Spread On A Bet
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Spread On A Bet
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What Is A Spread In Sports Betting?
What Does The + And – Mean In Sports Betting?
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Sports betting has expanded both in the number of markets that exist and with new intricacies added to player props and live betting. But spread betting is one of the more popular forms of sports betting, and this is a sentiment that will likely never change.
Spread betting has its own allure given the simplicity of the wager type and the ease in following along during a game in the context of each spread wager. In this article, we will discuss what spread betting is and the markets available for this type of bet.
Additionally, we will identify and address some of the complexities of spread betting and some frequently asked questions regarding this betting method.
Point spreads are handicaps placed on a team based on whether they are expected to win or lose by a certain margin. Oddsmakers attempt to reach a specific number line for spreads that they believe would make the forecasted final score closest to even.
One other popular type of betting is placing wagers on the moneyline. A moneyline wager is a bet placed on who will win or lose a game or contest regardless of spread.
For example, if the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees played, and the Dodgers had a +100 odds moneyline, you would win $100 on a $100 bet. The payout is simply 1:1. A wager on the Dodgers’ side would be a winner as long as the Dodgers win the game.
This is very different from the spread, which oddsmakers set to make the teams competing as even as possible, taking into account the perceived strengths and weaknesses of each side.
When it comes to the spread, there is always a favorite and an underdog unless the uncommon occurrence of a pick’em occurs. A favorite will always be surrendering points, i.e. a -7 spread for the Buffalo Bills against the Miami Dolphins means that oddsmakers have labeled the Bills as the favorite by seven points. On the other side, the Dolphins will draw a spread of +7, meaning that oddsmakers view the Dolphins as an underdog by seven points.
The aforementioned pick’em is a situation where no spread exists because the matchup is viewed as one that is extremely close. This basically defeats the purpose of the spread and makes it so that the moneyline is the only bet available in most cases.
The Miami Heat are playing the Orlando Magic in the NBA. The Heat are listed as nine-point favorites, drawing a spread of -9. The Magic, as a result, draw a spread of +9. If the Heat win the game by more than nine points, they will be the winning side against the spread (ATS). If the Magic lose the game by fewer than nine points or win the game outright, they will be the winning side against the spread.
In the event that the final score results in the Heat winning by exactly nine points, i.e. 112-103, neither side of the spread will win and will result in a “push.” This returns all wagers to bettors on the spread.
Point spread bets are appealing because of their simplicity. In addition to the spread number, there are also odds attached to each spread. The vigorish, also known as juice, can be seen on each spread bet before placing your wager.
The vig can be thought of as the book’s fee for taking the wager.
Arguably the best thing about spread betting is that the odds are normally between the -120 and +100 odds range. This ensures that bettors are laying far less juice to make these types of bets than they otherwise would on something like a lopsided moneyline.
A +7 spread is very commonly seen in the NFL due to the scoring of a touchdown and a successful extra point. It can be seen in other sports, as well. If the spread is set at +7, this means that to cover, the underdog must either win the game outright or lose by fewer than seven points. For the favorite to cover, they must win by more than seven points.
A +1.5 spread is less common compared to other spread numbers across all sports given what the oddsmakers are implying when attaching it to a game.
This means that the underdog must win outright or lose by exactly one point to cover the spread. Alternatively, a +1.5 spread means that the favorite must win by two points, runs, etc. or more. The +1.5 is the standard “run line” in MLB betting.
Many baseball games are decided by fewer than two runs.
In the event that the underdog only loses by one, they would be doing what is called “winning by the hook.” This refers to the fact that a side wins against the spread by exactly 0.5 points which is quite common given how excellent oddsmakers are in getting their predictions close to the final score.
As previously mentioned, spread bets have odds attached to them that are usually quite reasonable, existing in the range of -120 to +100 in most cases. Depending on whether you are a bettor who looks to win one unit on a bet or you wager a unit on all bets, this has a significant impact on how much you can make on an individual wager against the spread.
A unit is simply a predetermined dollar figure for your standard wager. If you set aside a certain amount of money for sports betting, a unit is typically 1% of your sports betting funds. This helps bettors minimize risk on any one bet, as sports betting has high variance.
If a bettor with a $100 unit size wagers on a -120 odds spread, they would be placing either a $120 bet to win $100 or a $100 bet to win $83.33.
Let’s now discuss some spread betting examples and intricacies of each major North American sports league. Each league is different given the way scoring is done in each sport, creating somewhat of a learning curve for spread betting.
