NFL Football Odds Explained

 Most football bettors don't even thin about the odds when wagering on the NFL games, but there are a lot of folks who know nothing about how the NFL football odds work. For those of you, chin up, we have created this quick guide to explain the football odds.

 With most NFL football games you have three betting options - the point spread, the total and the money line. Each of those wagers is a separate bet and some sportsbooks even allow you to place all three bets on the same football game. But let's look at what the odds on all three types mean.

 First, you will have the money line, which is the simples wager, as far as odds are concerned. The money line bet is a wager you make on one of the teams to win the game. Usually the odds on the favorite team are "short", i.e. the sportsbook will pay out noticeably less if that NFL team wins the game, while the opposite is true for the "underdog" football team, the NFL team with less chance to win the game. To place the bet you simply need to choose your favorite NFL team. To learn more about the sportsbooks for US players visit this great resource on the subject.

 The point spread odds make the game a little more complicated, but not at all hard, if you know how to add and subtract. The odds on the point spread NFL bet favor the football team, which is likely to win the game even if certain number of points is subtracted from the final score of that NFL team. For example, the Patriots -7 points against the spread means that the odds will pay out if the Patriots win the game by more than 7 points. In that case, people refer to the game as "the Patriots covered the spread". If the Pats win the game by exactly 7 points, the bet is no action.

 And finally, you can bet the odds on the "total", or the so-called over/under bet. This bet is simply a wager on whether the combined score of the two teams will be "over" or "under" the odds makers' prediction. The odds on this bet are usually stable at -110. If the total of the NFL football game in question comes to exactly the sportsbook's prediction, the bet is no action.