Football

American Football, also known as Gridiron or Football (in North America) is tremendously popular with bettors around the world. The sport lends itself well to both fixed odds and spread betting - especially with live televised games.

The pointspread (or line) is closely associated with American Football betting. The pointspread will establish a favourite and underdog in a particular match, and a bettor will generally wager 11units to win 10 on team (or total points) selections.

The astute bettor will constantly monitor the line for a match (the first official line normally comes out the Monday before a Sunday contest) as the line will shift according to variables including volume of betting, injuries, weather and more.

The majority of American Football betting turnover is concentrated on matches played within the professional National Football League (NFL), although collegiate (university) football is also a very popular and growing sport-betting medium.

The NFL consist of 32 teams split evenly into six divisions between the National and American Football Conferences. Teams play a 16-game regular season schedule between September and December to determine which 12 teams go through to the playoffs. The playoffs include the wild card games, divisional playoff games and conference championships. The two conference champions meet at the end of January in the Super Bowl to determine that season's outright champion.

Some American Football bets include over/unders (a forecast bet to determine whether the combined total points will be over or under a set number), betting the point spread (see example below), teaser bets (where the bettor is able to move the official line) and futures betting (a constantly adjusted bet where a punter can pick the eventual Super Bowl, Division or Conference winners).

There are also more exotic bets such as first player to score a touchdown in a match, numbers of sacks in a game, how the first points of a match will be scored and more. Also in spread betting, bettors can buy or sell a team based upon a performance criteria. These type bets are normally restricted to the live televised games.

Example:
San Diego Chargers -6.5
Denver Broncos 41

In this example, the Chargers are the six-and-a-half point favourites to beat the Broncos, meaning San Diego must win by seven or more points to cover the pointspread. Those who backed Denver will win their bet if the Broncos win the game outright, or if the Broncos lose the game by six points or less.

The over/under total in that game is 41. If the final score was 40-21, those who bet "over 41" would win the bet. Punters who bet "Under 41" would lose the bet.

The money line usually opens a -110 either side - meaning that a bettor will wager 11 units to win 10 on either team (or bet in multiples of 11, i.e. 55 to win 50, 110 to win 100, etc.).

With the "teaser" bets, the bettor can move the line in either direction - he can diminish or increase the pointspread with a teaser. Six and Seven-point teasers are normally offered with the following fixed payouts:

TEASE Bets:

No. of teams

6-point tease

7-point tease

three

8/5

1/1

four

5/2

9/5

five

9/2

7/2

six

7/1

5/1