Point Spread In Football Betting

Point Spread In Football Betting
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A point spread in sports is a way for oddsmakers to make a matchup between two unbalanced teams more balanced by giving points to or taking points away from each team.
Here's an example of a point spread that a bookmaker or betting site might offer for a football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Denver Bronco. Steelers vs Broncos Point Spread Steelers +6 -110 Broncos -6 -110 The +6 for the Steelers means that they'll have six points effectively added to their score. They're the underdog here.
(+110) means betting $100 to win $110 for a total of $210. In terms of odds in the point spread , positive numbers are rare, since the sportsbook is already giving you points in the margin of victory for picking the underdog. Keep in mind that you don't have to bet exactly $110 when you see (-110). The odds are determined as a percentage.
Aug 1, 2022 A -3 spread is one of the most common betting lines you see in football , especially in the NFL. The reason: It's the most common margin of victory. When betting a -3 spread—also known as betting a...
5 days ago This means to "cover the spread " and win the bet, that team must win by more than six points . The weaker team, or underdog, would have a spread of +6.5 which means it must lose by less than seven...
Betting the point spread is when you wager on how many points a team will win or lose by. Point spread betting is particularly popular when wagering on football and basketball. For example, a strong NFL team like the Kansas City Chiefs might be the favorite against a sub-standard team like the Houston Texans.
NFL point spread betting gives the perceived weaker side in the game a headstart of a specific number of points . The spread can be in whole points , making a tie possible or with a half point included, which guarantees a winner when the spread is applied at the end of the game. On this page: Click the links to jump to each section.
The point spread for any given football game is designed to bring in an equal number of bettors for both teams. This is why you will typically see similar betting odds for both teams; it's so that the online sportsbook can essentially help pay the winners by collecting the wagers from the losers.
There are three common NFL betting lines: the side, total and moneyline. Side: The side refers to the point spread . While the odds can fluctuate, most sides are -110, meaning you have to bet $110 ...
Today If we stick with the above example, you would expect to see the Saints as 6.5-point favorites in the football spread betting lines. That means you could bet on either New Orleans -6.5 or Atlanta...
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Every sportsbook offers three common bet types for every game, match or event posted to the betting board: moneylines, totals and point spreads. The latter is popular among all sports bettors: newbies, seasoned wagerers, recreational players and professionals.
When you make a point spread wager, you’re simply betting on a margin of victory. You’ve likely heard the term “cover the spread”—that’s a direct reference to point spread betting.
If you’re a new bettor or at all confused, don’t worry. Everything you could possibly need to know about point spreads—and what it means to bet on them—is covered below.
As we already noted, a point spread is related to the margin of victory in any given game. It’s essentially a tool oddsmakers use to level the playing field when teams are mismatched in terms of skill and performance.
When looking at matchups that have point spreads, you’ll see a positive number attached to one team and a negative number attached to the other. Point spread betting is available for most sports but is most often associated with football and basketball (both college and pro).
Let’s start by explaining the “+” and “-” symbols that precede 6.5. You will see both symbols when looking at any point spread matchup, with the “-” denoting the favorite (team expected to win) and the “+” signifying the underdog (team expected to lose).
In this example, the Rams are the favorite, with -6.5 suggesting that oddsmakers believe Los Angeles is 6.5 points better than Pittsburgh. A point spread bet on the Rams -6.5 means you need them to defeat the Steelers by at least seven points to win your bet.
If LA wins by 6 points or fewer—or loses the game outright—Pittsburgh would “cover the spread,” and Steelers bettors would get paid.
By now, you might be wondering what the “-110” figure that’s attached to both teams means. These are the moneyline odds associated with this point spread bet. These odds tell us that, no matter which team you want to bet—Rams -6.5 or Steelers +6.5—you have to wager $110 for every $100 you want to win. (Another way to look at it: You have to wager $11 for every $10 you want to win.)
Odds vary on point spread bets from sport to sport. However, when dealing with basketball and football point spreads, you most often will see both teams with -110 odds.
