Football Betting Terms Explained

| 08-03-2021
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NFL Betting terminology can sound confusing – just ask any novice bettor who has spent time in a Las Vegas sportsbook or listened to a football talk show on the radio.

To the uninitiated, it can sound like the “handicappers” (outcome predictors), “sharps” (pro gamblers) and “touts” (NFL pick sellers) are speaking another language when they talk shop.

Football Betting Symbols and their meaning, sports betting glossary. You can also chose to call it Betting symbols and it meaning. Lots of online betting website have different betting options and their meaning but if you don't know what most of the betting symbols means, then you may end up blowing your betting account due to you staking bet. Betting Terms Explained. We help explain all the major betting terms in our Betting Terms for Beginners guide. For example, if you placed a bet on the first goalscorer in a football match.

This means that you would have to bet $200 on the Packers in order to win $100 back. Anytime you see odds with a minus in front of it, take the number and that is what you would need to bet in order to win $100 in profit. So, a -450 number would mean that you would have to bet $450 in order to win $100 in profit back.

Football Betting Jargon

The good news is, they aren’t. Understanding NFL wagering terminology is actually quite simple when everything is explained properly. Here is a glossary of some common NFL Wagering terminology to help with your bets this season. For more information, click on the NFL wagering term in question or visit one of our recommended sportsbooks.

Hi, and welcome to the GoonersGuide.com Glossary or Guide to Football Betting Terms and Jargon. Sports betting has it's own culture and like all cultures quickly develops it's own set of terms and jargon that are not easy to pick up and often draw from historical stuff. Football Accumulator Betting Explained Accumulator Bets (also know as Accas) – By far one of the biggest football bets is the Accumulator Bet, especially on a Saturday afternoon. These bets are far riskier, but the reason why they are so popular is because you can win big, while only making a small bet.

NFL terminology

POINT SPREAD

Commonly called ‘the spread’, the point spread is the number of points that the Vegas favorite has to win the game by in order to win the bet. For example, say the Patriots are 4.5 point favorites over the Dolphins – New England has to win the game by 5+ points to pay out, while a wager on Miami pays out with anything better than a 4 point loss. Point spreads are commonly used to even the playing field in sports with high scores, such as American football and basketball.

ATS – AGAINST THE SPREAD

One of the more common terms used by NFL bettors, ATS, or against the spread, refers to a team’s record measured against the spread. Instead of tracking wins and losses, ATS looks at a team’s propensity for covering the spread. For example, last season the Cleveland Browns failed to win a game at 0-16, but finished 4-12 ATS – this means that there were 4 games in which they lost by less than the point spread, and actually paid out for their backers that week.

STRAIGHT-UP

Straight up refers to a fixed price win-loss wager, with no point spread. When betting straight up, bettors get less return for betting on favored teams, but the bet becomes easier to win. A teams straight-up record is simply it’s win-loss record, ripped directly from the standings. Straight-up bets can pay out a lot when underdogs win, but typically are used in “pick-em” games or games with a small point spread.

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OVER AND UNDER

Over and under are signifiers attached to a specific point total, with the purpose being to predict which side the outcome will fall on. A typical over/under wager will consist of bettors predicting whether the combined score of a game exceeds a particular number. For example, if the total is set at 41.5, bettors must decide whether to bet the over (>42 points) or the under (<41 points). Over and under bets can also be applied to a single team point total, a single quarter point total, a player’s individual rushing yardage and so on.

Terms

FAVORITE

In NFL wagering terminology, as with other forms of betting, the favorite refers to the expected winner. In the NFL, the favorite is the team that lays points, meaning that they will have to cover a certain amount in order to pay out. For example, if you see Seahawks -3.5, Seattle is a 3.5 point favorite – not only will they have to win their game, but they will have to win by 4+ points. When looking at moneyline odds, the team with the negative number, or greatest negative number, is the favorite.

UNDERDOG

The underdog is the team considered least likely to win – the opponent of the favorite. In NFL wagering, the underdog will be given points, and will be listed with a positive number next to their name. An example of this would be Cowboys +4.5 – this means that the Cowboys pay out as long as they don’t lose by 5 points or more, even if they lose the game. In moneyline bets, underdogs typically have a positive number next to their name (Dallas +145, for example).

