How to Bet on Football

Juice (or Vig) – It's how the sports books keep their lights on, the charge for making your bet. When making an individual bet on a football game, most sports books set the juice at -110. That means that you need to lay $110 to win $100 (collect $210). You need to lay $11 to win $10 (collect $21).

Push – Your wager ended in a tie. If you bet on a 7-point favorite and they won the game by seven, you're getting your initial wager back. If you bet on the game going over 40 points and it finished 23-17, you're getting your initial wager back.

Future Wager – Betting on a long-term event. Future wagers can be team-related, such as winning a division, conference, or league championship. Or, they could be for an individual to win an MVP award, lead the league in passing, etc.

Parlay – A parlay is a multi-wager bet that requires all of the legs to win in order for you to cash your ticket. The more teams you include, the more money you can potentially win.

Spreads and Football Betting

The point spread is the great equalizer. Who would want to bet on a football game between the best team in the league and the worst? The outcome gets a lot more interesting when you give the bad team a 20-point head start. Betting on the favorite with the point spread requires that team to win the contest by a certain amount of points. Betting on the underdog with the point spread will allow that team to lose the contest, as long as it's not by more than the posted number.

The Moneyline in Football Betting

Some casual bettors don't want to worry about the point spread or the over-under, they just want to pick a winner. Betting on the moneyline means you're just picking the winner of the game, with no point spread or other factors involved. Since there is no point spread involved, betting on the favorite requires you to bet more to win a desired amount on the moneyline. Conversely, betting on an underdog on the moneyline will earn a larger profit.

If you are looking to play the favorite on the moneyline, the number that you see is the amount that you need to lay in order to win $100. If you are betting on a -200 favorite, you need to lay $200 to profit $100, and you would collect $300. If you are betting on the underdog, the number that you see is the amount that you would win off a $100 bet. If you are looking to play a +175 underdog on the moneyline, you would lay $100 to profit $175 and collect $275. Again, there are no point spreads involved, you are simply picking the winner of the game.