Despite not being America’s pastime like baseball is, the NFL has taken over the sports betting landscape. No sport is more popular to bet on than the NFL. Luckily, OddsJam has you covered, giving you all the NFL odds you need.
With the NFL becoming king in terms of the number of bets placed, it is also important to learn exactly how to bet on the NFL. Before you can make money betting on the NFL, you need to invest in your betting education.
As with most other sports, betting on the NFL has three major markets. They are: Point Spread, Money Line, and Total Points. Let’s go over each one, in order.
What is an NFL Point Spread?
Betting on an NFL point spread allows you to bet on how many points you think a team is going to win or lose by, as opposed to betting on who you think is going to win.
So, instead of needing a team to win the game straight up, if you bet on the favorites spread you need them to win by a certain number of points in order to win your wager.
Of course, the opposite side is true for the underdog. Betting on an underdog’s point spread means they can either win the game straight up or lose by less than the spread amount, and you would have won your bet.
What is an NFL Moneyline?
The next main market to discuss betting on the NFL is betting on a team’s money line. Luckily, a money line bet is the easiest concept in sports to understand: you are betting on who you think is going to win the game.
No longer are you banking on a team to win or lose by a certain amount, but instead just win the game straight up. As I said, the easiest bet in sports!
What is an NFL Total, or Over/Under?
Of the 3 main markets, the total is the only one that isn’t directly involved with the outcome of the game in terms of the winner or the loser. A totals bet, also called an over/under, is when you are betting on the number of points to be scored in the game. For this bet you are betting on the final score being over or under the game total amount.
Sports bettors have fallen in love with the total because it is a way you can get some action on a game without needing to back any of the teams. Over bettors specifically enjoy rooting for points, while under bettors are hoping for a defensive showdown.
Now that we have gone over the 3 main markets of a point spread, moneyline, and total, there are still more bets to be placed. These are called prop bets- which include both game props and player props.
What are NFL Game Props?
Another type of prop that is available to bettors are game props. Game props provide more options for an NFL bettor to wager on without needing to bet on the direct result of the game.
There are a ton of different game prop options available to NFL bettors, with some being much more popular than others. One of the more popular options for a game prop is a team total. A team totals bet is similar to a normal game total in which you are betting on the total. But, the main difference is that you are betting on one specific team to go over or under their point total, instead of the game total of both teams.
What are NFL Player Props?
Lastly, let’s talk about player props. Of all the different types of markets, player props are the ones that have gained the most popularity. This can most likely be attributed to the rise of fantasy sports, and especially daily fantasy.
Some NFL bettors are fans of specific players as opposed to teams. Betting on player props allows these types of fans to root for these players instead of the team the player is on. In terms of what player props are available to bet on, the answer is pretty much everything.
Essentially, if there is a counted stat in the NFL then it can be bet on player prop. This includes every position (QB, RB, WR, TE) as well as player props for defensive players as well.