The NFL is the most popular sports league in the U.S. for fans and sports bettors alike.
The NFL’s favor among bettors can be attributed to its high-scoring games, numerous contests each week, and extensive media coverage, including live showcases on various platforms.
There are many ways you can wager on NFL games, let’s dig into some of the most popular options first.
NFL Odds Explained
NFL Moneylines
Moneylines are the simplest form of NFL betting. When betting an NFL moneyline, you are wagering on which team will win the game.
This bet does not consider the point spread or any other factors but simply focuses on the final result of the game.
For example, if the Giants are (-200) favorites over the Commanders, you would need to wager $200 to win $100 if New York wins.
Conversely, if the Commanders moneyline is (+175) in this scenario, you would win $175 on a $100 bet if Washington wins the game.
NFL Spreads
As we know, all NFL matchups aren’t created equally. Good teams are expected to beat bad teams, and so on. An NFL spread wager takes those factors into consideration. Oddsmakers do that by setting a point spread for every game.
An NFL spread market will typically look something like this:
Bills -7 (-110) vs Jets +7 (-110)
In these scenarios, the favorite must win the game by more than seven points (the spread, to cash your bet. Meanwhile, the underdog can lose by fewer than seven or win outright for that side to cash.
If Buffalo wins by exactly seven points, this bet would be categorized as a push, and you would be refunded your initial wager.
NFL Totals Betting
An NFL Over/Under wager is a bet on the total number of points scored in a game.
Again, oddsmakers set a total for every game, leaving you to decide whether the total number of points scored will go Over or Under that number.
If the total for the Bills vs Jets matchup above is set at 48.5 points, you would then be able to wager on whether you think the two teams will combine to score more than 48.5 points (bet the Over) or less than 48.5 (bet the Under).
What other types of NFL betting odds are available?
In addition to moneylines, spreads, and totals, sportsbooks offer several other ways to bet on the NFL.
Futures bets, such as predicting the Super Bowl winner or AFC South winner before the start of the season, are popular ways to bet.
Prop betting has also quickly become a staple of NFL betting. Props are wagers on a player’s specific stats, like rushing yards or touchdowns.
You can also combine single NFL bets into larger, riskier, multi-faceted wagers, like parlays and round robins.
Now that we’ve got some of the basics down, let’s dig into some more sophisticated NFL betting options.
NFL Futures Betting
An NFL futures bet is a wager on an event that (you guessed it) will happen in the future. There are multiple markets for these bets, including predicting the AFC winner or the league’s Coach of the Year.
These bets are typically made before the start of the season, although some futures bets may be available during the season.
NFL Prop Betting
An NFL prop bet is a play on a specific outcome within a game.
These can vary widely and include bets like picking a player to score the first touchdown or multiple touchdowns.
Depending on how deep into the weeds you would like to get, you can bet on a safety to happen or how many extra points a kicker will make.
Prop bets can be a fun way to add excitement to a game without necessarily backing a specific team. And as shown above, there are typically endless prop bet options available for each NFL game.
NFL Parlay Betting
NFL parlay betting is when you combine multiple bets into a single wager.
To win a parlay, each of the individual bets within the parlay must be successful. The more bets you include in a parlay, the higher the potential payout grows.
NFL parlay bets can include moneylines, spreads, totals, props, futures, and more.
However, because each bet within a parlay must win for the bet to cash, these plays are often riskier than making single bets.
NFL Teaser Betting
An NFL teaser bet is a type of parlay that allows you to adjust the spread or total in your favor but at the cost of a lower potential payout.
Teaser bets typically allow you to move the point spread or total by 6-7 points in either direction.
Going back to our Bills vs Jets example above, since the spread was -7, you could lower it to -1 with a standard 6-point teaser. By doing so, you eliminate some of the risk of Buffalo winning by 3-7 points, as you now only need the Bills to win by at least 1.
Since these are parlays, you would have to pair Buffalo with at least one other bet to complete your teaser. For instance, you could also move the total from our above down 6 points to 42.5.
Teaser betting is particularly effective when spreads and totals are sitting on key numbers. However, the more points you add to a teaser, the lower the potential payout will be.
NFL Round Robin Betting
An NFL round-robin enables you to make multiple parlay bets at once.
Round-robin wagers allow you to combine multiple individual bets into a series of smaller parlays, essentially allowing you to parlay all the possible combinations of the individual plays.
For example, if you liked five moneyline underdogs on an NFL slate, you could create a series of parlays that encapsulate each of the five teams. For this example, in addition to a traditional five-team parlay, you could create a group of four-, three-, and two-team parlays that account for all the possible outcomes.
This type of bet can be a useful way to spread out your risk, especially if you typically lose parlays by a single leg and potentially win multiple bets from a single wager.
However, because you are making multiple bets at once, the cost of a round-robin ticket can be much higher than a single parlay or straight bet.