For sharps or the most novice of sports bettors in Florida, recently added to the long list of states where you can make a legal sports bet (*for now anyway), the start of a new year means the NFL regular season is coming to a close, while the college football playoffs are just around the corner.
While there are many ways to bet, especially with the rise in recent years of DraftKings, FanDuel, and Caesars, in addition to other sites and mobile apps, the main one is point spread betting. Here is an example of a NFL spread bet and how it works.
When making an NFL point spread bet, which is widely regarded as one of the most popular bets to make when betting on pro football, the final score matters - whether a bettor has a bet on the favorite (denoted with an - by a team's name ) or the underdog (-).
For example, let's say the Miami Dolphins, the home team for the purpose of this exercise, are favored by 5 points against the Houston Texans. You can bet on the home favorite Dolphins at (-5) or the road underdog Texans (+5). If you bet on the Dolphins, they would have to win the game by 6 points or more for you to win your bet. If you bet on the Texans, they would have either lose by 4 points or fewer, if not win the game for you to win your bet.
Regardless, you will likely have to pay an additional 10% to make the spread bet, meaning a $100 wager will end up costing you $110 (known as the 'juice' or 'vig').
*Being that you have to pay that $10, you will have to win 52.38 percent of the time to break even. Nobody said sports betting is easy.
(Note: I encourage all NFL and/or NCAAF bettors to get into the habit of monitoring spreads throughout the week as sportsbooks are likely to adjust the lines depending on what team(s) are being bet on the most.
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