but your bet lost. In sports betting, a parlay is when you make a combination of bets that all need to win in order for the parlay bet to win. If any leg of the parlay does not win, then the whole parlay loses.
The benefit of a parlay is that you can get much better payouts if you win your bet. The odds on most point spread bets are For every leg you add after that, your odds will essentially double. That may sound appealing, but parlay bets are very difficult to hit, which is why the odds are so high. We said above that a point spread describes the expected margin of victory by the favored team in a given game.
The real answer is that sportsbooks set the number for the point spread based on what number they expect will lead to equal action i. So it is more like a measure of public expectations rather than what will actually happen. Sportsbooks ideally want to have equal action on both sides of a bet. 
If the bets are too heavily weighted towards one side, that increases liability for the sportsbook if that side of the bet ends up winning.
Of course, setting a point spread is an inexact science, and sportsbooks often do not get equal action on both sides of a point spread. When this happens, the sportsbook will adjust the line to make it more appealing to place bets on the side getting less action. This creates a better balance between bets on each team.
Back to that 7. Since there are no half points in football, you need them to win by 8 points or more to win the bet. You lose the bet. A 3 point spread means the favorite must win by at least 4 points winning by exactly 3 would result in a push in order for a bettor picking the favorite to win the wager.
Again, the. If the point spread is 1. That could mean 2 points, goals, runs, etc. A 0 point spread means there is no favorite or underdog in the game, match, etc. This means whoever you bet on to win the game, must simply win for you to cash in. You bet on the Rangers. Spread betting is most common in football NFL or college , but you can also make spread bets in other sports, including:.
You might notice sportsbooks using different terms for spread bets in other sports, but the concept is the same. In hockey, the spread is called the puck line. While in baseball, the spread is referred to as the run line; and in soccer, the goal line. Spread betting is hugely popular in football. Because of how football is scored, 3 and 7 are the most common margins of victory.
The Vikings are favored by 7. Is basketball more your speed. You can make point spread bets on the NBA and college hoops too. Because teams can be so unevenly matched, point spread betting is a good option for basketball. The average number of points scored by a team in an NFL game is just under In comparison, the average number of points scored by a team in an NBA game is more than four times that, at almost Keep in mind that in basketball as well as other sports , point spreads can constantly change, right up until tip-off in the case of basketball.
While spreads vary wildly in football and basketball games, the same is not the case in baseball. If you decide to go with the underdog for you to win the bet, they must either win the game or only lose by a single run. ZenSports is the future of online sports betting. Unlike other online betting platforms, ZenSports facilitates peer-to-peer sports betting.
Simple —There are so many benefits. Here are just a few of the perks of placing your online point spread bets with ZenSports:. Blog Home All Posts.