Betting on spreads in the NFL is one of the most popular ways of utilizing spread betting in the United States. The typical spreads available are first quarter, first half and full game spreads with some bettors also engaging in second half spreads. The NFL has a standard structure for this betting market, unlike some of the other major sports leagues.
An example of an NFL spread wager would be to bet the full game spread of the Arizona Cardinals +7.5 points against the Los Angeles Rams. This would require the Cardinals to win the game outright or lose by less than a touchdown.
Similar to the NFL, NBA spread betting is fairly standard. The same methods are available such as quarter, half and full game spreads. Bettors have proven to engage more in the quarter-by-quarter betting as opposed to the NFL given the fast-paced nature of basketball.
For example, a bettor can place a wager on the first quarter between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics. The Celtics are favored by two points against the spread. Bettors would be forced to either back Celtics -2 or Heat +2 with an exact difference of two points representing a push.
MLB betting has a very different structure than the NFL and NBA because scores and winning margins are often low. There are technically no “spreads,” but rather a “run line.” Unlike most other sports, MLB run lines typically have odds that can reach as high as -200 or +200 depending on what direction the game is predicted to go.
If the New York Yankees are matching up with the Boston Orioles and the Yankees have a -250 moneyline attached to them, their run line will look something like “Yankees -1.5 at -120 odds.” On the other hand, if the Yankees were to play the Los Angeles Dodgers and were just -115 favorites, their run line would look something more like “Yankees -1.5 at +190 odds.”
NHL “puck lines” operate very similarly to the way MLB run lines do. However, the main difference with hockey is that the average game has far fewer goals scored than a baseball game has runs scored.
If the Nashville Predators play the Anaheim Ducks and the Predators are -200 favorites, their puck line would likely look something along the lines of “Predators -1.5 at -110 odds.” However, if the Predators were to play the Lightning at -115 favorites, the puck line would look something closer to “Predators -1.5 at +190 odds.”
Betting on the spread can be an enjoyable time for any bettor as it adds a wrinkle into the experience that bets on markets like moneylines do not provide. Whether you are looking to back that massive underdog or the close home favorite, doing the research can maximize your profits when engaging in spread betting.
All in all, wagering on spreads is one of the simplest and purest forms of sports betting and should be viewed as one of the best options holistically.
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Daniel Preciado studied sport analytics at Syracuse Univeristy and has covered sports betting since 2018 for The Game Day, The Action Network and Fansided.
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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OddsShark Sports Betting What Is A Point Spread And How Does It Work?
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.
The favorite in a matchup, indicated by a minus (-) sign, will have a given number of points taken away from its final score, while the underdog , known by its plus (+) sign, will have the same number of points added to its final score.
Be sure to check out our sports betting glossary to assist you with some of the terms used in our sports betting guides.
NFL spread betting is probably the most common and popular way to bet on football as it adds some excitement and better odds over just picking an outright winner. If you are new to betting the NFL altogether, be sure to check out our great How to Bet on the NFL guide.
Here is an example of a point spread for an NFL game and how it would look:
As you can see, Dallas is the 4.5-point favorite, which means the Cowboys would need to win the game by five points or more to win the bet. Conversely, New York is a 4.5-point underdog, which means to win the bet the Giants would need to win outright or not lose the game by more than four points.
If the Cowboys win 20-17, they win by three points and do NOT cover the 4.5 points, but the Giants have “covered the spread” by staying within 4.5 points.
Point spread wagers often will be put into parlays in which you make multiple bets on one slip for a larger payout. If you have a few games that you’d like to wager on and want to see how a payout changes by adding or subtracting games, feel free to play around with our odds calculator to help you learn how odds work.
There are certain point spreads that bettors should be aware of that are known as “ key numbers .” These spreads are directly related to how points are scored in football such as a field goal (three points) or a touchdown (seven, assuming a successful one-point conversion). The three main key numbers in NFL point spread betting are 3, 7 and 10, representing a field goal, a touchdown and a field goal plus a touchdown.
The two most common margins of victory are three and seven points because of the type of scoring in the NFL. This is why you should shop around at different sportsbooks to find better lines to maybe gain an edge over the key numbers like getting a +3.5 spread as opposed to just +3 – you can get a quick look at the different books at our NFL odds page .
You can also “buy” points with a “ teaser bet ” in which you can move a +7 line to +8 but the odds may shift from -110 on the +7 to -135 at +8, meaning less of a return on your winning ticket. You can have key numbers on OVER/UNDER totals as well.
