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How To Place Bets on NFL Games

 

In Las Vegas there are three basic bets you can make on an NFL game.

  1. You can bet the point spread.
  2. You can bet the over and under.
  3. You can bet the money line

The Point Spread

The team wagered on must win by the point spread given at the time of the wager. For point spread bets you are betting on what is called a 10 cent line. In other words you must bet $1.10 to win $1.00.With the vBookie mod here on totse we do not use the 10 cent line we use even money. So if you place a point spread bet with vBookie you bet $1.00 to win $1.00. If the adjusted score with the point spread is a tie then it is considered “no action” and your wager is refunded. In Las Vegas the point spread will fluctuate throughout the week leading up to the game for two reasons.

  1. Changes in the teams roster due to injuries or other events
  1. To adjust the flow of money.

Reason one is self explanatory. Reason two requires a bit of explanation. The reason the Las Vegas books use the 10 cent line is that in an ideal world they want half of the money to be bet on one side and half on the other side. That way the loser pay the winners and the book keeps 10% of the action. You see they are not in the business to guess who is going to actually win the game or who is going to cover the point spread. They are in the business to make money for handling the transactions. So what they do is this. When the line is first posted they choose a number that they feel will get half of their customers to bet on one side and half on the other. As the money comes in the adjust the spread as needed to balance the money as close as they can.

For example if a line opens with team A getting 7 points and team B giving 7 points if after 6 hours they find they have $100,000 dollars wagered on team A but only $50,000 on team B they know that they that they need to lower the spread as the public is largely of the opinion that team B will not win by 8 points or more. At this point the will adjust the line down until the money balances. Should things tip to far and more money comes in on team B than on team A then they slide the spread back up until it balances again. In fact if you sit in the sports book very early on Tuesday morning (around midnight or 1 AM) you can watch the line fluctuate quite rapidly as the first waves of money start coming in.

Here is an example of a typical point spread wager. The player bets $110.00 on Cleveland at -6 to beat San Diego. If Cleveland wins by more than 6 points the player wins $100.00. So the total payout including the initial wager would be $210.00. If Cleveland only wins by 6 points then the game is considered “no action” and all money is returned to the bettor. If the Cleveland wins by less than 6 points or loses the game the wager is lost.

The Over Under (Also known as Totals)

This simply a wager on the combined total score by both teams. You are betting if the combined total will be over or under the number set by the sports book. This is also set as a 10 cent line as explained above.

For example a player wagers $110.00 on the over in the Cleveland San Diego game. The over under for the game is 37. If the combined score of both teams is more than 37 points then the player would win $100.00 and the total payout would be $210.00. $100.00 for the win plus $110.00 for the original wager. If the combined score is 37 exactly the game is considered “no action” and the money is returned. If the combined score is less than 37 then the player loses his $110.00

The Money Line

When a player bets the money line team wagered on just has to win the game. The amount you lay or take for each game may vary. The money line that is read to at the time of your wager is the money line you keep regardless of any line movement. Just like the point spread the sports book will adjust the money line throughout the week for the same reasons as they adjust the point spread.

For example if the money line is Cleveland at -160 and San Diego at +260 and the player bets $160.00 on Cleveland if Cleveland wins then the player would lay win $100.00 and the total payoff would be $260.00. $100 for the win and $160 for the original wager If the player bet $100.0 on San Diego and they win the player would win $260.00. The total payoff would be $360.00, $260.00 for the win and $100.00 for the original wager.

We will be using the money line on vBookie here on totse for NFL games starting with week 6.

Other advanced wagering options include but are not limited to the following options listed below.

Half Time Wagers

Halftime wagering is simply a wager only on the score of the first, or second half of a contest. The line offered will be a point spread, a money line, or a combination of the two, but the wager applies only to the score of the halftime period specified. Other than that the betting is exactly the same as explained above.

Parlay Bets

This is a bet of 2 or more teams (selections) or propositions in no particular order. All teams wagered on in a parlay must win. If there is a tie, or “no action” among the selections made, the parlay reverts down to the next lowest number for payoff. In the case of a 2-team parlay, it will revert down to a straight wager. No parlay bets will be accepted where individual “selections” are connected. For example, you cannot parlay the over of the first half of a football game with the over of the total game, because the two are ‘connected. For example if a player want to make a 5 team parlay with the point spread on the following teams:

Cleavelan -7
NY Jets +3
New Orleans -4
New England -10
Dallas -8

If all of those games win the player is paid at anywhere between 20:1 and 25:1 depending on which sports book he bets at. For our example we will assume 20:1. Parlays are a very exciting way for the sports betting enthusiast to win a sizable amount of money with very little risk. The down side is the book is keeping a larger percentage of the action then they do on a 10 cent line. To simplify this think of it like betting double or nothing 5 times in row. So if you bet $5.00 on each decision and won all 5 decisions it would progress as follows.

  1. $5.00 becomes $10.00
  2. $10.00 become $20.00
  3. $20.00 becomes $40.00
  4. $40.00 becomes $80.00
  5. $80.00 becomes $160.00

So as you can see, with 20:1 odds on a $5.00 parlay you would win only $100.00 and not $160.00. This means that the book kept $60.00 for handling the 5 bets. That is a much higher percentage than the 10% they keep on a 10 cent or “dime” line.

Just look at the simple payout chart below to see how much you’ll win by betting just $25 on the parlay combinations at 20:1.

Typical Parlay Net Winnings for a $250 bet:

2 Teams $65
3 Teams $150
4 Teams $25
5 Teams $500
6 Teams $10,00
7 Teams $18,75
8 Teams $37,50
9 Teams $75,000
10 Teams $175,000

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