|
 |
Dog and UNDER. Usually, sportsbooks lick their chops if they can get NFL games to go UNDER the total and have the underdog win.
But Super Bowl XLII – which may have also introduced the value of NFL moneyline betting to the masses – changed that.
The underdog Giants won straight up, easily covering a double-digit spread, and the 17-14 final was an easy UNDER play. But it was the moneyline wagering on the Giants – which was paying off up to +400 in the week before the big game – that buried sportsbooks in red ink for the day.
Moneyline betting – long a staple for action on baseball and hockey – is gaining popularity in football and basketball. In football, moneyline bettors see it as more than just another way to get action on a game other than the traditional point spread.
Moneyline Betting
A moneyline bet translates a spread value to a ‘straight up’ value, meaning you only need to pick the winning team. You’ll see two values: the negative symbol (-) will signify the favorite (e.g., -300), while the plus symbol (+) will signify the underdog (e.g., +250). For example you see an NFL moneyline bet such as:
| Giants |
+250 |
| Patriots |
-300 |
You have to imagine $100 sitting in
between these values and it makes perfect sense. Using the moneylines above, you would have to wager $300 on the Patriots to win $100. It makes it a risky proposition to risk that much for a $100 reward, but in Super Bowl XLII, even sharp bettors were pretty sure the Pats were the right pick.
On the flip side, Giant backers could risk $100 to win $250. So when the Giants covered the spread AND won the game outright in a huge upset, bettors nailed the book on both bets, causing a real bloodbath for the oddsmakers and a bath of easy money for bettors.
A moneyline bet is good if you can pick the winner with confidence but are not too sure about the margin of victory. Granted you may not get the best odds without any points given, especially when betting on the favorites, but if you parlay a few favorites together, you can still get a very nice payout.
Nothing is worse than seeing your point spread wager go down in flames after your football team kneels on the ball in the last seconds or your hoops team misses a last-second free throw. With the moneyline bet, if the team you bet on wins, you win. For any sport, it is much easier to pick the straight-up outcome instead of predicting the margin of victory.
Totals Betting
The totals bet (also known as over/under betting) is simply betting on the total number of points regardless of who wins or loses. An example in an NFL game would be:
Raiders vs. Chiefs
| Over |
45.5 -110 |
| Under |
45.5 -110 |
The totals bet is simple; you bet on if you think there will be more points scored in the Raiders vs. Chiefs game, or less. The totals bet is becoming more popular, as more people are researching the wagers they make. For example, the over/under total is 45 points and you have the Patriots playing the Bengals (the Pats can score 45 themselves!). Both teams can light up the scoreboard, so the over bet could be the smart wager (although the oddsmaker also knows this and will set the total high). Conversely if the Ravens are playing the Titans (yawn), you can be pretty sure that it will be a low-scoring game and the under is the smart wager.
Look at defenses, player matchups, and injuries to see if it will have an impact on the scoring of the game. |
|
|
 |
