If you landed here you must looking to get your money down on the games but want to get the lowdown on all of the NFL bet options available before starting out. The NFL offers a punter many ways to wager on the games from side bets to pleasers and teasers there will be something that will suit your style of play. The NFL season doesn’t offer up the same amount of action that baseball provides but it does have a preseason, regular season and playoffs that can keep you busy from early August until the Super Bowl in February. Below we’ll give you information on what a type of bet is and how to place the wager at a sports book.
NFL Point Spread Betting
The Point Spread is a handicap used by the odds maker at a sports book with the intent on getting balanced action on both teams. For example it could be Week 5 in the season and the Dallas Cowboys are playing the New England Patriots with starting quarterback Tony Romo on the sidelines with a back injury. The public would be lining up to bet on the Patriots with a backup at quarterback at the helm for the Cowboys. That’s where the handicap of the point spread comes in. If New England was a 14 point favorite in the game then it would be likely that Dallas Cowboys would get as good share of the bets at plus 14 points and New England a lesser share having to win by more than 14 points for the bettor to win. The point spread odds for this factitious match would like this.
Dallas Cowboys +14
New England Patriots -14
NFL Moneyline Wagering
Like point spread betting the moneyline wager has a handicap but instead of points it is with money. We’ll keep with the Dallas at New England game we used above. In this scenario you might see as moneyline like below. If you thought that New England may is as close to a guarantee to win you would have to wager $985 to win $100. If you thought that Dallas could pull off the big upset you’d be rewarded with $675 for every $100 you bet.
Dallas Cowboys +675
New England Patriots -985
NFL Total Betting
Sometimes you don’t particularly like either side in the game based on the lines offered up then the total is another option on the game. The sports book sets a total line for the football game and in the example match he set the total line at 41. The bettor can choose whether he thinks the combined points of the two teams at the end of the game will either go over or under the total line. Maybe you think that points will be hard to come by for the Cowboys with the backup behind center and that the improved Dallas defense can limit the scoring of the Brady led Patriots, then you’d take UNDER the total line of 41 in this match. If you thought that Brady is going to have a career day and that even without Romo the Cowboys should be able to pass at will against the New England secondary you should take the OVER 41
Dallas Cowboys Over 41
New England Patriots Under 41
NFL Parlay Betting
The dictionary explanation for a parlay is “A bet comprising the sum of a prior wager plus its winnings or a series of bets made in such a manner”. The layman’s explanation would be a group of bets on events that must all win to have a winning bet. Most sportsbooks will offer parlay bets on up to 12 games and some will combine sports and may have a cap at 25 or more events. An NFL parlay based on teams using a standard point spread line may look like below. The example is a 4-team parlay and as you can see if you get all four events correct it can be very profitable. Keep in mind though that this is more of a fun bet that you can use to reach for the stars each week and should rarely be used in this format if you want to have long term success betting the NFL.
NFL Four Team Parlay
Chicago Bears +5½ -110 vs Green Bay Packers
Houston Texans -1 -120 vs Kansas City Chiefs
New York Jets -3 -115 vs Cleveland Browns
Buffalo Bills +2½ -110 vs Indianapolis Colts
Risking $100 to Win $1149
NFL Teaser Betting
A teaser bet is similar to a point spread parlay with the difference being in the handicap. When wagering on a football teaser a bettor gets a credit of points commonly between 6 -10 points at most betting establishments. Those points are used to add points to an underdog or minus points from a favorite. Using a 6 point teaser a 6.5 point favorite would become a 1 point favorite where the team basically just has to win the game and the 7 poi9nt underdog would get an additional 6 points to make it plus 13.5 points with the bettor getting the money with any result less than a two touchdown win by the favorite.
NFL Future Bets
A future bet is wager is exactly what you’d think it is “a wager on an event in the future”. Most of these bets are on championships or titles, so in NFL the most popular futures would be the Super Bowl, American Football Conference title and National Football Conference title. The bookmaker puts out odds on each team eligible for the win and it is based on the past results and public perception of the teams. For example if you like the Green Bay Packers and they win Super Bowl 50 you’ll only be rewarded with $550 for every $100 wagered compared to betting on the Raiders who would pay $10000 for a $100 bet.
Below we have listed the 2015/2016 Football Season Future Betting Odds
AFC Championship Odds
NFC Championship Odds
Super Bowl Future Betting Odds
NFL Prop Betting
NFL prop bets cover a large group of wagers including team things like what will be the longest field goal kicked in a game, sacks, offensive yards, points. It can also be player bets such as how many yards will manning throw for in a certain game, how many yards rushing a running back will get etc. A prop bet can also be in the form of a match up for example Minnesota is playing Buffalo and Adrian Peterson may be -16 yards over LeSean McCoy meaning that if you bet Peterson he would need over 16 yards more rushing yards over McCoy and on the flip side McCoy would need to not have more than 16 yards less than Peterson.