1. How To Read Betting Lines Football
2. How To Understand Football Betting Lines Line
3. Betting On Football
4. What Do Betting Lines Mean

How to Use the Odds Comparison Tool

NFL moneyline betting continues to gain popularity as many begin to understand the value of moneyline bets, especially in betting the long shots. In this type of bet, your team needs only to win the game “straight up” (SU), and there is no requirement for how many points they need to win.

Compare odds across legal US sportsbooks at ScoreandOdds.com to help you profit over the course of the NBA season and into the NBA playoffs. Find out how to use the odds comparison tool, along with other NBA betting tips below.

When reading college football odds, the first thing you will see on the left is the time and date of the game. Next, you’ll see two numbers and the team names. Each team is assigned a rotation number. These numbers are standard on all sportsbooks and do a few things. The more you know and understand about NFL betting, the more likely you are to be able to win. Bet the NFL with Borgata: Risk-free first bet up to $300 There are several different types of bets. Pool plays ATS and straight up. NFL expert picks each week. Betting lines, odds, the weekly point spread, power rankings, predictions, previews, handicapping strategy, standings projections, schedules and fantasy tips. Sports betting picks in pro football games and other online gambling information. The best way to shop lines is to use our odds comparison tools, which you can find for NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAAB, NCAAF and NHL. In general most bookmakers apply the principle that the difference between betting on the favorite and the underdo is 20 cents. So if the favorite is -115 then the dog is -105. If the favorite is -125, then the dog is +105.

Are you in a state or traveling to a state with legal sports betting, such as Pennsylvania or New Jersey? Our odds comparison tools, which can be used on desktop or mobile, are perfect for any sports bettor looking for an edge.

The NBA odds comparison tool highlights the best spreads, totals and moneylines from the best legal US sportsbooks in the country. We know line-shopping (finding the best lines) can be a drag, especially in a sport that has multiple games nearly every day of the week like the NBA. By using Scores and Odds’ odds comparison tool, you outsource the line-shopping process during our daily NBA betting routine, saving you valuable time and money. Simply click on the kind of bets you want to see — spreads, totals or moneyline — where it says Bet Type. The best NBA odds will be outlined in red, showing you the best sportsbook to use anytime you want to bet on a basketball game.

Want to know something sweeter? Every sportsbook featured in our NBA odds comparison tool will have a welcome promotion, which could include free bets or deposit bonuses if you have not already signed up at their online sportsbook. Take advantage of all of the offers by clicking on the bet you want and sign up today!

Of course, if you are new to NBA betting, or sports betting in general, you will first want to understand exactly what you are looking at in terms of NBA odds, moneylines and point totals. A few of our favorite NBA betting tips won’t hurt you, either.

NBA Betting Glossary & Tips

Spread– Betting on the game spread (against the spread or ATS) is the most popular way to bet on the NBA. You will bet on either the favorite or the underdog to cover the spread. The favorite is the team giving or laying points (ex: Los Angeles Lakers -5.5). The underdog is the team getting points (ex: Boston Celtics +5.5).

By betting on the favorite, the team doesn’t merely need to win the game for you to win the bet. In the example above (Lakers -5.5), the Lakers need to win by 6 points or more if you bet on them. If they win by 5 points or fewer, the bet is graded as a loss.

NBA Betting Tip: Pay attention to the NBA schedule. Is a team traveling home after playing the second end of a back-to-back that went into overtime? They might be fatigued, and since the NBA is a long season (82 games), coaches often rest their star players. We saw this play out earlier this season when the Nets hosted the Grizzlies. The Nets were at home, but they were playing their third game in a row one night after returning from an overtime win in Boston. The Grizzlies were underdogs but had fresh legs. Memphis won the game 118-79.

Moneyline– By betting on the moneyline, you are betting on the game straight up, i.e., on who you think will win the game — no spread included. Favorites require bettors to risk more than they will win, while underdogs pay out more than is risked. Example: Lakers -200, Celtics +180. To win $10 on the Lakers, a bettor must risk $20. A bettor risking $10 on the Celtics will profit $18 if the Celtics win. It is more common to bet on the point spread in basketball, but moneylines are more popular for baseball and hockey betting.

NBA Betting Tip: Upsets are common throughout the long NBA season. Even a bad team can get hot from three and beat one of the better teams any given night. Tread carefully when considering betting on big moneyline favorites, especially if it is against a volatile team that takes a lot of threes.

