Even with the best NFL betting tips, Australian bettors won’t get far if they don’t understand the range of NFL betting options out there.
To make good NFL bets, you need to know your betting options like the back of your hand.
Determining Your Odds
When you place NFL bets online, it may seem like unfamiliar territory. There is unique terminology and betting options that may seem foreign to people used to decimal or fractional odds or people who are used to British or European betting methods.
Firstly many NFL betting sites will set their own NFL betting odds, also called lines that feature what is called a vig or the juice. This is basically a fee charged by the site on every bet.
This is essentially how the site ensures that they can recoup their losses and stay in business.
This Vig often means that when betting on a favourite, you will need to wager a bigger sum than what will be won as a payout. For instance you will need to wager 110 to win 100.
Fluctuations in Odds
Sites offering NFL bets often feature odds in games that fluctuate throughout the week. That is because using the American Moneyline system means that the way the public wagers will affect the odds offered on games.
This is in order to help balance out the wagers so that everybody doesn’t just wager on the favourite essentially breaking the system and bankrupting the sports book.
This doesn’t mean that your placed wager will have fluctuating payouts. Once you have made your bet, the odds will remain fixed for you at the time of your bet.
This is why many bettors try to get online as soon as odds are placed so that they can take advantage of the best betting odds for NFL games.
Straight Bets
Straight bets are also known as Moneyline bets in NFL betting.
It basically means you are wagering on who is the winner or who is the loser at the end of the match.
Point Spread Bets
If you don’t like straight money line NFL betting, you can widen your margin for error with spread betting.
Here you will be wagering on the point differential for either the winning or losing team. Your odds will be by how much a team will win or lose.
This means you can wager on a losing team and still win as long as the team wins or loses within the specified point spread.
Over and Under Betting
Totals or over/under betting is a variation on the spread bet. The difference here is that you are wagering on the combined score of both teams.
There will also be a point range that players who make total bets need to cover. This is essentially a margin of error for the bettor.
Parlay Betting
Some of the biggest odds in NFL betting can be found in parlay betting.
You combine multiple wagers into one single bet, but the challenge comes from the fact that you must win each bet you make for the final pay off.
Teaser Betting
Teaser NFL bets are similar to parlays as you need to win multiple wagers to receive a payout.
The main difference is that you can add or subtract points from your team’s odds affecting your own payouts.