Point spreads have a lot of nuances, so learning to read them can give you a leg up in your betting strategy. So let’s cover what goes into reading point spreads.
For consistency, we’ll continue using our Steelers-Rams example. Here’s what we know:
It can help to think of point spreads as “phantom points.” Once the game is over, you apply the phantom points to the final score to see if your wager is a winner or loser.
If you bet on the Steelers, you’d add 6.5 to their final point total. If you bet on the Rams, you’d subtract 6.5 from their point total. Here are a few hypothetical outcomes and how the point spread is factored in:
As the second example above clearly shows, if you wager on an underdog—again, the team with the “+” symbol—that team doesn’t have to win the game on the scoreboard for you to win your bet.
A team covers the spread if it successfully beats the point spread. In the scenario above, that means the Rams beat the Steelers by 7 points or more, or the Steelers beat the Rams by any margin OR lose by fewer than 7 points.
No matter if you’re betting on the favorite or the underdog, your goal is the same: You want your team to cover the spread. When that happens, you win your bet. When it doesn’t happen, you lose.
In the simplest terms, a negative spread indicates the favorite, which is the side that’s expected to win the matchup.
A negative point spread really means that team has some work to do. For a negative spread bet to hit, the team has to beat its opponent by a margin greater than the point spread.
What does a -7 spread mean?
A spread of -7 means that team needs to win by 8 points or more in order to cover. Example:
To cover the spread, Chicago must defeat the Clippers by 8+ points. Here are two final scores and the related point spread results:
If the Bulls lose the game or win by fewer than 7 points, they fail to cover the spread (meaning Clippers bettors cash their wager).
What if Chicago wins by exactly 7 points? It’s called a “push,” and all bets are refunded (no winner, no loser). We’ll go into more detail about pushes (i.e., ties) in a later section.
A -3 spread is one of the most common betting lines you see in football, especially in the NFL. The reason: It’s the most common margin of victory.
When betting a -3 spread—also known as betting a “3-point favorite”—you will subtract 3 phantom points from that team at the end of the game. If the team is still ahead after those points are subtracted, they cover the spread. Example:
Here, the Chiefs would need to beat the Cardinals by 4 or more points to cover. Some possible outcomes:
A point spread of -4 means your team needs to win by 5 points or more. Example:
A bet on Golden State -4 means you can only win if Golden State defeats Brooklyn by 5+ points. Some possible outcomes:
It means dollar signs should appear in your eyes like in old Saturday morning cartoons. Well, not exactly. But there’s a reason bettors might flock to a -2 spread in football: 2-point margins of victory are exceedingly rare in football.
When betting on point spreads in football, consider the most common victory margins: Because of the way football scoring plays are calculated—3 points for a field goal, 6 points for a touchdown, 7 points for a touchdown and extra point, 14 points for two touchdowns and two extra points—many victory margins land on these numbers (which is why they’re called “key numbers” in football betting).
Do some football games end with the favorite winning by exactly one point (covering the spread) or two points (push)? Of course. But it’s rare. So when betting a -2 spread, if your team simply wins, you’ll win your bet more often than not.
A positive point spread number indicates that team is the underdog. Though the underdog may be expected to lose, that of course doesn’t always happen. And even if the underdog does lose, the point spread gives it the opportunity to cover.
Once again, as long as an underdog loses by a margin that’s less than the point spread, it covers the spread.
A spread of +3.5 means a team must win outright or lose by fewer than four points to cover the spread. A +3.5 spread is particularly enticing in football because, as noted earlier, 3-point victory margins are extremely common.
Betting on the Patriots means you think they can pull out a victory (called an “upset”) or lose by a margin of 1, 2 or 3 points. Let’s say the final score is Miami 30, New England 27. The Patriots would narrowly cover the +3.5 spread, and you’d win your bet.
If you see a +7 spread in football, you could be looking at a great betting opportunity. Think of it as getting an extra full touchdown—in other words, a 7-point underdog starts with a 7-0 lead before the game even starts.
