• How Do Football Spreads Work
• How Football Spreads Work
• How Does Football Pool Spread Work

A team favored by -7 must win the game by eight or more points to win the bet. If the team wins by seven, the result is a “push” and the bet is refunded. A spread of +7 means the team must win the game or lose by fewer than seven points to win the bet. A loss by seven would result in a push. The point spread levels the playing field, making betting on either the favorite or the underdog equally attractive. Either the favorite has to win by the margin listed, or the underdog has a buffer to lose the game by that margin, or win it outright. By utilizing odds in various ways bookmakers are attempting to get an equal number of wagers on each team. In doing so, they are able to ensure that they make cash no matter who wins. When reading college football odds, the first thing you will see on the left is the time and date of the game. In spread betting, the favorite has to win by a certain number of points for the bettors who pick them to cash in. On the other hand, the underdog ‘gets’ points, meaning that bettors who back them will see a profit even if they lose, so long as it’s by less than the spread. The spread is intended to create an equal number of wagers on either side for the bookmaker, where the implied probability is 50% for both sides of the wager. Here is how the point spread works. Say the New England Patriots are playing the Pittsburgh Steelers and NFL oddsmakers have New England as -4 point favorites over the Steelers.

How College Football Odds Work: Lines, Point Spreads and Over/Unders

If you’re going to bet on college football odds, it’s essential to understand each aspect of odds listing, including the rotation number, point spread, moneyline and over/under. You’ll often find different terms used to describe these with the rotation number called the number, point spread shortened to spread, moneyline to line and over/under simply called the total. These are all lumped together under the term odds.

Odds are basically a way of leveling the playing field and in college football due to the fact that there are hundreds of mismatches per year the field really does need to be leveled. By utilizing odds in various ways bookmakers are attempting to get an equal number of wagers on each team. In doing so, they are able to ensure that they make cash no matter who wins.

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. First, it creates a certain order for the games as each matchup is listed in numerical order. The other thing the number does is it allows bettors to refer to the game and team without having to mention the team name or anything else.

Let’s say on a matchup between Ohio State and Wisconsin. If Wisconsin is the home team, the Buckeyes are listed first and given the number 109, then the Badgers would be listed second and would be 110. When placing a bet over the phone or at a land-based sportsbook you simply need to mention the team’s number.

After the teams, the various odds are listed. First will be the point spread. There may or may not be a moneyline, as sometimes a book will list these separately and finally the over/under is given.

The point spread will list one team in the negative and the other in the positive. (Unless neither team is favored, then they will be listed as EVEN or PICK). The club posted in the negative with a minus sign is favored and so the bookies take points away from them, which means that team must win by at least a certain number of points to cover the spread. The underdog will have a plus sign and will cover if they win outright or lose by less than the posted number.

This game may have Ohio State at -7.5 and Wisconsin at +7.5. If you bet on Ohio State at -7.5, which makes them the favorite, they must win by 8 or more for you to collect your winnings. On the other hand when wagering on Wisconsin, the dog in this point spread, the Badgers will pay off if they lose by less than 8 or win outright.

Sometimes you’ll find a spread listed as a whole number. Decimals or fractions are often used and do prevent ties but if in our example the spread was set at 7 with the Buckeyes being the favorite and they win by 7, then the game is a tie. That’s called a push. The result of a push is all bets are off and all money wagered is returned.

Although the odds on a spread bet are often listed as being even at 1:1, the fact is they are 0.90:1, which is a bit less than even. How does this work? Often in the point spread you’ll see next to each spread number -110. This tells you how much you have to wager to make $100. Thus, with the point spread -100 will always be listed, which means if someone wagers $110, they will make a $100 profit if they win. (If betting $11.00, the payout would be $10.00)

The moneyline works differently. With this type of wager whichever team wins outright pays off. There is no spread. How does the line work? The favorite is listed with a minus sign and a number. That number is the amount of cash that must be bet in order to win $100. The underdog is posted with a plus sign in front of a number. The number is how much a sports bettor wins on a $100 wager.

Taking the same matchup and odds, Ohio State would be listed at -360 and Wisconsin at +280. To take the Buckeyes, who are favored, a bettor would wager $360 to win $100. On the other hand when taking the dog, which in this case is Wisconsin, $100 is bet to win $280.

If Ohio State won and you bet to win $100 on the Buckeyes you would receive $100 plus your original stake of $360 returned back to you. Conversely if you laid $100 on Wisconsin and the Badgers pulled the upset you would receive $280 plus the $100 back that you used to place the bet.

There is a correlation between the point spread and the moneyline. You’ll find that these vary a bit from book to book and will move depending on the amount of action a book receives on the spread or moneyline, but they basically work like this:

The final type of bet you’ll find listed when looking at standard college football odds is the over/under. This is a projection of the total number of points that may be scored. It is usually listed as a fraction with the stake listed as it is in the spread (-110).

