How to bet on football
Football is the most heavily bet sport in the United States, and the line on a pro game is the most carefully made number a book puts up. There are a dozen ways to bet it. They do not cost the same.
Spread, moneyline, total
Most football money goes on the point spread. The favorite gives points: a team at -3 has to win by more than 3, and the other side at +3 can lose by 1 or 2 and still cover, with the standard price -110 on either side (see spreads). The moneyline is a bet on who wins, with the price doing the work the points did. The total is a bet on whether the combined score goes over or under a number.
Around those three sits the rest of the menu. Props are bets on a player or an event inside the game. Parlays tie several bets into one ticket. Teasers let you move the spread and pay you less for it. Futures are bets on the season (the division, the conference, the title), and live betting runs while the game is being played.
What each one costs you
| Bet | Usual price | The book's cut |
|---|---|---|
| Spread or total | -110 each side | 4.5% |
| Two-way prop | -115 each side | 6.5% |
| Two-team parlay | -110 legs | 8.9% |
| Three-team parlay | -110 legs | 13.0% |
Props are often dealt at -115 or worse, and many are offered one way only, so you can't see the cut at all. The parlay figures come from the parlays page, where the table runs to five legs.
The book earns least on the bet at the top of that table. It is also the bet a book advertises least, and that is no accident. I'd stick mostly to straight bets on sides and totals for exactly that reason.
What winning takes
At -110 you need to win 52.38 percent of your bets to break even. Over 100 bets, risking $110 to win $100 each time:
- 50 winners: you are down $500.
- 52 winners: you are down $80.
- 55 winners: you are up $550.
Five games in a hundred separate a steady loser from a clear winner. Very few people hold 55 percent over several seasons, and anyone who tells you he does should be able to show the bets.
Getting a better number
Some books deal -105, which drops the break-even from 52.38 percent to 51.22. That is most of the distance between a small loser and a player who gets his money back, and it costs you nothing but the time to look.
The half point matters more in football than anywhere else. Games land on a margin of 3 more than any other number, with 7 next, so getting +3.5 where another book has +3 is worth more than any other half point on the board. If I could only shop one thing all season, it would be that.
Timing helps as well. Recreational money usually comes late in the week and leans to favorites and overs, so if you like a favorite, the early number is often the better one, and if you like the underdog, it can pay to wait.
All of it comes down to having more than one place to bet and checking at least two before every bet. Our list of sportsbooks is there for that.
The front of the app
The book's edge is biggest on the things the app puts in front of you first: same game parlays, touchdown scorer props, boosted parlays, live betting during the game. Prime-time games draw the most casual money, so that is where the menu is longest.
I don't say never bet them. I say know that a five-team parlay carries a cut over 20 percent, and stake it like entertainment.
Placing the bet
Open an account with a book that is allowed to take bets where you live, and deposit. Find the game, tap the price you want, enter the stake. Before you confirm, read the slip: the team, the number and the price. Minus 3 at -120 is not the bet you thought you were making at -110.
Stake 1 or 2 percent of your bankroll on a game and set a loss limit for the weekend. A full Sunday card is not a reason to bet every game on it. The book has to put a number on every game; you only have to bet the ones where you think it is wrong.