By: Fabiola Grosshan
Submitted: 2010-12-02 07:44:42 | Word Count: 630
In football and sports betting in general, the point spread is that one type of wager that best reflects the movement of the odds and lines. Football spreads serve the purpose of balancing the probability of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the margin set for the point spread. After this adjustment is fulfilled, bettors can determine the ATS (Against the Spread) result, and use it as a guideline in their betting.
Football Spreads as the Most Popular Form of Betting the NFL
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Thanks to the great exposure and betting action it enjoys from the betting community, point spread betting is by far the most common form of betting the NFL. Revealing bettors the estimated difference between the favorite and the underdog in any NFL match up using a simple point system, football spreads adjust the projected final score of a game so that the relative difference between the two competing teams is also reflected in an odds format.
More often than not, investing in a football spread will require you to pay the bookie an additional 10% of the wager’s value, which represents the vigorish – a commission perceived by bookmakers to process any bets that are laid out. Therefore, in most situations you will need to invest $110 to win $100.
Tips on Reading Football Spreads
The typical way to display football spreads on betting boards is to list the home team after the visiting team, and to show the favored team with a minus sign (e.g. Chicago Bears -7). This tells you that the Bears will be laying off 7 points to the underdog (say Dallas Cowboys), which means that in order for you to collect on a wager supporting the Bears, the team would need to win by a margin bigger than 7 points. A wager placed on the underdog, in our case the Cowboys, would become a winner if the underdog won the game by any score, or if they lost by less than 7 points.
If after the final blow the scoreboard shows the exact same difference as the point spread, in our case the 7-point margin, what we get is “a push”, a scenario in which respectable sportsbooks guarantee a complete refund on the wager. The refund is non-discriminative, which means both bettors supporting the favorite and those supporting the underdog will get their money back.
Football Spreads Have a Tendency to Fluctuate
Depending on various factors, once you place down a wager the spread may vary significantly and in either direction. Any late adjustments brought to original football lines, caused by either disproportionate betting action, last minute injuries and weather reports, or other events that weren’t accounted for in the initial projection of the lines, can change the figures of a football spread by a given margin. However, each bet is handled based on the point spread that was valid at the time the wager was registered.
The Recommended Approach to Betting Football Spreads
Especially if you are new to the football betting scene, and thus, unaccustomed to football spreads, it is advisable not to rush at things in the beginning. First, you will need to identify and stick by at least two good internet sportsbooks to compare different football betting lines and odds, and to lay down your wagers. Once you have this step covered, make sure you do your homework in terms of team handicapping and only go for knowledgeable, properly researched picks. To polish your betting skills and work on an effective betting strategy, get plenty of practice with low-stake wagers and make a habit of comparing your predictions with those of expert handicappers.
