Football lines stand opposed to spread betting in that bets placed on a given team require that that the team you have chosen win the game, whereas spread betting creates a spread of points by which the favourite must win. For example, suppose a football game has put the San Francisco 49ers against the New England Patriots, with the Patriots expected to win by a certain number of points. Bookmakers will then create odds for this game based on this fact, and offer odds for both a money line and a spread.
In a spread bet, you are betting that either the Patriots will win by at least as many points as the bookmaker has posted, or that the 49ers will either win or lose by less than the amount posted. In a money line bet, you are betting either that the Patriots will win or that the 49ers will win. The difference between these two types of betting is the payout for different bets. In a spread bet, the point margin is calculated so that each type of bet is estimated to have roughly a fifty/fifty chance of winning. If the Patriots are expected to win by ten points, then a spread bet on the Patriot would require that they win by at least ten or eleven points to pay out.
In football lines, the odds posted would look something like this: Patriots -200 49ers 250. This means that if you bet on the Patriots, in order to win 100 dollars you would have to wager 200 dollars, whereas if you bet on the 49ers you would wager 100 dollars to win 250. Obviously, betting on the underdog can have a much higher payout, although you should expect to lose most of your bets.
Football lines are a great way to add some big excitement to any game, especially if you are betting on your favourite team or want to see a rival go down big. Winning some money on these games is an excellent way to make them even more pulse pounding. There are plenty of sites online that can get you started playing the money lines for your favourite teams and games, not only in football but for a variety of different sports.
These sites also usually feature community forums where you can pick up tips and betting strategies from seasoned pros, as well as tutorials and guides to help you build some betting strategies of your own. Whether you want to get into football lines as a simple hobby or as a way to win some serious money, you will be able to take advantage of the ease and convenience of betting online and watching the games from home.
