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Good day everyone, We are embarking on the next installment of our handy, dandy sports betting tutorial sports betting explained at MyTopSportsbooks, with an update on spread betting. We will go into detail about covering the spread meaning and what does cover the spread mean. Also, we will discuss football point spread and betting against the spread as topics for today’s installment of sports betting. Don’t forget the Moneyline vs the point spread is one area where sports bettors could use some information for their bet now choices. The playing field can be as high as a touchdown when playing the spread and the payout is reflected accordingly.
How is Point Spread Betting Defined?
Point spread betting, simply put, is easy to understand; you pick a team to win or lose by a certain number of points as assigned by the online sportsbook or oddsmaker or bookmaker you bet with. Point spread betting is increasingly popular when betting on the NFL or NBA, college football or college basketball. You can build a parlay bet with point spread betting. If you bet on the NHL or MLB, you need to bet the Moneyline for NHL. But, in MLB, you can bet the run line. Betting the run line is MLB’s version of point spread betting. The NHL equivalent for a points spread type of bet is the puck line. The puck line is predicated on the number of goals scored in a game and doesn’t factor in who wins or losses. The betting market is flexible and wants to help you spend your bucks on a hockey game, baseball game, or a futures bet on the Super Bowl.
What is a Point Spread Wager?
The point spread represents the oddsmaker’s or bookmaker’s best guess and the public’s reaction to the separation – by points – on any specific game. If you bet on Olympic basketball, you can see Team USA favored in a matchup by as many 50 points -50 on the point spread betting line. When you read the odds board, you see teams listed with a plus sign or a minus sign to indicate the favorite or the underdog. When you see the point spread odds, they are considered live, but we are going to use an NFL point spread example. The Chicago Bears are playing the New England Patriots in an NFL game. The Bears have perennially struggled to be competitive in the NFL. The Patriots have been at the top of the NFL in terms of competitiveness and have a home-field advantage. On the board, the Bears are listed as +8 (the underdog), while the Pats are listed at -8 (the favorite). The final score of the game is Pats 28 – Bears 24. You would win your bet if you took the Bears and the points (their final score plus the points for being the underdog). The adjusted score, including the point spread, yield a final sportsbook score of 32-28, the Bears over the Pats.
What Happens When you Cover the Spread?
When you cover the spread, the game you bet on, NBA or NFL college football or college basketball game, the margin of victory must exceed the points provided by the online sportsbook or bookmaker. In our example above, if you took the Pats, you didn’t cover the spread because the Pats won by four points. To succeed on a Pats bet, you would need them to win by nine points, 33-24, over the Bears. If the Pats had won the game by eight points, they would have landed on the exact match for the spread. The game ends in a tie at the sportsbooks and is considered a push. A push, or a tie, cancels the bet, and everybody with the push result has their original bet returned to them like the game was never played.
Juice or Vig on Point Spread Betting, What is it?
The juice, or the vigorish, is the same everywhere; it depends on where you lay your bets. When you see the points spread on the board, it is accompanied by another number. Here is how it may be set up from the above example. You see the KC Chiefs listed as a +3 against the Buffalo Bills -3. You might see -110 or -120 beside the spread at American odds at sportsbooks. European sportsbooks will display the number differently – say 1.95 – but it means the same thing. The key numbers are the spread and the vig to bet the game. Handicappers understand this to be the juice or the vig in the betting market. It tells them they must bet $11 or$ 12 to win $10 if their bet covers the spread. The vig or the juice is the fee the casino – betting sites like BetMGM, Fanduel, and Draftkings – takes to handle your bet. You can hedge your bet by taking Buffalo and KC and breaking even. The juice or vig is enabled so the casino, online sportsbook app or bookie can make a profit off the bettor when laying a bet.
Do Point Spreads Change and Why?
Point spreads go up and down and are reflective of the marketplace. There are reasons why the line will change, and we will expound on them.
- The sharps will engage in market-setting, and the sportsbook opens a market.
- Competitors copy the lines.
- Limits start relatively low. The size depends on the sportsbook.
- Information hits the market as game time gets closer to tip-off or kick-off. This information tightens the line.
- Books become more confident in their odds; they expand the odds. The books will follow the lead of the market setters and price in the betting odds house risk.
- The sportsbooks will close the line at game time.
Shop Around for the Best Point Spread Odds
As gamblers, we want to keep our bankroll when we place bets. To do so, you try to limit your exposure to odds that won’t return a winner. As mentioned before, shopping around turns losses into pushes and pushes into wins topping up your bankroll. At MTS, we encourage the sports bettor to shop for the best odds and invite you to visit our corporate partners to get the best odds for your bankroll.
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