What is Point Spread Betting?

If you are new to betting, there are probably so many terms and bits of jargon that feel confusing and overwhelming. This is common when people start betting on sports and other kinds of competitions, but this issue can be alleviated by doing some research and getting better informed. There are so many really neat ways to bet if you know some more about the betting process, and you might be missing out on big wins just because you are not informed enough about these additional options.

Point spread betting is a very popular form of sports betting that is more common in the US than in other places. This is a means to bet on the strength of teams when compared to one another. This will give you the option to project a margin of victory for the contest. If this interests you, you will need to keep reading to learn some more!

How Do You Use Point Spread Betting?

If you want to engage in point spread betting, you will look at the two teams that are involved in a match. You will decide if you think that one team will win by a certain margin over the other. You will then look at the betting options for the game and decide if you can use a point spread for your bet instead of a traditional odds-based wager.

The outcomes for point spread betting are win, loss, or push. If you choose correctly, you will win the “price of the wager”. A loss is self-explanatory. If the game result falls exactly on the point spread margin, this will void the bet or cancel it. You will get your wager back, but you will not get the wager out of the bet.

This is not like a moneyline bet because the outcome of a spread bet might not mirror the final result of the sporting event. This is not about picking who wins or loses the game but instead about choosing the right win/loss margin.

There are three parts to this kind of bet: the actual point spread, the favorite, and the underdog. You will need to know about all three of them to be able to understand out to use point spread betting to your advantage.

The Spread

This is the point spread that is based on the number of scoring units. This might be points for football or runs for baseball, etc. This is the way that the projected margin for victory is communicated when you bet. This can range a lot from sport to sport, and there is usually a home-field advantage that is built into the point spread as well.

The Favorite

When you are betting on the favorite, you are betting on the team that is favored to win. This is usually done with a baseline $100 bet unit. You will wager this amount and then add money to the bet to win back more than your wager when you win. This will be the stake that you put in, and the plus to win is the added money that you bet on the favorite being the victor.

The Underdog

If you like voting for the team that no one thinks will win, you can also do this. You can bet on the projected loser if that strikes your fancy. This means that you can win when either team wins outright or when a team loses by an amount less than the point spread. An example would be if the Seahawks are favored to win by 5.5 points over another team, but they only end up winning by 4 points. Seattle did not cover the bet and those who wagered on the other team will win the bet despite the other team losing the actual game. This is called “winning the spread,” and it can be a fun way to bet on results that you think that you can predict in a negative direction.

Even/Pick ‘em

This kind of betting is offered when the odds between two teams are so close that there is no selection for the favored winner. When you bet on this kind of game, there is no points spread, and you will just pick who you think will win. If you are right, you will get your wager, and if you are not, you will lose. The result of a tie can lead to a push in most betting situations, and you would get your wager back in this case.

Can I Bet Moneyline as well?

This is another betting option based on who wins or loses, and in most cases, you can bet both ways for the same game. You might want to choose to bet on the moneyline when you are not sure what the point spread will be, and then you can use point spread betting when you feel sure that you can predict the strength of the team in comparison to their opponent.

Point Spread Betting Can Be Really Fun

Point spread betting offers you a larger margin of error for your betting and helps you to wager based on the actual competence of the team versus whether or not they will win. This can be a great way to handle some matches where you realize that one team is stronger than the other, and there is likely to be a significant and predictable outcome. You can also bet this way when you are not sure if the team that is favored will really win, but you do think you can predict the spread between the teams.

Point spread betting is something that can take a little time to understand, but once you do know how this kind of betting works, you can have a lot of fun adding it to the mix. You might want to spice things up and bet for winners or losers at times, and you can always choose to bet point spread if you feel like you have a grasp on the way that the game will flow.