Football betting pointspread sides are the most popular form of football bets. As you consider football sides you need to understand the basics of how the line is made. Let’s look at basic pointspread wagering for making football bets. Football betting pointspreads are set by the oddsmakers to supposedly even out the gambling appeal between two teams that were otherwise uneven. For example, if a real good team is playing a real bad team and there is no pointspread, all of the gambling action would go towards the superior team and everyone would likely win their football bets and sportsbooks would quickly go out of business.
But that is where the oddsmaker’s job comes into play in football. The oddsmaker will set a pointspread in which the superior team has to win by a certain amount of points in order to win the bet. For example, let’s say that the Indianapolis Colts are home against the Houston Texans. On a straight up basis, nobody would want the Texans at all. But the pointspread has Indianapolis at -12.5, which all of a sudden gives Houston at least some appeal in football betting with value oriented gamblers.
Another factor to take into account in football betting is that the oddsmakers always know what the public really wants, and charge the public extra for that. And in most cases, the public wants power home chalks just like that previous example with the Colts. Just remember that if the public was so intelligent, there wouldn’t be sportsbooks. Football betting pointspreads are always going to be shaded a little bit toward the public favorite. If you are making football bets you should understand the dynamics of the football betting pointspread. This is particularly important in NFL football because the public loves teams like New England, Indianapolis, Dallas, etc.
As you look at football betting sides there are always factors to consider. Public appeal and home field are always factored into the line and that is why underdogs often make gamblers money if they have the guts to take them with in football betting.