Playmaker Betting Guide – Tips and Basics

When it comes to betting on sports, there is no better time get in on the action than the football season.

Throwing a little money on the game can create a rooting interest for sports fans and make your Sunday viewing experience more entertaining than ever. But for a novice, sports gambling can seem daunting at times.

What does it mean to bet the Moneyline, or the spread?

What is a parlay, or how much do I win when I place a $100 bet at +155 odds?

In reality, sports betting is very simple. It just takes some time to learn the basic terminology that will turn you into an expert. Here is a guide to get you up to speed before kickoff this weekend.

Betting Odds

The first step to gambling is understanding the odds and what they mean. Simply put, betting odds are there to provide a measurement for how likely a certain event will happen in sports.

Obviously the reason why sports betting is so entertaining is because anything can happen. But the odds tell us how likely it is for a particular outcome to unfold.

If Tom Brady and the reigning Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers are about to take on the winless Jacksonville Jaguars, the odds are going to reflect the likelihood that Brady will get the victory.

This makes the Jaguars an underdog pick, where a bettor can lay down less money to earn a bigger payout, because the chances of them getting a victory are slim. Without odds, there would be no sports betting, because everyone would just put their money on the favorites.

Most sportsbooks will automatically tell you how much money you will win when placing a given bet, but here is an example of how the odds work:

• Ex: Jacksonville is a big underdog to beat the Buccaneers straight-up, so the odds of them to win is +600. This means that for every $100 you bet on the Jaguars, you will win $600.
• To bet on the Buccaneers at -600, a bettor would have to place a $600 bet just to make $100 back in winnings.

Money Line vs. the Spread

When picking games on Sunday, there are two basic ways you can bet on a winner. The moneyline is simply betting on a winner or a loser.

By betting the money line (ML), you are picking a team to win or lose the game, where the score of the contest is irrelevant.

• Ex: The Green Bay Packers are +155 to beat the San Francisco 49ers based on the money line. So if you place a $100 bet on the money line for Green Bay and they win, you would get your $100 back, plus $155 in winnings.

Betting the spread may seem more complicated, but really it is just a better way to understand the odds of a given team winning.

If the oddsmakers believe San Francisco is going to beat the Packers (as reflected by the ML), they may set the spread at 3 1/2 points. This essentially means they expect San Francisco to win by a field goal.

If you want to bet the favorite, you can take San Francisco with the spread and if they beat Green Bay by four or more points, they cover.

When a team covers the spread, a bettor can get closer to even money back betting on a favorite, instead of just putting action on the ML.

• Ex: San Francisco is -175 on the ML, but -103 to cover the 3 1/2 point spread. A bettor would have to place a $175 bet on the ML to win $100, but they could instead bet on the spread and only need to place a $103 wager to win $100 back.

On the other side, if you are betting on an underdog, taking the points and betting the spread gives you a better chance to win.

• Instead of needing the Packers to beat the Niners straight-up, you can bet the spread and get 3 1/2 points.
• As long as Green Bay doesn’t lose by four or more points, you win the bet.

Overs/Unders

Simply betting on the spread or the money line is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to sports betting.

There really is an endless list of bets a sportsbook will take, giving you something different to root for than just whether a team wins or loses.

One popular bet is to take the over or under on a given game’s score. The oddsmakers set overs and unders based on what they expect a game’s final score to be. A bettor can either place action on a single team, or bet on the game as a whole.

If the oddsmakers expect a shootout, they might set the over/under at 56 points heading into the game. This means a bettor can either take the over, wagering that the two teams will combine for more than 56 points, or they can bet the under.

This weekend, the Kansas City Chiefs are set to square off against the Los Angeles Chargers. With two high-powered offenses going head-to-head, the over/under has been set at 56 points.

Prop Betting

Prop betting can sometimes be the most entertaining way to wager money on Sunday, as there is so many different things to put action on.

Whether it’s betting on a certain player to score a touchdown, or for which team will score first, “Proposition Betting” is wagering on an event that is not directly tied to the final outcome of the game.

Sometimes prop betting is a great way to make money if you have a good idea of what is going to happen on a given Sunday.

If you know that a team is bad at defending against the run, you can place a prop bet on how many yards the starting running back will rush for.

Once again, odds are set for props the same way they are set when it comes to betting the over/under on the game’s final score.

• Ex: The odds can be set at -110 for Saquon Barkley to rush for more than 100 yards against the Atlanta Falcons.
• You can then bet the over or under based on whether you think Barkley will reach that many yards on the ground.
• With prop betting, you can also bet an alternative line if you think the oddsmakers have it wrong.
• So instead of betting at -110 for Barkley to rush for 100 yards, a bettor can wager that Barkley will go for over 150 yards at +175.

What is a Parlay?

It may seem confusing on the surface, but betting a parlay is essentially just a combination bet, where multiple bets are tied together in the wager.

From the bettor’s perspective, betting parlays can be a great way to create a big payout without having to risk as much money.

With each leg that is added to a parlay, the likelihood of the bet coming in gets diminished. You can bet on the Chiefs to beat the Chargers on the ML, while also taking the over on 56 points.

• This means that if the Chiefs and Chargers combine to score over 56 points AND the Chiefs win, you win the parlay bet.
• If the Chiefs win, but the combined score is less than 56 points, you lose.
• If the two teams score over 56 points, but the Chiefs lose, you lose.

Because the house has a much greater chance to win this wager, the odds will reflect the extra risk for the bettor.

Betting the Chiefs to win on the money line would be -300 and betting the over would be -110. By combining them in a parlay, the bettor gets +150 odds where a $100 bet would win $150.

The more legs that are added to a parlay the more money a bettor can win on their wager. But if any leg of the parlay doesn’t come in, the bettor will lose it all.

Betting Tips

Here are just a few tips to take into account before you start placing wagers ahead of kickoff this Sunday.

• Sometimes a novice gambler will focus on parlays, where they bet on the outcome of six games so a small wager can net a major payout.
• While this type of bet is thrilling when successful, there is a reason that odds allow for such a big payout without putting a lot of money down. Because the chances of winning a six-leg parlay are very slim.
• Home field advantage is real and will be factored into the odds.
• Depending on the season, in the NFL the home team generally wins 55 to 60 percent of the time.
• Pay attention to the weather.
• It may sound crazy to check what the weather is at Lambeau Field before wagering on the Packers, but it’s even more crazy to bet on them to score over 35 points if they are playing in a blizzard.

With the advent of online sportsbooks, it is easier than ever to get in on the action this football season. Make sure if you do chose to enter the world of sports betting, you do so responsibly.

Hopefully this guide will help you do just that. Good luck and happy betting!