Total(Over/Under) – A bet on an NBA point total is a bet on the combined number of points scored by both teams, overtime included. If you bet Under on a game total of 218, you want the combined score of both teams to be less than 218 (ex: 110-107).

NBA Betting Tips: React quickly to injuries. This is true for point-spread and moneyline betting as well. NBA teams often have late scratches that can dramatically affect lines and point totals. With a million other things going on for sportsbooks, it is crucial to stay on your toes and beat oddsmakers to the punch before they adjust to news.

Vigorish (vig) or Juice – The vig or juice is how sportsbooks profit, taking a cut from sports bettors when they place their bets. Sportsbooks typically have a vig of -110 on both sides of a bet, meaning you have to risk $11 for every $10 you want to win. Taking into account the vigorish, you need to win not half of your bets but at least 52.4% just to break even.

NBA Betting Tips: While -110 is most common, some sportsbooks will try to charge more, making it very difficult for bettors to profit long term. Always look at the vig. This is why it is so important to use an odds comparison tool. By visiting this page, you can easily find which sportsbooks are charging the least amount for your NBA betting picks.

More NBA Betting Terms

Parlay – Parlays involve two or more betting picks, all of which have to win for your parlay to cash. You have a four-team parlay, and only one pick loses? Tough luck, you lose the entire bet. The larger payouts in parlay bets are typically what attracts bettors. Two-team parlays usually pay 2.6-to-1, three-team parlays pay 6-to-1, four-team parlays pay 10-to-1, etc. Though we refer to these as “two-team parlays,” parlays can consist of picks on the point totals and sometimes even props. Use our parlay calculator for your convenience.

NBA Betting Tip: Remember, NBA lines are pretty efficient. It is tough enough to hit more than 50% of your bets. In a parlay, you have to hit all of your picks, making it even more difficult to win.

Teasers – Like a parlay, teasers require more than one pick, and all picks in your teaser must hit. Bettors like teasers because it is a way to move multiple point spreads (or totals) to their advantage. Since the points are adjusted in the bettor’s favor, teasers do not have as large of payouts as parlays

How To Read Betting Lines Football

NBA Betting Tip: Teasing is more popular in NFL betting, as a way to move through a few key numbers. There aren’t key numbers in basketball the way there are in football.

Live Betting (in-game) – Live betting, or in-game wagering, occurs after a game starts. Did you stay at work late and forget to place your bet before tip-off? Most US sportsbooks will have live lines available for you to bet on while the game is still in progress.

NBA Betting Tip: Leads in the NBA are very volatile throughout a given game. A team can easily be up by 20 points in the first half and end up losing. As JJ Apricena (Sports with Facts) has pointed out, rarely do NBA teams cover wire-to-wire against the spread. An NBA game is like a yoyo, built on constant runs, back and forth from both teams. You can often use live betting to get better numbers than were available before tip-off.

How to Read Betting Lines

If your sports betting experience consists mostly of office pools during March Madness or a casual wager between you and a friend while you watch the Super Bowl, the transition to serious sports betting means learning how to read betting lines. The biggest difference between making the kind of casual bets mentioned above and placing wagers with online sportsbooks or at brick-and-mortar bookshops is the use of sports betting lines. Casual wagers usually involve each person in the bet picking one team to win, then wagering an equal amount, say $20 or $30. Professional bookmakers, online sports betting exchanges, and sports betting facilities in casinos have a more complex system for offering wagers on sporting events, in part to ensure profit on the part of the book, and in part to present a standardized representation of odds.

Let’s start with the basics: what do sports bettors mean when they talk about a ‘line?’ The word line, in the language of a sportsbook, can refer to either the odds and/or a point spread in any sports contest. Let’s take a look at an imaginary line the way you’d read it off the board sitting in a Vegas sports betting lounge or on the screen at your online book. Let’s imagine a game between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys. Your book’s NFL betting line might look something like this:

DAL -7.5-110 -405
NYG +7.5-110 +300
56.5 ov-110

What may look like a jumble of words, numbers, and punctuation is actually a precise and easy-to-read breakdown of the various odds and point spread details your book is offering. Here is a breakdown of each unit of information given above. Once you understand each part of the jumbled details above, you’ll be able to read a sports betting line with confidence.

