Betting on football can be an extremely frustrating, and costly, pastime with many people wondering how to bet on football and win.

To bet on football, tell the ticket writer the bet number of the team you wish to bet, with the point spread and the amount you wish to wager. The payout, unless stated otherwise, is figured at odds of 10/11. This means that a wager of $11 would win $10 and return $21. This is called a straight bet. A straight bet is the most common type of. Legally sanctioned NFL betting can be found through licensed sportsbooks and casinos located within one of the states that have legalized betting on NFL games post-PASPA or through legitimate online sportsbooks operating legally within the industry such as the ones listed in this guide. Betting On Football - Fulltime Result. The most popular form of betting on footbal is fulltime result, with two betting types being the most common – 1X2 (Win/Draw/Lose) and Asian Handicap. With 1X2 betting, you can bet on either team to win or for the match to end in a draw.

Whilst there are success stories of punters who won thousands from a 50p stake, most punters know the sinking feeling of a last-minute goal ruining their accumulator or the team at the bottom of the table picking up a surprise victory over the defending champions.

Some people continue to place the same type of bet week after week, with the hope that one day their ship will come in.

However, to win at football, punters must follow a few certain rules.

Research Before Betting

Rule number one of football betting is that the punter must gather as much information as possible before placing a bet.

Study statistics, recent form, head to head information, and team news to give you as much of an advantage as you can have. Knowing all of this will help you take an analytical approach and work out which outcome is most likely.

For example, the second-placed team in the league are playing a team in the relegation zone in midweek. The higher team would be priced as a heavy favourite but there may be factors to take note of before betting.

Although most people would take the league positions as a good indicator of who will win, what if the second-placed team have an all-important match with the leaders at the weekend?

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There are chances they will rest players against the lesser team, to keep them fit for the bigger challenge. They may also take the midweek match lighter than usual thinking they already have the victory.

But, taking a match lightly against a relegation threatened side who also need the points can be a dangerous tactic.

Also, what if the so-called bigger team have failed to win in their last three matches against the team in the relegation zone? What if the last five head to head meetings have all been draws? What if the team in the relegation zone have hit a purple patch of form and won their last few games?

These factors can play a huge part in determining the outcome of a match. The favourites may not look such a banker now, with the chance of a draw or even a surprise victory for the underdog being much higher.

This is one of the many reasons why we provide team news to our members.

Remain Analytical

Betting on impulse, betting with your heart, letting your emotions take over, and betting solely based on the betting odds are all sure-fire ways of losing money.

Impulse betting is where a punter places a bet on whichever matches are available, regardless of their knowledge of the teams involved. It’s something which many online punters will do, and their win percentages from this type of betting will probably be extremely low.

Betting with your heart means backing your own team to win, or favourite player to score first, regardless of the opposition or form of the player. Whilst some punters may get lucky and win often if they support a big team, those who support a team struggling against relegation every year will lose more than they win.

Letting your emotions take over is a big no-no when it comes to betting. This is usually described as chasing your losses, when you are angry and frustrated after a bet fails to win. You then place more money on another bet you believe to be a banker, to try and regain the money you lost before. This is a slippery slope and could quickly lead to a bank balance of zero.

Betting based solely on the odds is another thing punters should never do. Whilst short odds favourites obviously have the best chance of being victorious, there may be mitigating factors which could weaken that chance.

Remain analytical and do not bet on a match unless you have gathered as much information as possible.

Profit is Profit no Matter How Small

Some punters look for the big, life-changing, win every week. They place a few pounds on bets which could return thousands, with the chances of these bets coming in being small.

Those few pounds every week may be small to start with, but done every week for several years will mount up to a lot of lost money.

Punters should always be looking to make a profit, even if it’s only a few pounds.

Would you rather place £10 on a single bet which returns a £12 profit, but has a 92% chance of winning, or place two £5 bets on sixteen-team accumulators which return £10,000 each, with a 1% chance of coming in?

Some people will say the second, but sensible punters will know that £12 profit every time soon adds up.

For more information on this you might like our post on focusing on losing less often.

There’s a big chance you have sat in a pub, or café, and overheard a conversation about how close someone came to winning £26,000 on Saturday or how one team let them down for £500. You never hear the punters who were £5 up talking about their win, although they are the more successful punter.

The best advice we can give when gambling is, your first thought should be how best you can avoid losing rather than how much you will win if your bet comes in.

Look for a small profit, which will help to boost your betting bank and may ultimately lead to a big life-changing profit over time.

Keep a Betting Record

Keeping note of your wins and losses can help you see how much money you’re throwing away, and can help you change the way you gamble.

In this record, write down the type of bet you placed, the stake, the potential return, and how much profit or loss you made from it. Also add any notes which will help you moving forward, such as which team(s) let you down.

At the end of a set period, such as every week, fortnight, or month, you should tally up your results to give you an overall profit or loss.

If you are suffering constant losses betting on accumulators with the promise of a big return, maybe change the way you bet for the next period. Consider backing less teams in an accumulator or placing single/doubles/trebles bets which return a small profit.

You can then see if your overall profit has gone up.

If you regularly see a + amount in the profit/loss section, it will be a big eye-opener that the way you were previously betting was wrong and you should stick to your new approach.

Remember, You Will Not Win Every Time

If there was a fool-proof way of winning on football every time, bookies would go out of business and football betting would cease to exist.

