There are two major categories of American football — professional and college. It is the most dominant sport in the US, more popular than ice hockey and basketball. Professionally, the national league of American football is known as the NFL. The league has 8 divisions made up of 32 teams, with teams playing 16 games each in a season —eight at home and eight away. Compared to other major sports leagues, the NFL season is shorter, being played from early September through to February.
With the NFL season relatively short, it can be challenging for those betting on the league since the limited number of opponents and games can make predicting an outcome very difficult. This isn’t a challenge that only bettors face, bookmakers have also admitted that it challenges them. The same challenges also apply to the college version of American football, teams play only a few games in a given season.
On the contrary, with the NFL only having 32 teams, division one NCAA American football has over a hundred teams including popular footballing colleges like Ohio State, Michigan, USC, Notre Dame, Alabama, Florida State, Nebraska among others.
Betting On American Football
Many people have asked, is it easy to make money betting on college football and the NFL? The honest answer is no. Just like betting on any other major sports leagues, it takes time to analyze and understand how to bet on American football. It needs persistence, development, and precision to place successful bets on American football. As much as many American gamblers are familiar with betting odds and team news, it is important that we discuss the decimal odds and everything else you need to know about betting on American football.
One of the most essential steps to success is understanding the betting odds. Being able to comprehend the probabilities in betting odds will allow you to easily assess the betting value. Failure to determine the betting value, it will be very difficult for you to win bets on American football.
Different Types of American Football Bets
This section discusses the different types of American football and how you can place your bet. Today, there exist many ways gamblers can place bets on American football. Bookmakers provide a wide range of betting odds on American football, from more exotic ones to more traditional ones. Read on to find out how you can bet on different American football odds.
American Football Lines
The most traditional and perhaps, the most popular way to bet on NFL games is known as the Point Spread. Also known as handicaps or betting lines, American football Point Spreads is an estimated final margin for an American football game. In the betting lines, bookmakers determine the margin as a 50/50 bet. In simpler terms, the bookmakers believe there is a 50% chance that the outcome will end either side of the estimated margin and 50% on the other side of the margin. So, as a gambler, you can place bets on which side of the margin you think the game will end on.
If you are new to American football, the Cowboys have considered league favorites with a minus handicap while Redskins are underdogs with a plus handicap. According to this example, bookmakers have determined that the final outcome of the margin will be on the side of Cowboys by 6.5 points. As a gambler, you can place bets on either side of that margin. You need to carefully analyze the teams playing before placing your bet.