Pointspread NFL Odds

NFL odds are the most popular form of all sports odds at a sportsbook. Which all end up meaning the same thing as they refer to football odds on a game in which you either lay points with the favorite or take points with the underdog.
NFL odds on pointspreads are easy enough to understand. For example, let’s say the Minnesota Vikings are hosting the Green Bay Packers as a three-point favorite. You will see on the NFL odds board Minnesota-3/Green Bay+3.

What this means is that if you wager on Minnesota, they would have to win the game by more than three points for the NFL odds wager to payoff. If you bet on the Packers they must either lose by less than three-points or, of course, win the game straight up. If the final score reads Minnesota 21 and Green Bay 17, Minnesota wins the bet. If, however, the score was Minnesota 21 and Green Bay 20, Green Bay would win the bet versus NFL odds even though they lost the game outright.

The object of the NFL odds pointspread is to even out the “appeal” between the two teams involved, so that roughly the same amount of gamblers will wager on either side versus the NFL odds. Otherwise, without the NFL odds pointspread, there would be no sportsbooks as everybody would simply wager on the power teams against the weaklings, such as taking the New England Patriots over the Houston Texans. But with the football odds pointspread, nobody will automatically take the Patriots in such a matchup, without considering their worth and value with the NFL odds and many people may end up betting on Houston because they will be getting a lot of points.

When betting NFL odds you will notice that the pointspreads are far closer between the teams than in college football, where there are far more mismatches. Football odds are the most challenging form of sports gambling that you can undertake. Since NFL odds are far and away the most popular form of sports betting, the football odds makers take extra care when making the lines.