NFL Odds – Moneyline

NFL moneyline bets are the easiest for newer sports bettors to understand. A moneyline bet is simply a wager on a team to win a game. It has nothing to do with the final score or margin of victory. If you bet on Buffalo to win and they do, you win your bet. 

The thing that bettors must know before placing a moneyline bet is the NFL odds. Every NFL bet is given odds. Oddsmakers set these odds using a variety of criteria. How NFL odds are set is a discussion for another day. What you need to know is what the odds mean.

Let’s look at an example of an NFL game. The Detroit Lions are playing the Chicago Bears. The moneyline bet appears as follows.

Detroit is the favorite as indicated by the negative odds. Likewise, Chicago is the underdog, which is indicated by the positive odds. If you like the Lions to win, you would need to bet $120 to win $100 (or $1.20 to win $1.00). If Detroit wins, regardless of the score, the bet is a winner and you receive your stake back plus your winnings.

On the other end of the bet, it’s a bit riskier to bet on the team that is not favored to win. As a result, a $100 bet will return $105. For every $1.00 bet, if the Bears win, you receive $1.05. This is why betting on moneyline underdogs can be lucrative for bettors.

NFL Odds – Spread

NFL Oddsmakers establish point spreads for NFL game as a way to level the playing field. For example, the Lions are the better team in our example. Oddsmakers have established that, for this game, the point spread is three points. The bet would look like this.

Detroit is still the favorite. You can learn more about how point spreads are set here at the Sports Hub. For now, we just want to know how they work. 

In this case, Detroit is favored to win by three points. The Lions cover the spread if they win by four or more points. If the final score is 21-17, Detroit covers and anyone who bet on the Lions is a winner. 

The NFL odds for this bet are given in parentheses. The -110 means that a better will win $1.00 for every $1.10 wagered. If you bet $110 and the Lions win by at least four points, you would get your $110 stake back plus winnings of $100.

The beauty of the point spread is that it gives an underdog a chance, especially when the underdog is outmatched. In this case, the Bears cover the spread if they lose by two points or less or they win the game outright. 

The odds on the bet on Chicago are the same at -110. If you bet $110 on the Bears to cover and the final score is Detroit 19, Chicago 17; then you have won the bet. 

Totals or Over/Unders

Bettors can also wager on a game total. This is a bet on whether the final combined score of a game will go Over or Under a set total established by oddsmakers. When bettors are uncertain about betting on a side, they can still bet on a game by wagering on the total. 

An example will help explain the typical Over/Under bet. Sticking with the Lions and Bears, here’s what the moneyline, point spread, and totals bet would look like.

When you go to your sportsbook, this is typical of what you might see for a given NFL game. The point spread, moneyline, and totals bets are the most common.

In this case, oddsmakers have set the game total at 47.5. If the final score totals 48 points or more, the Over is the winner. Any final score that totals 47 or less means the Under is the winner. Once again, the NFL odds for the bet are in parentheses.

Let’s say you like the Under for a number of reasons. You wager $11 on the Under. Detroit wins the game by a score of 24-17. The combined score equals 41 which means the Under is the winner. You get your stake of $11 back plus winnings of $10.

Other NFL Odds – First Half Bets

Think of every bet you can make on a full NFL game. The same bet, most likely, can be made on the first half of an NFL.

For example, point spread, moneyline, and totals bets are all available on just the first half of play. Sticking with the LIons and Bears, a typical first half bet might look like this.

When looking at first half bets, sportsbooks don’t just take the lines and NFL odds for the whole game and divide them in half. They set first half odds and lines just as they set those for a whole game. They are trying to balance action on both sides of the bet.

In this case, we see that the Lions are still favored to win the first half. A $118 bet on the Lions will pay out $100 if Detroit wins the first half. Whatever happens in the second doesn’t matter. Likewise, a $110 bet wins $100 if you bet on Detroit to cover the first half and the halftime score is 17-14 in favor of the Lions.

If Detroit goes on to lose the game, that has no bearing on your first half bet. First half bets are great to make when you find a situation where you have an advantage. A team that typically starts games fast and scores a lot in the first half goes up against one of the league’s worst defensive teams. That team has lost a couple in a row and isn’t motivated. That could be a prime situation to take a look at betting the NFL first half.

Second Half Bets

What we just identified for the first half is also possible for the second half of NFL games. Just like the first half, second half bets are only concerned with the second half of the game. 

Let’s say the Bears are up 17-13 over Detroit at the end of the half. If you choose to bet on the second half of the game, it’s like everything is reset to zeroes. Bettors can wager on point spreads, moneylines, totals, and props for just the second half of play.

Using our example, the second half bets might look like this.

