Even non-bettors are familiar with the term “point spread”, as spread betting is one of the most popular forms of football wagering. Sometimes referred to as “the line”, point spreads are used to represent the predicted margin of victory, and oddsmakers attempt to set a line that will get an equal number of bets on each side.

 

In the world of sports betting, a negative value next to a team means that they are favored in the matchup and the bettor is being asked to subtract the negative number, or spread, from the final score to determine if the team still out scored their opponent after the point spread was deducted.

 

If so, then the favorite team “covers the spread” and any bets on them would pay out as a winner. If the margin of victory is less than the spread, than the underdog “covers the spread” as they managed to stay within the suggested margin of victory.

 

Occasionally a matchup will end where the final score is tied once the spread has been deducted, and sportsbooks commonly refer to this as a “push”. In these situations, neither team covers the football point spread and all wagers are refunded given that neither side managed to beat the line.

 

To better explain the concept of NFL point spreads, lets imagine the Dallas Cowboys are -3.5 favorites over the Philadelphia Eagles. Knowing that if the favorite is listed at -3.5, bettors now know that the underdog would have a line of +3.5, or “will they lose by fewer than 3.5 total points?”

 

If the final score saw the Cowboys win with a score of 24-20, one could quickly subtract the 3.5 points from their score line to give us 20.5-20, meaning that they covered the spread. Had the final score ended as 23-20, the Cowboys would have failed to cover the spread, as the margin of victory was less than the predicted line.

 

NFL point spreads often use half points to avoid situations where pushes occur, and spreads in 3 point and 7 point range are extremely common given that those values represent the points associated with a touchdown or field goal.

 

When shopping for point spreads on an NFL odds board, bettors will notice a number next to the actual spread, which is used to reflect the payout associated with a winning bet. Also known as the “juice” or “vig”, this indicates the how much needs to be wagered to win a specific amount.

 

For the sake of simplicity, lets think of calculating payouts in terms of $100. A point spread of -3.5 (-115) would mean that the favored team has to win by a margin great there than 3.5 points, and the minus sign next to the 115 tells us what we would need to risk to net $100 in profit, in this case $115.

 

A spread of -3.5 (+105) works slightly differently, as the plus sign represents what a $100 wager would payout, and in this example a bettor could expect a $105 payout for placing a winning $100 wager.

 

As mentioned earlier, oddsmakers attempt to keep a balanced amount of money on each side of the spread, and when an influx of bets comes in on a particular side the line will move in hopes of restoring balance on the action. These line moves can be particularly helpful to sharp bettors who are more interested in shopping for an extra half point or more, and experienced bettors can identify which line moves are due to public pushes or sharp action.