If you plan to bet on football, you must know how to read NFL odds. Whether you're betting on the Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings, Las Vegas Raiders, Carolina Panthers, or any other team on the NFL schedule, you'll want to know how online betting odds work for football.
What are NFL Odds and Betting Lines?
Understanding NFL odds is vital to betting on football games. Positive odds feature a plus sign (+) and indicate an underdog, while negative odds feature a minus sign (-) and show a favorite to win. With American odds, betting $10 on a +200 underdog would give you $20 if it wins, while a $10 bet on a -200 favorite would give you $5.
Point spread, moneyline, and totals betting are the three most common ways to bet on NFL games. NFL point spreads is the most popular football betting option. NFL spread betting means you need a team to cover a specific number. So if you bet on the Detroit Lions -2.5 against the Kansas City Chiefs, you need the Lions to win by three or more points. Being aware of the odds format and how to get the best odds is essential for betting on the National Football League, one of the top NFL betting tips for beginners.
Where are the Best NFL Odds?
You can use the NFL odds tool above to find the best odds on a given game. This page compares the odds across sportsbooks for every point spread, moneyline, and game total every week of the NFL season.
Right now we compare odds from seven major sportsbooks. Sign up with the bonus codes below to begin betting on the NFL today with a legal online sportsbook:
- BetMGM Bonus Code
- Caesars Promo Code
- ESPN BET Promo Code
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- bet365 Bonus Code
- DraftKings Sportsbook Promo Code
- FanDuel Sportsbook
And of course, even after you've signed up with sportsbook, continue to use this page to find the best NFL odds for any game, any way you want to bet.
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If you're looking for more information about football odds, continue reading below. We'll cover everything you need to know, starting with the basics of NFL odds, how to take advantage of NFL betting lines, how to use NFL odds boosts, plus we'll show you more ways to bet on the football beyond traditional point spreads, moneylines, and totals.
The Basics - NFL Odds Glossary
NFL Spread – The most popular way to bet NFL football is taking a team against the spread (ATS). This involves making a wager on either the favorite or underdog to cover the point spread. The point spread is by how much the better team (favorite) is projected to beat the weaker team (underdog) for the bet to win.
NFL Moneyline – Bettors can also wager on the moneyline, which simply states the odds a bettor must wager on a football team to win straight up. For example, a -140 moneyline means a player would have to bet $14 for each $10 they’d like to win. If the underdog is +130 in that game, the bettor would win $13 for every $10 they bet.
NFL Total (Over/Under) – The number of points scored by both teams. The bettor can either go Over or Under the given total.
Favorite – The team laying the points (ex: Patriots -3) and the higher moneyline. The favorite will always be minus money (ie -140) and minus points.
Underdog or dog – The team getting points (ex: Rams +3) with the lower moneyline. The dog will always be plus points and plus money (ie +120).
Over – A bet made for a team or game to score more points than the game total. (ie Over 38.5 points).
Under – A bet made for a team or game to score fewer points than the game total. (ie Under 38.5 points).
Vigorish (Vig or Juice) – The fee or commission a player has to pay to the house, ex: Patriots -3 (-110). In this case, a bettor is wagering $11 to win $10. Typically the vig is (-110) on both sides, but sometimes oddsmakers will increase the vig on one side instead of increasing the points spread; ex: Patriots -3 (-115), Rams +3 (-105).
Parlay – A bet that combines a number of teams, all of which must win for the bet to win. The attraction is a larger payout. Two-team parlays typically pay out 2.6 to 1, three-team parlays pay out 4 to 1, and four-team parlays pay out 6 to 1.
Round Robin – A special kind of parlay which makes betting combinations for every team listed in the bet. For example, a three-team round robin would feature a three-team parlay and three two-team parlays. Bettors signify how much they wish to risk or win for each leg of the parlay.
Sportsbook (Book or House) – The entity offering the bets.
Shopping – Using several books to look for the best lines.
Live Betting – When action is offered after a game starts, while it’s in progress.
Proposition (Prop) – These are individual bets within a game, usually centering around a team, player or the game itself. For example, which team will score first? Will the home team score in the first 5.5 minutes of the game? Player props often offer a total on whether a certain player will go over or under a particular statistical category. Examples include: Will a certain player throw over/under X number of touchdowns? Will a certain player catch over/under X number of passes? Will a certain player rush over/under X number of yards?
How to Use NFL Odds in online sports betting
You can use the NFL betting lines to your advantage. Let's say you're looking at the NFL schedule and checking out the point spreads for the upcoming games. If BetMGM offers +120 moneyline odds on the Las Vegas Raiders while DraftKings offers just +110, you'll want to bet with BetMGM for a better payout.
It's also worth noting that all types of football odds can be heavily impacted by inclement weather when games are not in a dome. You can stay on top of weekly forecasts for all NFL games, and their betting implications, with our NFL weather page.