NFL HANDICAPPING

NFL handicapping can refer to two similar, yet distinct, practices, both related to predicting outcomes. There are NFL handicappers who are employed by Las Vegas sportsbooks and work as, or with, oddsmakers. In this version of NFL handicapping, advanced models and knowledge are used to predict the outcome of a game, and this information is then used to set the lines/point spread. Outside of Vegas, NFL handicapping is an attempt to predict results, then use the acquired information to find and exploit errors in the Las Vegas lines.

Football Betting Terms Explained Rules

Easily the most popular type of betting for NFL football is “spread” betting or more commonly known as betting against the spread. Bettors who are new to NFL betting or betting in general may be a little confused with NFL spread betting, but it is pretty easy to understand once it is explained to you. We will explain what betting against the spread means below.

What is Betting Against The Spread?

For each NFL game the oddsmakers set a number of points in which the favored team is favored by. Bettors can then either choose for the favored team to win by more than the number of points set, or bet on the underdogs to lose by less than the number of points they are underdogs by or win the game straight up. For example, the spread could be set on the favored team at 6.5 points. This would mean in order for a bet on the favored team on the spread to win they would need to win by more than 6.5 points (7 or more) in order to win the bet. It also means that a bet on the underdog team would win if the underdogs lost by less than 6.5 points (6 or less) or won the game outright.

Example of NFL Spread Bet

Below is an example of what NFL spread betting would look like:

Matchup

  • TeamsSpread
  • Dallas Cowboys -2.5
  • New York Giants +2-5

Football Betting Terms Explained Against

The negative (-) sign indicates that the Cowboys are the favorites, while the positive (+) sign indicates that the New York Giants are the underdogs. With the spread set at 2.5 points, a bet on the Cowboys would mean that they would have to win by more than 2.5 points (3 or more) in order for you to win that bet. A bet on New York would mean that the Giants would have to either lose by 2.5 or less points (2 or less) or win the game outright in order for your bet to win.

Here is another example with a screenshot taken from 5Dimes.eu during Week 3 of the 2013 NFL season:

Here you can see that the Rams are +3.5, while the Cowboys are -3.5. So for this example the Cowboys are 3.5 point favorites, while the Rams are underdogs of 3.5 points. If you were to bet on St Louis you would need them to lose by 3 or fewer points or just win the game outright. If you were to bet on Dallas you would need the Cowboys to win by 4 or more points.

Football Betting Terms Explained Online

If the Cowboys were to win by 3 points, lets say 30-27, any bets on the Rams +3.5 would win. Even though the Rams didn’t win the game they covered the spread of 3.5 points.

Now if the Cowboys were to win by 4 points, lets say 31-27, the Cowboys have covered the spread and anyone who wagered on Dallas would win their bets.

Other NFL Spread Betting Information

Football Betting Terms Explained Results

You may often notice that the spread is sometimes set at an even number such as 3, 6 , 10, etc. In this case if the favored team won by the exact amount set for the spread the bet would be pushed, and all bets would be returned. For example, if the Patriots were 3 point favorites and they won by a FG (3 points) than this would results in a push, meaning no matter which side you bet on you would get your money returned to you.

Gambling Terms Explained

The most common NFL spreads are usually set between about 2.5-10.5 points, but you will also almost always have games each week with spreads lower than 2.5 and higher than 10.5. In the event that the oddsmakers feel the game doesn’t need a spread, it would be set at 0 or what some call a pick’em (both teams are given even odds to win for this type of bet).

The odds given on the spread are usually -110 unless otherwise noted. It is not uncommon to see one side of the spread being -105, with the other side being -115. If you don’t see any odds listed for each side of NFL spreads you are supposed to assume the odds are -110 on each. Not sure how to read NFL betting odds? Check out our Sports Betting Odds guide.

Football Betting Terms Explained Odds

Now that you know the basics of NFL spread betting you’ll want to check out our Sports Betting Strategy guide which has some great NFL strategy articles written by a professional bettor.