Football is the most popular betting sport in the United States and its popularity is at an all-time high, especially with the Super Bowl up ahead. When it comes to betting on football, there are many different strategies to consider that can increase your chances of winning.
Two excited friends or roommates watching tv on line in a tablet sitting on a couch in the living room at home
With the Super Bowl quickly approaching, you should find out how to bet on Super Bowl 56 online relying on past data and stats. Bookmakers analyze the chances of things happening during an NFL game after releasing their odds, and your job is to find a pattern that might point you in the right direction.
Whether you are new to football betting, or just a recreational bettor who wants to take it up a notch, there are many things to consider that can improve your return on investment (ROI) in the long run.
Everybody wants to win some money, so before we analyze the tips that can increase your winning chances, there are some things you should understand about football betting.
Football Betting Lines and Odds
As a beginner, you first need to understand football betting before creating a winning strategy. The most common way people lose money is by not understanding the best. Here are the most popular bets in football that you should know about.
Point Spread
In football betting, point spread is a figure made by odds specialists with sportsbooks that shows advantage or disadvantage based on the chances of victory or defeat for any football team.
In most cases, the “favorite” team is given a disadvantage as it would need to win a game by a certain point, and on the other hand, the “underdogs” are given the advantage not to lose the game by a certain amount of points.
For example:
The New York Giants -7
New England Patriots +7
This means that the Giants are favored to beat the Patriots by 7 points or more, or the Patriots not to lose with more than 7 points.
Totals
This is a simple bet where the total score of both teams is combined. As a bettor, you need to decide whether or not the final score of an NFL game would go OVER or UNDER the total.
Atlanta Falcons vs Dallas Cowboys – Total 47.5
If the game finishes 27-20 for Atlanta Falcons, that would be a total of 47 which means that is UNDER the closing total.
Moneyline
Moneyline or Straight-up in NFL betting means the team you think will win the game. Since the outcome of an NFL match, especially between a favorite team and underdogs, in most cases can easily be predicted, the odds are much smaller for the favorite team since there is less risk of losing the game.
New England Patriots -160
New York Jets +140
If you place $100 on the Patriots and they beat the Jets, you’d end up winning $162.5, on the other hand, if you place the same amount of money on the Jets, you’d end up winning $240.
These are the most popular NFL bets you should definitely know about. Other types of bets include Game and Players Props, Parlays, and Teasers.
Betting Tips to Increase Your Winning Chances
Keep Records and Always Monitor Your Betting Stats
Your greatest weapon that can help you win more bets is data. Keeping a detailed record of your bets will help identify patterns that have a serious impact on a game. It is very important to keep track of stake, odds, type of bet, results, profit/loss, and more, just to have a better idea of where are you heading.
Such data will not only improve your betting strategy over time but will help you play more responsibly.
Avoid Chasing Losses
The most common mistake bettors make is chasing losses, or putting more money on the next game just to compensate for their losses from the previous. Chasing losses can dig a deeper hole in your budget that is hard to get out of, and usually instant reactions result in losses since no research is done to help you increase your winning chances.
Avoid Parlays
Parlays are very intimidating, especially for new bettors since the betting odds are high. However, Parlays are giving the house an 18.75% edge if you assume all four games are coin flips.
If you want to place some money on parlay as pure entertainment, be my guest, but if you want to take NFL betting seriously and make some profits, then you should definitely avoid them.
Choose the Best Bookie for Every Wager
Most bettors choose their favorite bookie and stick to it no matter what. This usually means missing out on the best odds which can significantly increase your profits. Nowadays, it is fairly easy to place wagers on different betting websites since most bookies have online betting.
Your goal should be to find the best bookie that offers attractive odds and easy payout systems for each wager.
Leave Emotions Out of It
Emotions and betting don’t go together, and sometimes it is hard to control them especially after losing some money. However, if you like to set up a profitable strategy for the long term, you should try to block your emotions.
Keeping your emotions balanced means that you should rely more on data and statistics, rather than instinct. Also, it means that your main goal is to take profits, even when it comes to betting against your favorite team in the NFL.
Consider Live Betting
Most successful NFL bettors take advantage of Live Betting since games are easier to predict after you’ve seen all the players and their form. Live Betting on the other hand can be devastating if you don’t know when to stop.
Remember, the best way to end up profitable in the betting industry is to take smaller bets for a long period of time. We all want to become millionaires on a single bet, but the chances of that happening none exist.
Research, Research, Research
We mentioned a couple of times that betting should be done only after you’ve analyzed previous results and consider things like home-field advantage, check out an injury report, and so on.
Keeping up with all the data and researching before the match is the best way to increase your winning chances and make wiser betting decisions.
Most professional bettors have developed routines before placing a bet by outlining the most important stats to them and analyzing the match, so try to do the same thing.
