Football is the most widely bet sport, and for good reason. It’s an exciting game with a huge fan base, and the online sports books and casinos make it really easy to bet your money on the game if you so desire. But because so many people bet on this game, it makes it a little bit more difficult to be successful here. For one, payouts on spread bets will be much more efficiently managed. For example, a book might have a game set at +/- 2.5 points with a -110 payout. If a lot of people bet on one side of this, though, the book has the right to change either the spread value or the payout value, in order to keep both sides of the bet as balanced as possible. This will help the book to be ensured a profit regardless of which side of the bet wins.
Luckily, there are some things that you can do to help yourself stand a better chance of making money. However, regardless of what types of bets you plan on making, you will need to do some research in two different fields. First, you need to handicap the game yourself. Is the spread really +/-2.5 points? If the Ravens are accurately favored over the Lions by the 2.5 points, taking them at -110 is not a good deal for you. This brings up the second thing you need to research. Different books will have slightly different lines for their games. So if you decide that the true spread really is even money at 2.5 points, and you find a line at a different book that has the Ravens favored at only 1.5 points, this bet is much more favorable to you.
But this is only the case if the payouts are compatible. As a general rule of thumb, the payout should be compatible with the chances of covering the spread. That’s why most spread bets are not good deals. Spreads are supposed to create an even playing field, but the book only pays out $100 for every $110 you wager. In theory, a -110 payout side should actually have a 52.5 percent chance of winning.
Armed with this knowledge, you should be able to start slightly turning the tides on the sportsbooks. Football betting is tough because researchers for the books spend a lot of time analyzing the games, and then once betting starts, the lines can accurately be adjusted so that whichever team wins, the casinos will still make a profit.
Looking at parlays can help you to make more money with less risk. Here, you are putting together a string of different bets in a single bet. A two game parlay will pay 2.6-1, or right around +260. So if you think the Ravens will win by more than 2.5 points over the Lions, and you think that the Seahawks will lose by less than 6.5 points to the Bears, you could in theory put down $220 to win $200. If you’re right with both, that is. But if you were right with both on your parlay, you could win $260 while only risking $100. This is a superior choice, but you do have to be right with both bets to do this. With two spread bets, you would win one and lose the other—this does a good job of minimizing your losses, but the strong parlay bettor will win more over time than the strong single game spread bettor. This is definitely something you will want to consider if you see more than one opportunity.
You could also mix and match here, which would minimize risk even more. This is a method that a lot of professional bettors take on by betting on the spreads and then looking at parlays next as a way to win more when their predictions are right.