With the over/under or total, bets are being made on what the total score may be. In our example which features two solid defenses and good offenses, the total might be around 41. If OSU scores 24 and Wisconsin 20, the total would be 44 or over the 41. If the Buckeyes scored 21 and the Badgers 14, then the total would be 35 so the under would win. Once again sometimes, if the total is a whole number, the result may be a push. That results in all bets simply being returned.

Once you understand how odds in college football are expressed, you can use them to start to determine where your money should go. Be sure to see our college football odds page that connects you with the top sportsbooks on the Internet. The odds makers are trying to even out all bets. Your job is to determine on which side of the point spread, line or over/under it goes.

Football betting explained, how football odds work

Football bettors world-wide have a good understanding of how the football odds work, but for those of you who are absolutely new to this area of gambling, we have done our best to explain football betting to you in the simplest way possible. Before we begin, note that this is a brief and a basic guide to football betting and the works of the odds. If you are past the beginner stage, you should skip this guide as it will not teach you anything new - visit our betting tips section for intermediate and expert advice. But if your are a newbie in the sports betting, read on to learn about the football odds and how betting on football works.

Ok, if you are a beginner bettor, you have two big questions ahead of yourself - how the whole football betting thing works and how the odds, spread, totals etc. work. We will answer theses questions below in the simplest way possible; don't worry, examples will be included.

Let's begin with football betting explained. Football betting is basically risking money on one or more football games with the purpose of guessing the correct outcome of the football game or games. You place a wager with a sportsbook on a football game and if your prediction is correct - you win money relative to the odds on the correct outcome, and if you are wrong - you lose your wager. In this way football betting is not much different than betting on any other sport. The difference comes when we look at the odds:

How football odds work - this is where the complicated part of football betting comes. When wagering on a football game, you will have three basic choices - line, point spread and total, all three commonly referred to as 'odds'. Let's look at all three types of football odds with an example. Here are the odds on the Indianapolis Colts vs. Green Bay Packers football game at the online sportsbook Bookmaker:

If this is your first time looking at football odds, the numbers probably mean nothing to you, so let's break them down. In the first column are the football teams competing, in this case the Colts and the Packers. The second column shows the point spread on the game, the third column is the total and in the forth column are the betting lines. We now know what the odds arrangement means, but still have no idea what the terminology stands for. So let's go ahead and explain each of the football betting odds we just mentioned.

The point spread (column 2) - the football point spread is the most popular form of odds on football. In its simplicity, the point spread is a points handicap for the team with the plus '+' sign. In the above example, the plus sign is for the Green Bay Packers and the value is '1', which means that the odds makers are giving the Packers one point advantage, i.e. the game starts from the result 'Indianapolis 0 - Green Bay 1' and then you ad the points scored in the game. The number '-110' behind the spread is the payout on that bet. If you bet the spread on the Colts and they win the game by more than one point (i.e. final score-1), your wager will pay out on -110. Here is the best place to explain what that -110 means. In betting, using American odds, the payout takes the form '-' or '+' and then a number, in this case -110. If the sign in front of the number is minus, the number shows you how much you have to risk in order to win $100. In the above case, if you bet on the Colts covering the spread (i.e. the Colts win by more than 1 point) you have to bet $110 to win $100. If the sign in front of the number was '+', the number shows you how much you will win if you bet $100. For example, if the payout on the odds was +190, this means that for every $100 you bet, you will win $190.

The total (column 3) - the total in football betting is the combined score of the game, i.e. the Colts points combined with the Packers points = total points. The odds makers employed by the sportsbooks evaluate past performance (betting trends) and current team conditions and choose a number that best reflects the possible total outcome of the football game. In the example above, the odds makers have decided that the most likely total of the scores by the Packers and Colts will be 47 points and you have to decide whether the final score total will be OVER 47 points or UNDER 47 points (Over is marked with 'o' and Under is marked with 'u'). Either way you chose, if you are correct you will win $100 for every $110 wagered (-110). If the final score total of the football game is exactly 47 points the bet is called 'no action', meaning you neither win nor lose, similar to 'push' in blackjack or a draw.

The betting line (column 4) - the betting line is he easiest to play, you simply have to guess which football team will win the game. In the above example, the betting line on the Colts is -120 - means you will have to bet $120 to win $100 if Indianapolis wins the game outright and the betting line on the Packers is 'EV', which stands for 'EVEN', or you will get even money if the Packers win the game ($100 for every $100 bet). Using the betting lines in football is the easiest way to call a team 'favorite' or 'underdog' - if the odds on a football team have the minus '-' sign in front, this means that the team is favorite to win the game (you have to bet more to win less than what you bet), if the football team has a plus '+' sign in front of its odds, the team is underdog (you will get even money or win more than your bet).

And here you have it - the football betting explained and how the football odds work. Note, this is just the basic explanation of football betting, read the rest of our free guides to learn the tips and tricks of betting on football.

How Do Football Spreads Work

See Also:

How Football Spreads Work

How Does Football Pool Spread Work

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