As sports betting takes off nationwide, many beginners are interested in the various types of bets available, like spread betting. Along with moneylines, propositions, and over/unders, spread betting is one of the staples of wagering on your favorite games. While hockey and baseball wagering have spread betting, it features more prominently in football and basketball.
When the spread was invented and applied to football it helped the game rise to its prominence. Now, spread bets on football games are so ubiquitous, you often hear the broadcasters reference the line.
What is a Point Spread Bet?
A points spread bet is a wager that a bettor places on one team of a two-team matchup. Instead of simply picking the winning team (a moneyline bet), the bettor chooses whether or not their team covers the spread. The spread itself is an artificial creation that attempts to adjust for each team’s relative strength.
via GIPHY (He may have known what a point spread bet is. But it is unclear if he really knew how to win them).
The spread or line for a particular game indicates which team is the favorite and by how much. For example, consider a hypothetical Sunday Night Football matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills. To bettors and fans, the Rams are considered the better team. But how is this indicated by a point spread?
Professionals in Las Vegas and elsewhere will “set a line” between the two teams. In this instance, the Rams may be favored by 3.5 points. Though football teams cannot score half points, the .5 is often used in spread betting to avoid a push where neither side of the bet is victorious.
As 3.5-point favorites over the Bills, the Rams need to win by four or more points to cover the spread. The Rams could win the game 24-22 but not cover the spread. Any game result where the Bills either win or lose by three or fewer points means Buffalo covered the spread.
On a spread bet for this game, if you picked the Rams to cover, you need them to win by at least four points to win your wager. Likewise, if you selected the Bills to cover the spread, all you need is for them to win the game or lose by fewer than four points.
What Does + And – Mean in the Points Spread?
Sticking to the same hypothetical Rams-Bills matchup, the spread number is only part of a wager on the line for the game. The other component indicates who is the favorite in the matchup. This is where a + and – signs in front of a set of three digits comes into play.
Strictly speaking about a points spread bet, the + and – will tell a bettor who is getting points versus who is giving points. Though the + sign indicates a positive, for spread betting the team with the + sign attached to their number is the underdog.
Conversely, the team with the minus sign is favored to win the game. So, in the hypothetical above, the Rams would be listed at -3.5, with the Bills at +3.5.
A simple way to think about the plus and minus signs is to add or subtract the line from the team’s score during the game. As above, if the Rams win the game 24-22, they do not cover the 3.5-point spread. You can deduce this by either adding the 3.5 to Buffalo’s score or subtracting 3.5 from the Rams. Hence, the plus and minus. Once the simple math is done, you’ll see which team covered the spread.
The plus sign indicates the favored team is giving points to its opponents. Essentially, for spread bettors, the game started with a score of 3.5 Bills – 0 Rams. That’s because the Bills are getting points against the spread. At any point during the game, you can know which team is covering by either adding 3.5 points to the Bills’ score or deducting 3.5 from the Rams’.
