As you may know, there are many different betting options available to those who like to wager on the NFL, and one of the most popular is spread betting.
Betting on a team to beat the spread is available in other sports, too, notably basketball and in lower-scoring pursuits like hockey and soccer, so getting to grips with this market makes sense.
In this article, we’ll reveal what spread betting is, how you can use it in football betting, and, most importantly, offer some tips and strategies that will help you make the most of the spread odds available.
What is Spread Betting?
As you embark on your weekly bets, there’s a chance that many of you will adopt the same processes. You’ll visit a sports news site like ScoopSix, find out which teams are in form, are free of injuries/absentees, and then look to wager on them when playing against inferior opposition.
In these cases, the standard Moneyline odds won’t be value enough for you to bet, and so you need to be creative to enjoy the most juice from the selection. This is where spread betting comes in handy.
Think of the spread as a hypothetical head start or deficit. When a team has a points spread of -4.5, for example, they need to win by five points or more to clear their margin. So, for a hot favorite that you think will win comfortably – but where the Moneyline odds are too low – you can wager on that -4.5-point spread and hope they win by five or more.
Conversely, we can also wager on teams with a ‘+’ point spread.This is useful when you believe an underdog has not been valued correctly by the sportsbooks. To flip the example above, if we bet on a team with a +4.5-point handicap, we will be successful if our side wins the game, ties, or loses by four points or less. A five-point defeat, or higher, will see our stake lost.
Spread Bet Strategies
In essence, the strategies that you deploy in the Moneyline market can be replicated when spread betting.
Our first motivation is to bet rationally, which we can do by researching which teams to bet on – who is in form, who have their key players fit and available, who are strong on home soil (or on the road) and who are we handicapping as clear favorites to win the game?
On paper, there are usually lots of games where we can pick a winner, whether it’s in the NFL or any other competition, but we must work out whether that will be a narrow margin of victory or a much wider points win.
Let’s say the Kansas City Chiefs are playing the Denver Broncos. We expect the Chiefs to win easily, especially in KC, and so ordinarily, the spread would be tempting. But what if Patrick Mahomes is out of form? What if Tyreek Hill gets injured? Suddenly, their ability to clear the spread becomes much more difficult.
So there’s only one spread betting strategy you need: research, research, research! Information, and performance data, will be key allies as you look to become a successful sports bettor.
Spread Bet Roulette
Just to end the article, it’s worth noting that some casinos offer spread bet roulette.
Here, you can bet on which spread of numbers will win on the spin of the wheel. You can bet on a tiny spread, such as 1-2, or take a wider margin like 29-47, with the payouts differing based upon the size of the spread.
