Sports betting football pointspreads are the main way that most people wager on football at the sportsbook.Sports betting football pointspreads are the main way that most people wager on football at the sportsbook. The online sports betting gambler will either take the favorite at minus points or the underdog at plus points.
Sports betting football lines are pretty easy to understand. For example, let’s say the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs were playing in Kansas City. The sports betting board might read “New York Jets +3/Kansas City Chiefs-3. This would mean that if a sports betting gambler took Kansas City, he would need the Chiefs to win by more than 3 points for the wager to win. If an online sports betting gambler took the Jets, he would need New York to lose by less than 3 points or to win the game in an outright upset.
Another factor to take into account with sports betting is what is called “vig” or “juice.” “Vig” is that extra ten percent that a sports betting gambler must wager in stake money above the amount that he is trying to win. If a sports betting gambler wanted to win $500 on the Chiefs in that aforementioned game he would have to wager $550. If the Chiefs won, the online sports betting gambler would get back his $550 along with the $500 profit. A Jets sports betting gambler would have lost the $550 he put up if the Jets lost the game. “Vig” is the service charge that a sportsbook applies to all wagers, ensuring that no matter who wins, the house will collect in online sports betting, assuming there is equal action on both sides of a game.
The NFL betting line, you will discover, is far more than a number on a gambling board. The football sports betting pointspread has a language and a meaning all its own. A common misconception is that the NFL betting line is based on the pure merits of the two teams involved. Nothing could be further from the truth. What the NFL sports betting line is actually based on is the public perception of the two teams involved and the likely sports betting action that will take place as a result.
The sports betting oddsmakers will make the line whatever it has to be in order to attract equal action on both sides at the sportsbook and to make both sides relatively equal in public appeal.