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How to Bet NFL Teasers

Have you ever lost a close bet by a last-minute field goal, a turnover, or a blown call by a referee? If you have done much NFL betting, then of course you have. But if you would have added the extra seven points that then you could have turned those losses into wins. It seems like the public is catching on to NFL teaser bets as well. Back in 2001, teasers accounted for 11% of the football betting handle, but these days that figure is up to 17% as more and more people give this wager a shot. This means that NFL sportsbooks are hoping that teams blow each other out, that way these extra points aren’t going to matter.

What is a teaser?

A teaser is a combination of two or more football or basketball spreads or totals where you get more points in your favor for taking a lower payout on your wins. There are a lot of different ways these bets are offered, in football you can get 6, 6.5, or 7 points while in basketball the bonus is normally 4, 4.5, or 5 points. 

Let’s say you like two games this weekend, Chicago +2 and Miami -7.5, but aren’t real sure about them. If you teased these games by seven points then you would get Miami -.5 and Chicago at +9 which will make this bet easier to win. The tradeoff in the situation is that the payoff is only 10/13 instead of the 2.5 to 1 that you would get from a two-team parlay with the original NFL odds. So you must make a decision on whether the extra points that you are getting to improve your chances of winning are worth the reduction in the payout you will receive.When you tease three or more picks, then a push will take your teaser down a level, so a 4-teamer with a push would payout like a 3-teamer would. 2-teamers though can’t be reduced, so you will have to check your books rules before placing a wager so you aren’t surprised by the outcome.

Why are teaser payouts lower?

It’s because even if the book balances the action on the game, they can still take a loss, so they want to protect themselves. Let’s take a look at a game between Florida and Georgia. The spread is Florida -4 and the total is 48. Using 7-point teasers and all of the action being on this single game, you can have four possible plays:

Florida +3 and Over 41
Florida +3 and Under 55
Georgia +11 and Over 41
Georgia +11 and Under 55

If the score ends up Florida 27-Georgia 17 then all four wagers would be a winner and the book would lose $400 on the $520 in handle for a 77% loss. However, there are other cases when the books make 50% handle on the same set of bets. Let’s say the score ended up Georgia 17-Florida 10, then the only winner would be Georgia and the Under. Of course you can have one side win both ways, like if Georgia would have won 17-16, then both sides with the under would have won, and the books squeak out a little bit of profit.

What’s the math involved?

So there are the different possible outcomes on these bets, and you can see the expected hold for teasers is a lot different than for spreads and parlays. The only ways the books can setup the payouts is to go through the results and change the payouts accordingly. If more games are falling closer to the expected odds and totals then the payouts will be lowered, and if fewer games pay out both ways then the payouts would be raised. That is why you see the payouts changing from year to year. If the books make a killing then they’ll raise the payouts to try and increase the action, but if they get killed then they lower it to steer bettors to other forms of wagering. 

The fact that the payouts are tough to figure also means that if you shop around from book to book, you are going to get a few different payouts if you shop around. Plus, some books offer sweetheart teasers which increase the points available up to 10 or even 13 points on the games, but you have to make more football picks to win, and your payouts are reduced even further. 

If you want to try something a little different, then teasers may be a viable option to you, but there is a reason they are named teasers. It is certainly not as easy to win these bets as it appears to be, but on some weekends when the lines are set tight, you can make a real killing. 

If you liked this article then you may want to check out our article on understanding parlays.

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