Legal NFL Betting Online

Money line wager involves placing a bet on the team that you believe will win a game. Moreover, money line wagers have no spreads. The upside to this type bet is a winning bet on an underdog translates to a higher payout. The downside is money line wagers require one to risk more money. Money line odds usually have a plus (+) or a minus (-) sign preceding them. Odds with plus signs denote underdogs, whereas those with minus signs denote favorites.

To understand how money line wagers work, consider a hypothetical game between the Colts (+350) and Bengals (-380). In this case, bookmakers favor the Bengals to win. To even out the betting field and avoid running loss-making businesses, bookmakers make bettors wager more on favorites and less on underdogs. This means you would have to bet $380 to win $100 if you pick the Bengals. On the other hand, every $100 wagered on the Colts would translate to $350.

Spread betting is the most popular type of NFL bet. Bookmakers list favorites to win games using odds preceded by a minus sign, whereas the odds for the underdogs are preceded by a plus sign. In cases where there is no clear favorite/underdog, bookmakers list both teams as "Even" or "Pick". This is in addition to the "point spread" (PS) for each team.

Depending on a team's perceived likelihood of winning/losing a game, PS can range from double to low single digits. With this in mind, assume the Buccaneers (+7.5) are up against the Texans (-7.5). The expectation is that the Texans would trounce the Buccaneers by 7.5 points.

The Buccaneers would have to win by eight points or more in order for bookmakers to pay bettors who wagered on the underdog. To cash out a winning favorite bet, the Texans cannot afford to lose by more than eight points. In other words, they would have to lose by less than eight points, tie the game, or win.

The over/under bet, which is also known as totals, entails predicting the total number of points that both teams are likely to score. This betting line is relatively easy to understand because all you have to do is predict whether the final score between two pro teams will be over or under the bookmaker's figure. For instance, consider a case where the New York Giants are playing the Detroit Lions and a bookmaker has listed a total score of 45. Bet under if you expect the final score to be less than 45 points and vice versa.

Prop bets, or "proposition bets," are wagers that concern player or team performances within a given game. The most common NFL props are player props, but there are also team and game props.

These run the gamut, and because different sportsbooks will offer different NFL props, it's best to shop lines to find the offerings (and payouts) that suit you best. Examples of the different football propositions follow:

NFL Player Props

• How many touchdowns will Patrick Mahomes throw against the Patriots?

• • Over 3.5 (-115)
  • Under 3.5 (-115)

• Will Stephon Gilmore record an interception against the Chiefs?

• • Yes +120
  • No -135

NFL Team Props

• How many sacks will the Cowboys record against the Washington Football Team?

• • Over 1.5 (-115)
  • Under 1.5 (-115)

NFL Game Props

• Will a streaker run onto the field during the NFC Championship game?

• • Yes +205
  • No -230

Futures wagers involve asking sports bettors to put money on a far-off contingency "in the future." While all sports bets concern future events by definition, bets labeled specifically as futures have to do with events that won't be settled until weeks or months later.

In the NFL, there are several prominent futures bets you'll usually find at sportsbooks. The most popular of these are Super Bowl futures, where bettors pick the team to win the current year's upcoming NFL championship game. Super Bowl futures are available year-round, with the next season's odds being posted immediately after the conclusion of the previous season's Super Bowl.

The longer out from the event you place your futures bet, the larger the payout typically will be. This is due to odds narrowing based on season progression. For example, if the Pittsburgh Steelers start the preseason with +1800 odds to win the Super Bowl but then lose several key players to trade, injury, or retirement before the season itself kicks off, their odds may spike to +4000 or more on that speculation.

Meanwhile, if the +1800 Steelers win the first 10 games of the season, their Super Bowl futures would shrink substantially (perhaps to +300 or less) on the strength of their sustained performance.

Professional bettors do not usually place futures bets, as the risk is great, and such a wager ties up significant amounts of money over the duration of the year – money that would be better spent week-to-week on single-game wagers and parlays.

Other NFL futures include wagers on which teams will win their divisions and conferences. You will also find season win total futures (over/unders), futures for player awards (MVP, DPOY, ROY, etc.), and even coaching awards. Again, for the biggest payouts, you should make these picks as early as possible.

A push is an outcome that results in a tie between a bookmaker and a bettor. To avoid such outcomes, most bookmakers add 0.5 (half point) to the spreads or point totals they publish. The industry name for this half point is "hook" and its aim is to maintain betting house advantage over bettors.

A parlay bet refers to a situation where a bettor selects and groups two or more wagers to increase the potential payout. However, all wagers grouped together must win in order to receive a parlay payout. The good news is you can group together different types of bets to increase the amount of potential winnings.

NFL teaser odds, on the other hand, is in many ways similar to a parlay. The only difference is teasers allow bettors to buy and add extra points to the point spreads or totals given by bookmakers. Once again, you can select and group more than two teasers to increase potential winnings.