Football Picks From Top Handicappers
Football is the most popular sport to bet on. At Sports Hub, we provide year-round coverage of multiple football leagues. Football bettors can utilize our expertise and exclusive data to profit throughout the football season. Get the sharpest plays, plus the latest football odds, news and analysis to help formulate winning picks.
Complete 2024 Weekly Football Betting Schedule
Here’s everything you need to know for weekly NFL and College football, including bold predictions, key stats, betting advice, and game picks.
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Betting on Football – Get on the Winning Side
The NFL and NCAA football are the most popular football leagues to bet on. Other football leagues to bet on include the XFL, United States Football League (USFL) and CFL in Canada.
There’s more to betting on football than picking a team to win (moneyline bet). Common betting markets include point spreads, game totals, 1st/2nd half betting, betting on individual quarters and team totals. There are also game props, team props and player props available at most betting sites. You can also bet on football games live and bet on season-long futures (Super Bowl winner, MVP winner, etc.).
During the off-season, the NFL draft is one of the biggest events to bet on. There are dozens of ways to bet on the NFL draft annually, including which player will get selected first overall.
Read our NFL betting guide for a complete breakdown of the different betting markets with examples.
How to Bet on Football
Every football league offers bettors a wide variety of betting markets. You can brush up on all forms of football betting here at Sports Hub. You’ll find information about the various betting markets within each league.
The most common bets, of course, are on the moneyline, point spread, and game totals. Props bets, both team and player, are becoming more and more popular each season.
Bettors can find player props across a wide number of statistical categories. The bottom line is that there are hundreds of opportunities to bet on a single football game.
Know What You’re Betting On
That means there are thousands of opportunities on an NFL Sunday or a college football Saturday. The same is true in the CFL, XFL, and USFL. In order to have success in betting on football, you have to familiarize yourself with the leagues you want to bet.
For example, you will be headed for disaster if you do not know anything about the XFL and start placing bets on the league’s games. You have to have some basic knowledge of the game and some of its rules, especially those pertaining to scoring.
The XFL actually has a three-point conversion. That throws a wrench into the key numbers that NFL bettors use. If you don’t know much about NFL key numbers, don’t worry. You can learn it here at Sports Hub.
The point here is that if you are going to engage in football betting, arm yourself with some knowledge first. That’s why Sports Hub exists, to help bettors and handicappers alike.
Football Betting Odds
Whether it’s NFL, college football, or one of the other leagues, all bets come with odds. Sportsbooks set odds for every single bet. Bettors have to know how to read and interpret odds in order to have success.
Point spread betting has long been king in the NFL. An example illustrates how point spread betting and football odds work. Let’s say the Buffalo Bills are playing the Miami Dolphins.
- Buffalo Bills -3.5 (-110)
- Miami Dolphins +3.5 (-110)
The Bills are a 3.5-point favorite (favorites are indicated by the minus sign). Miami is a 3.5-point underdog. For Buffalo to cover the point spread, they must win by at least four points. Miami covers if the Dolphins lose by three or fewer or win the game outright.
The odds on each side of the bet are -110. That means a bettor must wager $110 to win $100. You don’t have to wager $100, but American odds are based on units of $100.
If you like the Bills and they win 28-24, your $110 bet would pay out a profit of $100. If Buffalo won 28-27, the Dolphins would have covered the spread.
Football bettors can also wager on the moneyline, which is the easiest bet to understand. You bet on a team to win, regardless of the score. The same goes for game totals. You bet on the final score to go Over or Under a set total. All bets come with associated odds. Those football betting odds tell bettors how much they must wager and how much they will win..
Master NFL Betting
One of the key things that can help NFL bettors is the concept of key numbers. In the NFL, the way points are scored leads to some common final scores and common final scoring margins.
For example, more NFL games end with 41 total points than any other. More games end with a final scoring margin of three points. This is valuable information for NFL bettors as they wager on the point spread and on game totals.
In the Buffalo-Miami example above, the point spread was 3.5. After doing the research, a bettor that likes a close game might be more inclined to take the Dolphins because most games end with a three-point margin. Miami would cover in that case.
NFL key numbers also help in game totals. If a total is set at 45.5 and bettors expect a low-scoring tight game, they might lean on the Under since 41 and 44 are two of the most common NFL totals.
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Football Betting FAQ
How to win betting on football?
The football season is a marathon, not a sprint. Successful football bettors are disciplined, they only bet when they have an edge and they aim to get the best odds available. Bettors should also focus on their strengths. For example, a daily fantasy football enthusiast will often be more successful betting on props (player or team) than picking teams to cover against the spread.
When betting football, what is the spread?
To make the payout odds as close as possible between two football teams, sportsbooks implement a point spread. An example of a football point spread bet is the Bills -3.5 (-110) vs. Patriots +3.5 (-110). As you can see, the payout odds (-110) are the same. However, rather than the Bills just needing to win the game straight-up, they need to win by 4+ points to “cover the spread” (ATS). A bet on the Patriots at +3.5 points will cash if New England win the game or lose by three points or less.
What does -3 mean?
In football betting, -3 represents a point spread. A point spread with a negative number means that team is expected to win the game (the favorite). A -3 football spread means the team needs to win by 4+ points for the wager to win. If the team wins by exactly three points, the bet will be a push (tie) and your stake is returned. If the team loses the game, bets on the team at -3 will lose.
What is the over/under when betting on the NFL?
There are numerous over/under or totals football betting markets. The most common over/under bet is the game total. An example would be the Vikings vs. Packers over 42.5 points (-110) or under 42.5 points (-110). Your goal is to predict whether both teams will combine to score over or under 42.5 points. Bets on the over will cash if 43+ points are scored and bets on the under cash if 42 or fewer points are scored. A number of other markets utilize over/under propositions, such as team totals and player props.
What are some important factors to consider when betting on football?
There are many things to think about when placing a football wager, but here are several important factors to consider:
– Pay attention to where the game is being played.
– Use multiple sportsbooks to compare betting lines.
– Don’t bet with your heart.
– Follow expert football predictions.
– Know individual player matchups.