Again, placing a bet in the second half market is just like placing a bet on a full game or the first half. The Lions, despite trailing at the half, are favored to win the second half as indicated by their odds of -117. Remember, bettors would need to wager $117 to win $100 (or $1.17 to win a $1.00).

The great thing about NFL second half bets is this. NFL halftime is only 13 minutes long. When there is a full schedule of games on a Sunday, that doesn’t give oddsmakers a lot of time to make any odds/lines adjustments.

Smart bettors can go through second half NFL odds and quickly identify any mistakes made by sportsbooks. It’s a tight turnaround and bettors have the advantage when betting the NFL second half.

Quarters Bets

If you have been paying attention, then you will easily understand quarters bets in NFL games. Bettors can place wagers on the spread, moneyline, totals, and more for each quarter of the game.

For example, Detroit is a -0.5 favorite in the first quarter of its game with Chicago. At odds of -110, a bettor that likes the Lions to cover the first quarter spread would bet $110 to win $100. All Detroit has to do to cover is win the quarter by at least one point. 

Most every bet you can make for a full game or a half, you can make for an NFL quarter. It’s important to remember two things. One, only the result of the quarter matters. If Detroit leads Chicago 7-6 after the first quarter, the Lions would have covered the first quarter spread. They might go on to lose 45-7. That doesn’t matter.

The second thing is you must understand the odds. Simply placing a wager on a second quarter bet, for instance, just for the sake of making a second quarter bet is not ideal. Use the resources here at the Sports Hub to help you learn how to read NFL odds and how to determine betting value.

Even More NFL Odds – Alternate Lines

Oddsmakers establish point spreads and odds for all NFL games. Less experienced bettors might not realize that they can also wager on alternate lines for games they like. 

Let’s stick with the Lions and Bears and the original point spread of three points. Detroit -3 and Chicago +3 are both priced at the industry standard of -110. By now, you should be aware that -110 means you need to wager $1.10 to win $1.00.  

At your sportsbook, there will be a market called “alternate lines.” When you open it, you’ll find that you can actually bet on Detroit -2 or even -1. Instead of the Lions having to win by four, you could actually bet Detroit -1 and now they only have to win by two or more.

Of course, there is a catch. Sportsbooks are in the business of making money. They aren’t going to let you adjust the spread in your favor without a cost. In the alternate lines market, you will see the odds associated with each line. In this case, Detroit -2 might be given odds of -118. You would have to pay $118 to win $100.

Detroit -1 would cost even more. It might have odds of -122, in which case you would wager $122 to win $100. 

It goes the opposite way too. Say you like the Lions to really beat up on the Bears. Instead of Detroit -3, you think they can win by at least a touchdown. Detroit -7 is given NFL odds of +240. You are taking a bigger risk in this case because now the Lions must win by eight points or more. In exchange for the higher risk, the sportsbook is offering you a higher return. A $100  wager would pay you $240 if Detroit wins by eight or more.

Futures NFL Bets

NFL futures are extremely popular bets. Futures bets are those placed on events that will be completed in the future. For example, the most common futures bet is on the next Super Bowl champion. Odds for the next Super Bowl winner are usually released within a day of the prior one being completed.

Bettors love NFL futures like the Super Bowl champion because they can find great odds on teams that are favored to win. For example, a bettor might find the overall Super Bowl favorite at +700 odds. 

That means a bettor can wager $100 and win $700 if that team does win the next Super Bowl. Other favorites and even top contenders can be found at great NFL odds, which offer larger payouts. It’s one of the reasons why bettors like NFL futures. 

Bettors can wager on NFL futures throughout the season, all the way up until markets close before the event is about to be concluded. The Super Bowl is just one of many NFL futures markets.

Bettors can wager on conference and division champions. There are also bets on season win totals, which is a type of Over/Under bet. There are also futures bets on NFL season awards like the league MVP, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and more.

How to Bet NFL

Betting on the NFL is the most popular form of sports betting in the U.S. It’s more popular than college football because there are only 32 teams in the league, making it much easier to manage. 

There are a number of strategies that can be used to bet on the NFL, but the bottom line is that bettors must find value before placing a bet. Finding value can take some work. You need to know which statistics and metrics to look at before placing bets. Bettors can find all of the information they need at the Sports Hub.

Bettors can also find help in the form of NFL handicappers at the Sports Hub. Hundreds of the top handicappers in all sports are part of the Sports Hub network. They offer tons of information as well as picks to those willing to pay for their services. 

NFL player props betting is becoming more popular. Bettors can wager on a wide range of bets tied to individual players’ performances. Just like betting on the spread, moneyline, and totals, it takes some work to find value in NFL player props bets.

NFL Odds and Scores FAQ