Betting on Football

The basics for betting on football and when I mean football I do not mean soccer. Mostly I'm talking about the NFL the National Football League. There are some common bets you can make for instance you pick one team to beat another team, you can bet the over/under, and you can bet on the spread.

The picking one team to beat another team is simple enough. For example you pick the Denver Broncos to beat the Oakland Raiders. Dah no brainer. The money you win will very small because Denver is and will always be the favorite. If you decide that this is the easiest way for to win then I suggest you parlay your bets. Parlays are stringing your bets over many bets. For example You can do a 5 team parlay meaning you pick 5 teams and they all have to win to win the bet. This is where you get the most bang for your buck. The odds are a lot lower if you  pick each teams individually. Instead of just picking one easy game that is obvious to you pick five. The more teams the higher the odds get. From personal experience I have won an 8 team parlay for $1,020. What a nice Sunday that was.

Betting the over/under is another route to go. The over/under is the amount of points you think will be accumulated over the span of the game. When you go to a sports book online or in Vegas they will have posted the over/under. So you decide if you think the number they came up with is to high or low. For example the Chicago Bears are playing the Cleveland Browns and the over/under is 60. There is no way both teams would average 30 points each so you would bet the under. In my opinion it is mostly a gut feeling of how well you know both teams that are playing and what offenses and defenses both teams have.

Betting on the spread is the standard for betting in football. The spread is the amount of points a team has to win by in order to win. Either a team lays or gives. Lays means that this team is the underdog and is  getting points even before the game has started. Gives means that this team is the favorite and is  loosing points even before the game has started. For example the Detroit Lions are favored by 2.5 points against the Atlanta Falcons. This means if you bet on the Lions they have to win by a field goal which is 3 points.

In conclusion betting on football can be lucrative and gut wrenching. The NFL has an on going slogan its what have you done for me lately.