NFL Spreads, Lines and Totals
The Importance Of Shopping Around for the Best NFL Odds and Lines
One of the most important aspects of being a successful sports bettor is shopping around for the best NFL odds. Different sportsbooks, like BetOnline or MyBookie, offer a different betting line on NFL games, which means that if you have multiple accounts at multiple sportsbooks (which doesn’t cost you anything to do), you can always make sure that you’re getting the best NFL spreads.
We’ve created this tool so that you can quickly scan all of the major sports betting sites and see which show has the best NFL lines on the underdog, which book has the best line NFL over under odds and to just generally find the best outlet for you to place your bet. By shopping around for the best NFL spreads, you’ll lose less and win more over time.
Understanding The NFL Odds
If you’re new to sports betting, you might see a lot of numbers above and wonder what they all mean. In this section, we’ll walk you through that, so that it’s all clear.
NFL Point Spread
The NFL point spread is simply the margin of victory. If you bet on a team, they’ll have to win by that margin for you to win your bet. Here’s an example that a sportsbook like Bovada might post:
New England Patriots -3.5
Green Bay Packers +3.5
The first thing you’ll want to notice is the minus sign, which indicates the favorite and the amount that they have to win by. In this case, the Patriots must win by four points or more to cover the spread. On the other hand, the Packers can lose by three, two, one or tie, or win the game, you’d win if you bet the Packers.
See: Point Spread Betting
NFL Moneyline
The moneyline takes all margins out of the equation. This bet strictly focuses on who’ll win the game outright. Let’s take a look at another example:
New England Patriots -350
Green Bay Packers +290
In this case, if you bet New England and they win, you win your bet. The same goes with the Packers. What the numbers beside the team names focus on is the payout that you’ll receive.
The minus sign indicates the amount you have to bet to win $100 while the plus sign denotes how much money you’ll win if you bet $100. A $350 bet on New England would return $100 in profit while a $100 bet on Green Bay would return $290 in profit. Of course, you’re free to be however much you want but this gives you an idea of the payouts.
See: Moneyline Betting
NFL Totals
If you’re not sure who’ll win the game outright, you can bet on the total, which is also known as the over-under. In this case, you’re betting on whether you think the combined final score of the two teams will go over or under the set number. Let’s say Green Bay is facing New England and the total is set at 50.5. Final scores of 33-30, 29-25 or 50-10 would result in overs. However, scorelines of 40-7, 19-17 or 23-10 would all constitute unders.
See: Over/Under Betting
