Betting on the NFL has undoubtedly been as popular as watching the game itself. The reason is that it makes the game more intense and thrilling because your money is on the line. And even though you’re concerned about your money, you still get to enjoy the game for what it is. Some of these people are new to the game and don’t know how to start wagering.
If you’re one of those people, you must be struggling to understand terms and phrases like money line or betting against the spread. No matter what aspect of NFL betting you’re confused about, this article will discuss the types of bets on the NFL that everyone should master first.
If you understand the gist of the following types of bets, the other more complicated ones will be a piece of cake.
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Top Betting Games: Spread Betting
Betting the spread is by far one of the most popular types of bet any sports betting has, and for a good reason. When you bet on the spread, you’ll not be wagering on who will win or lose, but by how many points the winner will have over the other team. It’s a good betting game to start learning, too, because professional oddsmakers level the playing field, so the winning team would get all the bets.
In order to make the playing field even, oddsmakers will take points away from the winning team and give points to the losing team. Confused? Here’s an example.
Let’s say the Patriots are playing against the Dolphins. However, the oddsmakers judged that the Patriots are most likely to win the match. The oddsmaker will list the Dolphins as (+6.5) and the Patriots (-6.5) to make the odds even.
This means that for the Patriots to win the bet, they need to win the game with 7 points or more, and the Dolphins to either win or lose by less than 7 points. If you think that the Patriots will win with over 7 points, you should bet on the Patriots. However, if you think 6.5 points is too many, you should bet on the Dolphins.
Top Betting Games: Moneyline
The moneyline is less popular than spread betting, but it certainly is one of the easiest types of bet that is easy to understand. Betting the moneyline lets you pick who you think will win the game. Easy right? Yes. But here comes the kicker. Moneyline is not that popular among bettors since it has a low investment return when betting on the winning team.
Let’s look back at the previous example above and have it be adjusted for moneyline betting. Let’s say the Patriots are listed as -250. That means for you to win $100, you need to pay up $250 first to participate.
Now, let’s go to the Dolphins, which is listed as +250. This means that you need to pay up $100 to win $250. This is why even though it’s pretty straightforward, it’s not as popular as betting on the spread because of its low return of investment.
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Top Betting Games: Futures
One of the best things about being a fan of both the NFL and NFL betting is the knowledge you get in watching the games. With this knowledge, you can predict how a current season will end and bet on it for an easy win. Just like when Tom Brady still played on the Patriots, people tend to bet on who the Super Bowl winner will be.
However, that stopped when Tom Brady transferred to Tampa Bay, and suddenly, lesser people are betting on the Patriots to win the Super Bowl. That said, future bets are simply the bets you make based on the future of the NFL.
One of the more common things to bet on is the winner of the Super Bowl. People also love to bet on who’ll be the MVP during the season or who will be the player with the most rushing yards at the end for the current week.
Future bets are a great type of bet if you want to make small bets on a longshot. This is because you can gather valuable intel on the teams and the NFL as a whole before you make an educated guess, which really helps in future betting.
There are also called prop bets. They deserve a subheading of their own, but they’re pretty similar with future bets, although more specific. This is mostly bet on a player’s skill or a specific event in the games.
One common prop bet is what color is the Gatorade the winning team will pour over their coach or whether a specific player will get a touchdown. It’s a more mundane form of future bets, though it’s still fun as they are simple and easy to understand.
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Takeaway
These are the types of bets that you should master first before fully immersing yourself in NFL betting. Without the knowledge and the technique, you’ll lose miserably and probably lose a lot of money in the process. If you want to get into more complicated types of bets, you need to master the basics first to win more for your bankroll.