The Point Spread

Obviously, the first three letters on the top two lines of the three-line package of symbols represents a team in the game you’re wagering on; NYG stands for the New York Giants, while DAL stands for the Dallas Cowboys. The number next to each team’s name is known as the spread or the point spread. Wagers on the point spread are among the most popular sports wagers in the world. The reason this wager is popular is that it doesn’t matter which team wins or loses; what matters is the amount of points the teams score, and whether or not the team you place your money on beats the difference in points (the ‘spread’) or not.

Placing a point spread bet means gambling on how much a team will win or lose by. In our above example, the Cowboys are the favorite. How do we know that? The minus symbol in front of the point spread indicates that the bookmaker thinks the final score will have Dallas winning by 7.5 points or more. The underdog, in our example that’s the New York Giants, will always be indicated with a plus sign. If you wager on the Cowboys on the point spread, America’s Team will have to win by at least 8 points for your wager to pay off. Should the Cowboys win by less than 8 points, your bet is lost.

A wager on the Giants on the spread does not mean that New York has to win the game in order for you to win cash. All the G-Men have to do is come within 8 points of the ‘boys, and you’re a winner. You determine a winning or losing point spread by adding or subtracting 7.5 from the final score, depending on which side you laid your bet. If you’re confident that New York will at least come within a touchdown of beating the Cowboys, or beating them outright, then you’d wager on the spread in favor of New York.

A quick word on that annoying half point in the point spread – most lines you’ll come across will use half points, but it’s not standard practice across the board. When you see a line with a full number instead of a number with a half point, your wager could end up as a push. In our example, if the line were 7 instead of 7.5 and the final difference in points was exactly 7, your wager is returned to you, and neither you nor the book makes money.

What’s the function of the second number in the line?

The second number in our example (-110 for both teams) tells you how much you have to wager in order to win $100. It’s an easy way to calculate how much you’ll win if your bet pays off, presented in units of $100 at a time for simplicity’s sake. Most of the time, these two numbers will be the same, because oddsmakers want to set lines so that they get as much action on the underdog as on the favorite, guaranteeing them a profit. If a book gets a single bet of $110 (by a customer hoping to win $100) on the Cowboys and a single bet of $110 on the Giants, it will have taken in $220, but will only have to pay back $210 to whichever customer wins the bet. That’s a guaranteed profit of $10, and since sportsbooks take far more than a single bet in either direction, they stand to earn that seemingly small amount of profit many times over. The $10 difference between what you wager and what you win is known as juice or vig in the sports betting industry, and it’s the way books earn their bread and butter.

What does the last number in the line mean?

How To Understand Football Betting Lines Line

The last number in the top two rows of our sports line example is known as the money line. If you’re not interested in betting on the point spread, you can wager on a team to win outright. The plus sign next to the underdog (in our case, the Giants) indicates how much money you’ll earn for every $100 you bet on the money line. Conversely, the minus sign next to the favorite’s line tells you how much you have to wager in order to win $100. In our example, a $100 wager on the Giants earns you $300 should they pull off the upset, while a bet of $405 on the Cowboys will net you an extra $100. Representing odds in units of $100 makes placing different size bets easy; if you want to bet $10 on the Giants, you stand to earn $30 if they win, while a $40.50 bet on the Cowboys will net you an additional $10.

What does the bottom row of numbers and letters mean?

Betting On Football

The final line of information in our example line is the over-under. Wagers placed on the over-under have nothing to do with which team wins or the difference between the points they score, but rather the combined number of points both teams will score in the game.
The first number (56.5 in our sample line) is the book’s predicted total score, while the second number (110 in our Giants/Cowboys rivalry game) is how much a punter has to bet in order to win $100. If you were to bet the over-under on this game, you’ll have to decide whether you think the combined score of both teams will be higher or lower than the number put up by the book. Let’s say you bet the over, assuming the game will be a shootout between two talented offenses, you’re hoping that the final score will be anything that totals 57 or more. It could be Dallas 54, New York 3, or any other point combination that adds up to 57 or more and your bet will win. Betting the under means that the two teams cannot score more than 56 points combined, or else you lose your bet.

What Do Betting Lines Mean

Reading sports betting lines becomes easier with practice and experience with different sporting events. What looks like a jumble of letters and numbers actually gives a lot of information in a tiny amount of space. Different sports have different types of wagers available, such as the run line in baseball or the puck line in hockey, both of which replace the money line found in our football example. The more experience you have watching and gambling on different sports, the faster you’ll be able to read betting lines.