Odds Boosts
Odds boosts are some of the most popular NFL betting promos. Odds boost promotions give you a better payout on an NFL bet, sometimes with requirements such as on a specific primetime game or a same-game parlay. Remember that these odds boosts will have limits, ranging from $10 to $25 and occasionally $50.
NFL Odds and Betting Lines
NFL odds show you which team is favored in a given game and the most likely outcome. While negative NFL odds (-250, -400, etc.) indicate a more likely outcome, positive NFL odds (+150, +500, etc.) reflect the underdog.
After getting a basic understanding of how NFL betting works, signing up for a sportsbook is simple:
- Choose a sportsbook
- Sign up with basic information (name, email, phone number)
- Make a deposit
- Start betting
Sports Market Coverage
If you're interested in branching out from NFL betting, all the top online sports betting sites feature a variety of sporting events to bet on. Just open your favorite platform and you'll see bets available for the NFL and the NBA, MLB, NHL, WNBA, UFC, PGA, and much more. You can also parlay NFL wagers with other leagues.
NFL Moneyline Betting
Wagering on the moneyline in football is easy to understand. Moneyline bets (sometimes called the moneyline) determine which team will win the game. This is ideal for bettors who want to focus on something other than the point spread or find better odds than taking the points with an underdog. That means you'll cash your bet if you place a moneyline bet on the Minnesota Vikings and they beat the Detroit Lions 21-20.
NFL Live Betting
You can place only some of your bets before a game kicks off. As the game progresses, you can wager on point spreads, the total, moneyline bets, and even player props. Live NFL betting is a great way to get better odds, as the lines will shift significantly throughout a matchup. For example, let's say the Indianapolis Colts are 4-point favorites against the Carolina Panthers but are down 10-6 at halftime. You can place a live bet on the Indianapolis Colts +3.5, hoping the team will keep the game close or come back and win outright.
NFL Futures Bets
If you have a feeling you know what will happen throughout the NFL season, NFL futures betting is for you. Futures betting lets you get long odds on a later outcome. If you think the Detroit Lions will win the Super Bowl this year, but they're still considered a longshot, you could get high odds, like +3000, meaning a $10 wager would pay out $300. You can also wager on conference winners, most valuable players, NFL playoff props, most points scored in the NFL regular season, and much more.
NFL Parlays
If you want to combine some football bets for better NFL betting odds, you can put together a parlay. NFL betting sites let you combine multiple bets for improved odds, letting you go for a bigger payout. So you can parlay the Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, and Philadelphia Eagles to cover the spread for +596 odds. If you placed $10 on this parlay and won, you'd get $59.60 back.
NFL Over/Under Bets
Alongside spread betting and moneyline wagers, NFL total betting is extremely popular. Betting totals (also referred to as the over/under) is simple, as you're just wagering on the combined total between the two teams playing. If you bet over 37.5 in a game between the Minnesota Vikings and Houston Texans, and the Vikings win 21-17, the over hits, and you win the bet!
NFL Player Props
Player props are another popular NFL wager that focuses on individual players. With player prop betting, you can bet on players to have a certain amount of yards, score a touchdown, record an interception, and much more. So if you bet on the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback to record over 1.5 touchdowns, and he throws three scores in a game, the bet will cash.
NFL Draft
While you can't bet on NFL games during the offseason, plenty of wagers are available on the NFL Draft. Some common NFL Draft bets include which player will be first overall, how many offensive or defensive rookies are drafted in a particular round, and draft order. You can also bet on specific NFL Draft outcomes, such as the Philadelphia Eagles to take a running back in the first round.
Super Bowl Odds
The Super Bowl is the top betting event every year, and there are many ways to bet on it. As you'd expect, the top sportsbooks offer plenty of bets on the point spread, alongside total bets, live betting, and the money line. But that's just the tip of the iceberg, as prop betting and futures bets are a considerable focus every Super Bowl.
Super Bowl Props
The Super Bowl is the top event for prop bets every year. Some common Super Bowl prop bets you can expect to see every year include the result of the coin toss, which player will score the first touchdown, whether the game will go to overtime, and what will happen in the game's first play.
Super Bowl Futures Odds
Super Bowl futures bets are available for most of the year and offer great value on teams that could win a title. The future odds of the Super Bowl will change throughout the NFL schedule, depending on how teams perform.
NFL Betting Resources
Checking out a best odds page, like this one, can show you which online betting site has the best number right now, and you can also search for recent betting trends. It's the simplest, and honestly, most useful tool to ensure you get the best odds every day. You also can't go wrong with our NFL lineup optimizer if you're a DFS fan.
On top of that, you can find NFL betting insights and analysis at RotoGrinders throughout the football season. Our NFL betting experts cover their favorite wagers every week and for every primetime slate.
And if you're looking to see the most recent depth charts and injury updates, check out our NFL starting lineups.
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