Always consider other options, too. Backing a team that’s +7 could make for a great straight bet, and you also could consider putting it in a teaser parlay. Teasers allow you to boost the point spread, so in this case, +7 could become +13 (6-point teaser) or +14 (7-point teaser).
In football and basketball, it usually means you should consider ditching the point spread and instead bet the underdog on the money line at better odds. After all, a +1.5 point spread only comes into play if an underdog loses by exactly one point. This occasionally happens in basketball (usually the NBA), but rarely in football (especially college football).
A spread of +1.5 or -1.5 basically indicates both teams are pretty much evenly matched—essentially, a +1.5 underdog has just about as good of a chance to win as a -1.5 favorite (at least in the eyes of oddsmakers).
Again, though, this only applies to football and basketball spread betting. Baseball and hockey are completely different. Why? Because a whole lot of baseball and hockey games end with one team winning by precisely one run/goal.
In baseball, the point spread is called the “runline,” while in hockey it’s called the “puckline”. An NHL or MLB team covers a +1.5 puckline or runline by either winning the game outright or losing by a margin of one. (Which of course means a team that’s -1.5 on the puckline or runline must win by one or more goals/runs.)
Back to football and basketball: If you’re thinking about betting a +1.5 underdog at -110 odds, it might make more sense to just bet that underdog on the moneyline. You would get odds of about +110 or +115.
This gives you a little more “bang for the buck.” Because the only way you would win a +1.5 point spread bet but lose by betting that same team on the moneyline is if that squad lost by exactly one point.
A +2.5 spread means the underdog will need to win outright or lose by 1 or 2 points to cover. Similar to what we explained in the previous section, a spread of +2.5 in football and basketball indicates a matchup of two fairly evenly matched squads.
Betting the Bucks at +2.5 might make sense if you believe Milwaukee and Golden State will play a tight, back-and-forth game that comes down to the wire. After all, basketball games can be nail-biting affairs, especially when two of the league’s best teams are involved.
So it’s not out of the question that the Warriors would win by 1 or 2 points. If that happened, Milwaukee would cover the point 2.5-point spread.
As with other small spreads, it’s important to consider the match-up and do your research. Ask yourself questions like:
A +5 spread means the underdog team needs to lose by fewer than 5 points.
+5 is a good number for football betting because it makes up for a field goal and a few stray points. It can still be applied to other sports to great effect. You might find it frequently in basketball betting, too.
But in football betting, +5 is the range we start to favor point spreads and stop considering the moneyline in many cases. A 5-point spread shows a fair deal of confidence in the team it’s attached to, so betting on the underdog at +5 gives you a solid edge and some scoring wiggle room.
As we already noted a few times, point spread bets can (and often do) end in ties. Called a “push,” this can only happen when a point spread is a whole number (i.e., +3, -7, +10, -14). If a spread includes a half-point—what’s known as a “hook” in betting lingo—there will always be a winning side and a losing side for betting purposes.
If Indianapolis won the game or 45-37 or 31-23 or 22-14—any result where the result is a Colts victory by exactly 8 points—neither team would cover the spread. In this scenario, everyone who bet on the Colts and everyone who bet on the Titans would get a refund equal to their wager. Nobody wins any money, and nobody loses any money.
Now, if you add a half-point to the above example—Colts -8.5/Texans +8.5—there cannot be a push. If the Colts win by exactly 9 points, they cover the spread by that half point; if Indianapolis wins by exactly 8 points, the Titans cover the spread by a half point.
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Cole Rush has been writing about the gambling industry for nearly 10 years. Following a six-year stint at a major gambling supplier, he began freelance writing in 2020. Now, Cole writes for various gambling-focused magazines and online publications.

Brian Pempus has covered the U.S. gambling indusry since 2009, starting with Card Player Magazine in Las Vegas. He was later deputy editor of sports betting at Better Collective and managing editor at The Game Day, before joining Forbes Advisor in 2022.

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Last Updated:
Sep 7, 2022 1:35 PM ET

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