Moneyline parlays, fractional odds, football lines, etcetera. With 32 teams and eight divisions betting on American football, or just plain football as it’s referred to in Canada and the United States, it is not super easy for the uninitiated. But it’s easy enough to get the hang of once you understand the basics. In this post, we’ll go through the a-b-c of football betting.
In 1992 President George H.W Bush outlawed sports betting outside of Nevada, Oregon, Delaware, and Montana with the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. But in 2018, the act was overturned by the Supreme Court, which meant that at least 26 states started offering some form of legal sports betting.
The NFL, who had been opposed to sports betting until the ruling, leaned into the new opportunities with open arms, offering football fans many ways to wager in on their games. If you’re eager, you can fast forward your learning curve on football and other sports betting—you can learn about betting at Bet Nj.
May the Odds be Forever in Your Favour
First things first. To start betting on football, you need to understand the concept of betting odds in this ball-game. There are three formats of betting odds in American football:
- Moneyline Odds
- Fractional Odds
- Decimal Odds
When it comes to pay-outs, these odds work the same way.
Moneyline Odds
Moneyline odds are simple. You choose the team or player you believe will win. If you wagered on the “right” team or player, the booker/booking site would pay out your earnings.
Trying to understand how it pays can be difficult. Both sides of the money line wager are always paid on a different schedule. The team or player expected to win will be listed with a minus sign. The underdog team or players will be listed with a plus sign. The plus side pays more than the original money line wager, while the minus side pays less than the original wager.
Moneyline Parlays
A parlay is a wager that consists of multiple results.
Fractional odds
Fractional odds are also known as British odds. They are written with a hyphen or a slash. A fractional listing of 6/1 would mean that you win 6 dollars against every 1 dollar you wager. This is after receiving your 1 dollar back.
Decimal Odds
The decimal odds number shows the amount you will win for every 1 dollar you wager. The number in decimal odds represents the total return instead of the profit. Decimal odds are also known as European odds and are considered easier to understand because it is easy to spot the favorites and the underdogs by looking at the numbers.
Different Types of Bets
There are seven different ways to bet on American football.
The point spread is the most popular way of betting. If you wager randomly on point spread over a large sample size, you will have a 50 percent strike rate.
The other six ways to bet on American football is:
- Over-under bet
- Futures-and outright bets
- Winning margin bets
- Scores props
- First-quarter props and first half props
- In-Play betting