Jan 21, 2021 Beginning with the point spread, this is arguably the leading NFL betting market and where you will need to start when gaining an understanding of NFL betting odds. In basic terms, the point spread is used by the sportsbook to level the playing field when there is a favorite to win the game. The odds in NFL betting are really easy to understand and they can be mastered quite quickly. A bettor with just a few months under his belt can have the same automaticity with the odds as a bettor who has been doing it for decades. Share this article with friends.

NFL football and betting go hand-in-hand: Despite the denials ofNFL and especially NCAA officials, betting and football have been inextricablylinked since the dawn of the big league in the Roaring 20s. And as footballsteadily gained in popularity until finally becoming the USA’s favoritetelevised sport, the influence of betting on the NFL has changed the very waywe discuss and analyze all major sports – not to mention untold billions ofdollars changing hands.

Three major developments led to the dominance of NFL betting linesover North American sport. Seminal to betting today are the “point spread” and“over/under” bets. The creation of standardized forms of these bets is creditedto Charles K. McNeil, a small-time gambler who was quite deft with mathematics.

Whereas prior to McNeil’s innovations of the late 1930s, the would-be NFL bettor would propose a bet to a bookie, say a certain team wins by a certain number of points, and the bookie would offer odds. McNeil’s creation of pointspread – and later the over/under – represent an agglomeration of all odds on all reasonable possible wagers on a given game. But never mind the mathematics: The point (so to speak) here is that in NFL betting (and quite a few other sports), the most popular bets week to week all begin “I’ll take team X plus/minus the points…” and “I’ll take the over on…”

The second key event took place on the field: The 1968 NFLChampionship Game (in which the Baltimore Colts entered as 3½-point favoritesat the New York Giants). This game is still, even in our age given to rampantsports hyperbole, considered one of the greatest NFL games ever played. Thisgame also helped show the American audience the appeal of the point spread inpredicting games – though the college game had offered pointspread betting fordecades, the ’58 game moved professional football up to the level of popularityenjoyed by college ball.

Finally came the Supreme Court decisions regarding theconstitutionality of banning sports betting in early 2018; with these rulingsallowing individual states and Native American nations to decriminalize andregulate online sports betting. Just as a handful of European nations simultaneouslygot to passing legalization laws in time for the 2010 World Cup, the statesearliest to legalize sports betting (Delaware, Mississippi, New Jersey and WestVirginia) all did so by the 2018 NFL season’s opening game; the West Virginiastate legislature managed to get the bill enacted into law just one week beforethat season’s first TNF game.

Why this stampede to decriminalize? Statistics have estimated thatup to 80% of all betting in the U.S. is done on NFL and college football games.Estimates of non-regulated gambling alone in the U.S. were estimated atanywhere between $95 billion and $150 billion per year as of 2017. So, yeah.

NFL Betting Lines: The gold standard forsportsbook bets

Understanding Nfl Odds

This combination of streamlining football betsand marketability of football has resulted in the NFL betting lines we all takefor granted today. As an example, here’s the full standard line from a recentinfamous NFL game:

New England Patriots -2.5 -130 56.5
Los Angeles Rams +2.5 +120 56.5

Nfl Odds

The recent rise in the popularity of sports betting has evolved NFL betting lines in the public consciousness from incomprehensible cipher to a standard employed by virtually every other sport; even soccer with its low scores employs pointspread bets, very often set at +/-0.5 goals. When the standardization of NFL betting lines to present the popular wagers in the order of point spread, money line (i.e. the odds on a team to win a given game straight-up), over/under, but few deviations of this presentation may be found.

The only drawback to usage of what is now called the “Americanodds format” for the money line is its relative counterintuitive-ness andfrequent lack of easy calculability. In the NFL betting lines shown above, thePatriots have a money line of -130, meaning that if one bets $130, the win is$100. So if I’m wagering $500, the return is…$384.61. Of course.

However, even this tiny bit of complexity is a recent innovationto NFL betting lines that has come with technology that allows transactions –and changes to the odds – in a fraction of a second, and thus more precision tothese lines has resulted in the 21^st century.

Understanding Nfl Odds Fantasy

So check out the up-to-the-minute NFL betting lines available forthis week’s games at any NFLbets-partnering sportsbook site today!