The most common betting line for a point spread is -110. A -110 line on either side is like paying a tax or commission to the sportsbook. Bettors would pay 10 percent (aka juice) to the sportsbook, which is essentially a fee for brokering the wager. So, the -110 indicates that a bettor must risk $110 to win $100. Some sportsbooks will even reduce the juice for you, which means you can earn the same $100 payout but risk less money to do it.
For example, if you see -7.5 (-107), then you only need to wager $107 to win $100 (saving you $3). If you see -7.5 (-102), then you only need to wager $102 to win $100.
There are three potential outcomes of your point spread wager: you win, you lose or you push (a tie). Typically, a point spread has odds of -110 for either side of the bet. In the example above between the Cowboys and Giants, the point spread is 4.5 points, while the odds are -110, meaning you would have to wager $110 to earn a profit of $100, or a profit of $0.91 for every dollar you bet.
A losing bet is quite simply you betting on the Cowboys -4.5 and they only win by four, for example. You lose the money that you placed on that bet.
A push wouldn’t happen in the example above because a team can’t win by half a point. It is very common, though, to have a betting line of +3/-3. Let’s say a favorite wins by exactly three. That is called a push and you simply get your money back with no profit and no loss.
PK or Pick’em means that the matchup is so close that there’s neither a favorite nor an underdog. Whatever team you pick to win when betting on the point spread simply has to win the game and the margin of victory doesn’t matter. In these cases, there may not even be a point spread available for the game and you can only bet on the moneyline .
This is a very common occurrence in sports betting and sportsbooks have the full right to shift the spread or odds for any given match prior to its start. Many factors can influence a change of the spread such as injuries, the number of bets coming in for either team or the weather, to name a few. Depending on the timing of placing the bet, the bettor can also have an advantage or a disadvantage depending on which way the spread has shifted.
Here is an example of a change in the spread:
If bettors had wagered on Dallas on Monday, they would be at a disadvantage compared to bettors who waited until Thursday because the Thursday bettors now only need Dallas to win by four points instead of five. But it can also go the other way:
If bettors had wagered on Dallas on Monday, they would now have the advantage over the bettors who waited until Thursday because the Thursday bettors need Dallas to win by eight points or more instead of only five.
Yes, in fact, sportsbooks also release spreads for different points in the match like after the first quarter or first half, which is called live betting or in-game betting . Oddsmakers will set spreads for those different checkpoints and it’s up to you as the bettor to determine which team will lead or trail by a certain number of points after that unit of time.
Here is an example of a first-half spread:
As you can see, Dallas is a 2.5-point favorite to lead the first half by three points or more whereas New York is a 2.5-point underdog, which means the Giants would need to be ahead or not trail by more than two points at the end of the first half.
The popularity of the point spread bet in the NFL is equally shared by NBA bettors and it works essentially the same way. When Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks tip off at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks, the Bucks are going to be -800 on the moneyline but may have a point spread of -13.5 points with odds of -110, with the Knicks coming back at +13.5 with a -110 line.
As seen in the NFL with line movement throughout the week, in basketball, you’ll see the line movement occur much faster in a shorter time frame. When we looked at key numbers in the NFL, it was in regard to scoring. A similar approach can be taken in the NBA but it’s more connected to possessions. Look for key numbers such as five and seven because they tend to represent two- and three-possession games.
Be sure to check out our Basketball Betting News and our How to Bet on the NBA guide for more options and assistance in getting you in on the action for basketball.
A puckline is what a spread is called in the NHL, while a runline is associated with MLB betting. In both cases, the spread is almost always -1.5 for the favorite and +1.5 for the underdog, but the betting odds fluctuate a lot more than in NBA or NFL point spreads because the spread doesn’t usually change. There are instances in both the NHL and MLB where you see a 2.5-point runline or puckline but those are few and far between, typically between your league leader and a cellar-dweller.
A point spread bet is also referred to as betting the spread or handicap betting. Point spread betting is a sports betting market in which a team either has to win by a specific number of points or goals, or not lose by a specific number of points or goals.
If New York is +2.5, that means they are the underdog and have been spotted or given 2.5 points. If New York loses by two or fewer points, then it is a winning bet. If New York pulls off an outright upset, then that is also a winning wager.
When it comes to point spread betting, and you bet against the spread, it won’t be enough for the favorite to win the game outright. The favorite would have to win by more than a specified number of points or goals (the spread) in order for that team to cover the point spread.
Odds Shark Staff Thu, Aug 11, 12:26pm
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