However, there is no fool-proof way because football is unpredictable and shocks happen. The favourite doesn’t always win, everybody has off days, and punters will often be out of pocket. There are no 100% guarantees in football betting.

In those times, you must remember to have fun, stay analytical, and follow our advice to give you the best chance of making a profit.

How to Bet On Sports > How to Bet on the NFL

“Football is a game played with arms, legs, and shoulders but mostly from the neck up”. – Knute Rockne

Introduction

SportsInsights.com’s general betting articles discuss the intricacies of sports betting as it pertains to each major U.S. sport. This article will concentrate on how to bet on the NFL. We will try to utilize that “neck up” part of our bodies to gain an edge on the linesmakers, but first we must know the basics. The NFL is by far the most popular bet of all major American sports, culminating with the most popular game of the year, the Superbowl. This article will shed light on each football wager type including spread, moneyline, totals, parlays/teasers, halftimes, and futures.

Spread Betting

Like many high scoring sports, NFL wagering is dictated by the point spread. The spread, or line, is a type of side bet that equalizes the chance of winning a wager. The line offered for any given team will be accompanied with a – or + symbol to indicate whether a team is a favorite or an underdog. The example below displays the spread from the Sports Insights archives at the time of kickoff:

Generally, the number next to the spread is “-110”. This is what’s known as the juice, vig or odds. The juice is a fraction of the wager taken from the bettor if the bet wins. In this instance, a winning wager of $110 will yield a profit of $100.The example above demonstrates that, although Indianapolis won the contest, Tennessee covered the spread by losing by less than nine points. An important aspect of sports betting is capturing the best line possible. A great way to achieve this is by shopping for the best line.

Moneyline

In the parity driven NFL, the phrase “any given Sunday” is more prevalent than ever, which is why Moneyline (ML) bets can be very profitable when betting on the underdog. A moneyline wager is one that is placed on either the favorite or the underdog to win straight up. The example below is from Week 10 of the 2010-11 NFL season:

To win $100 dollars wagering on the New York Giants one must lay $600. Whereas, a $100 bet on the Dallas Cowboys earns a profit of $450. Due to the high risk and low reward presented by betting on the NY Giants, bettors may choose to fade, or go against them, and place a smaller wager on the Cowboys. The Cowboys did indeed win this Week 10 shocker at the New Meadowlands by a score of 33-20.

The Spread and Moneyline are contributing factors for Sports Insights’ Steam Moves and Smart Money Betting Systems.

Quarter and 1st Half Lines

The majority of bets on any sport are usually on the final outcome of the particular contest. However, for sports like the NFL and NBA, there are 1st quarter and 1st half lines offered as well. The quarter spread is used to determine who will be the winner at the end of the 1st quarter. The same is true for a 1st half line, only the wager ends when the first two quarters are completed. Generally, the 1st half spread will be close to half of the overall spread on the game.

Where To Bet On Football In Vegas

Halftime Lines

There are also in-game bets being placed DURING halftime, to determine the outcome of the second half, known as the halftime, or 2nd half, line. The 2nd half line accounts for what happened in the first half to help determine how the rest of the game will play out.

For the purposes of a halftime bet, the game essentially restarts at 0 to 0. According to the halftime spread, the Arizona Cardinals are expected to be outscored by the St. Louis Rams by 3 points throughout the entire 2nd half. A halftime bet of $110 dollars on the Arizona Cardinals would lead to a profit of $100, because, not only did the Cardinals beat the spread, they won the game outright. These bets are taken during halftime, leaving a small window for the bets to be placed. You can track halftime odds easily using our Sportsbook Insider live odds software.

Totals or Over/Under

How To Bet Online Football

The concept of betting on totals, or Over/Under (O/U), is quite simplistic. The bettor wagers on whether the TOTAL points scored in a game will fall over or under a pre-determined number set by the sportsbook. Much like the point spread, game totals can be swayed by public opinion. The example below, from the SI Archive, shows the opening totals line for Superbowl XLV:

As you can see above, the combined score for Superbowl XLV was 56, and since this line was offered at reduced juice, a wager on the over at 44.5 of only $105 would yield a profit of $100. This line closed at a high of 46 points at some books, demonstrating how the public, who tend to show a proclivity for high scoring games, can increase an O/U line.

Parlays/Teasers

Parlays are wagers placed in combination with the spread, moneyline, and totals to increase the payout. A parlay is only a winner when ALL individual plays hit. A teaser is the same as parlay, except you put points down in your favor to help the bet come to fruition. For example, if the proposed line is -13 and you have a 6-point teaser, your new line is -7. A teaser may have reduced some of the risks of the parlay, but you still have to hit each individual play and the payout is reduced significantly. Many sportsbooks let you bet up to 15 times for one parlay, and if all wagers are at -110, that’s a payout of 16,306.94/1!

Futures

Where To Bet On Football Online

Futures bets are exactly what they sound like, a wager placed on an event that will occur in the future. As you can imagine, the most popular futures bet in the NFL is who will win the Superbowl. In fact, the Team Odds to win it all are released within a week after the previous year’s championship. It is not uncommon to see last year’s worse team to be 100/1 dogs or worse. Naturally, Futures are not limited to simply who will win the big game. Much like proposition (prop) bets for any particular contest, you can place several futures bets on potential outcomes, from who will win what division to who will win the league’s MVP. Futures Odds can be found at nearly any reputable sportsbook, but some have a limited selection of wagers they will actually take.