All About American Football Odds

The ball is transferred by carrying it with oneself (rushing), or by throwing and passing from one member of one's own team to another (passing).

Points can be scored in a number of different ways, including passing the ball over the goal line, throwing the ball to a player who has crossed the goal line (which is a touchdown in both cases), or shooting through the goal posts (field goal). The winner is the team with the most points after the time has expired.

The game usually lasts 60 minutes divided in 4 periods of 15 minutes.

A moneyline bet is one in which you pick who will win the match. You don't need to predict other aspects of the game just choose the winner between team A and team B. Most beginners choose this type of bet because it seems the simplest.

American football spread

The most popular form of betting on American football is spread which is also called handicap betting. The best way to describe this form of betting is by example. So if you see the game between the New Orleans Saints and the Dallas Cowboys with a -3.5 points spread on New Orleans, what exactly does that mean?

This means that the Saints, in order to cover the spread, must win by a minimum of 4 points. On the other hand, if you're going to bet on the Cowboys, you win if they win or lose by a maximum of three points.

In essence, the bookmaker thereby estimated the margin that makes the game 50-50. In our example, the American football bookmaker has set the spread for New Orleans to -3.5 because he believes there is a 50% chance that Chicago will win by at least 4 points or a 50% chance that it won't.

Unfortunately, if we know that bookmakers do not offer "even money" odds of 2.00, and it is usually odds of 1.85 to 1.90 on spread betting, this means that you need to win at least 52.5% of your bets to break even. This is harder than it seems. Either way, to be successful long-term, the golden ratio would be 55.5%.

Given the fact that NFL is the most popular league in the USA, every American football sportsbook offers a variety of lines on the NFL and college football games. Knowing that spread bets are the most common line played on American football, the bookmakers give extra effort to make them as good as it gets.

Still, that doesn’t mean there are not any differences regarding the odds and the lines between online sportsbooks. American football is a sport in which changing one point in the spread is making the biggest difference in all the sports.

Usually, there is at least one week between two games a team plays. In that time many events can occur that will influent the odds and the lines. This is the period when the odds comparison should take place. Any significant change can be used for placing a bet on odds that would bring in good value.

Hard work and research are two indispensable American football betting online strategies. You need to absorb as much information as possible about the team you are betting on, as well as their opponent. American football is an aggressive sport that often leads to player injuries.

To be aware of whether any key players will be absent from the upcoming event, check the Team Injury Reports. The absence of a key player can lead to a drastic decrease in the performance of the entire team.

In addition to this, one should investigate the statistics of each individual player, the performance of the team in the previous season, see the importance of the matches and other factors that can affect the final outcome.

Also, home field advantage is important in American football games. Do your research by comparing the success of your team's home and away games. According to general statistics, teams playing at home win 60% of the time. Teams playing away may be at a disadvantage due to crowd effect, travel fatigue, time zone difference, and the like.

Finally, we would like to mention that coaches and their tactics play an important role in the final outcome of each game. Coaches use repetitive strategies that can be very good against some opponents and fail against others.