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NFL Football Betting Odds

Written by Jimmy Boyd

We get asked what exactly is meant by football betting odds and NFL spreads on nearly a daily basis so we decided to create this little section to explain what betting lines mean.

Take a situation where you see Minnesota +9.5 at Philadelphia. That means when the final score is in, Philadelphia has to win the game by more than 9.5 points. If the score is Philadelphia 29, Minnesota 20, individuals who bet on Minnesota would win the money. If the score is Philly 30, Minnesota 20, then the Philadelphia backers will be pulling in the profits. This is how an NFL point spread works.

Many people start betting on football thinking that it’s going to be extremely easy and they can just start picking winners on a whim. You should treat this as a part time job or a time intensive hobby if you are going to go at it alone. There are trends, matchups, and plenty of stats to go through each week in order to beat the lines makers. An expert NFL handicapper should be able to help you beat these betting odds by providing winning NFL picks on a weekly basis.

Football odds are also known as betting lines or point spreads. Use the free NFL football odds on the site to help illustrate our explanations. The lines makers determine which NFL team to add points to or subtract points from in each NFL matchup in order to make the score even. They want an equal amount of action on each team so they can take the vigorish, or juice, and make money no matter what the outcome is. The biggest misconception that some bettors have is that the book makers are trying to predict the outcome of the game and draw action on one side or another. They just want even action so they can predict their revenues and make money no matter what. Books that do anything else are putting their stock holders and other bettors in jeopardy by hitting a bad streak in which they are losing. Normally, the better football team will be the favorite and the home team normally gets 3-4 points leaned towards their way to make up for home-field advantage.

When the lines makers come up with the pro football odds for each weekend’s games, they look at a number of different factors to help determine the predicted outcome. You are going to have to make sure you know what these factors are when making your own football picks. The NFL betting odds makers take in-depth looks at injury reports, local newspapers, player match-ups, coaching strategies, where the game is played, and a variety of other factors. Some teams play better in a dome, some on grass, some off a bye week, some when playing after a loss. There are huge lists of different factors and the weights that each person puts on each factor when coming up with their own betting lines so it’s important to shop around, especially if the odds are around the key numbers in the NFL.

NFL football betting odds make gambling on professional football difficult and that is why you might need the help of an experienced NFL Football Handicapper. Jimmy Boyd and the Locksmith Sports staff goes deep into each team’s stats, tendencies, and match-ups to find holes in the lines makers odds. We have had a long documented history of success in the NFL, but if you are not ready to sign up for one of our successful premium picks packages, then join our free football picks newsletter. This will help you get started with having an expert make some predictions for you. Think of it as a similar situation to the large mutual fund managers directing your money, expect sports investing is a lot more exciting than watching a stock ticker.

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