What does point spread mean in football

“The spread” is a term what does point spread mean in football for point spreads set by bookmakers to balance the playing field for teams with varying levels of skill. They place. For instance, a spread of points means that the favored team is projected to win by at least points. It's a great way for online. Point Spreads. In its simplest form, a point spread refers to how many points a team is favored over their opponent. It's not as simple as. Betting on the point spread is when you wager on how many points a team will win or lose by. Point spread betting is particularly popular when wagering on the.

What is point spread betting? How to bet the spread

What does a 2 point spread mean? First off, any spread that's a – is a favorite. A + means that team is bet is an underdog. Therefore, -2 means that a team must win by more than two points in order to cover the spread. If they win by exactly two points, the bet would push and the stake would be returned with no winnings.

What does a negative point spread mean? In the simplest terms, a negative spread indicates the favorite, which is the side expected to win the matchup. A negative point spread really means the team has some work to do. For a negative spread bet to hit, the team has to beat its opponent by a margin greater than the point spread.

What does a +1.5 spread mean? The underdog

How do you win a point spread in football? If you bet on a favorite, they need to win the game by more than their assigned point spread. For example, if I look at NFL odds and take the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-7.5) on the point spread, that means that they need to win by at least eight points for me to win my bet.

Spread betting explained

A team might be The point spread will usually be the first market listed. One oddsmaker might have the Lakers as -3 while another has them at -2, and that small difference can make a huge long-term difference. Betting the point spread is always about finding value. That means not always betting the teams with the best records.

There might be an NFL team that is , but goes at covering the spread. A point spread can shift in the run-up to a game for a variety of reasons. A key player getting hurt or scratched from a game can shift the line dramatically. In some sports like the NFL, the betting volume can be so overwhelming from the public that sportsbooks might adjust the odds to attract more action on one side or put themselves in a more favorable position to turn a profit.

The NFL is one of the sports where point spreads are most important. But the difference between As such, getting the best number possible in NFL betting is very important. In terms of betting strategies, matchup analysis is also most important in the NFL.

Injuries are also important to factor in, especially when there are cluster injuries in a position group. There are some nuances to understand with run line betting. You may notice that home teams often have better odds on the The home team is more likely to win by a single run because if the game is tied going into the ninth then the home team will win as soon as they plate one run.

In baseball, some bettors prefer to bet a favorite Basketball betting also has many distinctions. One good strategy can be to back scrappy bad teams against far superior teams. NBA and college hoops point spread betting can be frustrating, since spread bets can often be decided by free throws at the end of the game. What looked like a sure winner can go down in flames in a hurry if one team excessively fouls in garbage time.

Like with baseball, hockey point spread betting is a bit different. As is the case with basketball, there can be some brutal beats at the end of hockey games. What does point spread mean in football And like with baseball, most bettors prefer to back favorites on the puck line and underdogs on the money line. Puck lines also correlate with totals, in that if a team is going to win by multiple goals, that game may also be more likely to see a lot of goals.

So it makes more sense on the surface to take a team If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. It's simply the average expected margin of victory. Every point spread has a plus side and a minus side. Underdogs — or teams not favored to win the game — are represented with plus numbers i. Oftentimes, sportsbooks will set a point spread with a half-point to avoid ties or "pushes" like if a team wins by exactly seven points.

So, say someone bets TCU The Horned Frogs would need to win by at least 21 points for that bet to be successful. Should Colorado lose by 20 or fewer points, or win the game outright, a bet on the Buffaloes would be successful. Point spreads move according to the betting populous, or the " market. Perhaps you've heard about "public money" and "sharp money" being on one side or another.

This is typically useless information , no matter how much it's pushed on the public. While the "sharp money" may have been on TCU at Public money, or bets received from non-professional bettors, also rarely moves odds. Only in high-profile events like an NFL game or the National Championship do public bets really push lines. And, to debunk one final common myth: sportsbooks do not move odds to have equal action on each side.

The concept of a moneyline bet is simpler than a point spread. It's just a bet on who will win the game. However, the math behind moneylines varies a bit. To fully convert moneylines into percentages, you'll either need a formula or an odds converter calculator my preferred method, there are tons of free ones available online.

Bettors tend to bet point spreads over moneylines because, at To stay on the Colorado-TCU example, the game has a point total set at Bettors then decide whether they want to bet over or under the total. A bet on the over would require 65 combined points or more i. Like point spreads, totals aren't oddsmakers saying that a certain game will score exactly 64 points, rather, that's the most likely outcome.

The are the odds for each side of the bet. But these odds, like moneylines, imply probability.