Football Betting

Blackhawks clip Red Wings

Hockey Betting Lines

02/21/2012 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marcus Kruger netted the winner early in the third period and Corey Crawford stopped 31 shots as Chicago edged Detroit, 2-1, at United Center.

Jimmy Hayes provided the other score for the Blackhawks, who have won four games in a row.

Valtteri Filppula notched a first-period goal for the Red Wings, whose six- game win streak came to a halt.

Jimmy Howard made his first start since February 2, but lost despite making 27 saves.

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Waco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brittney Griner had 18 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks, and No. 1 Baylor clinched the Big 12 regular season title with an 80-59 victory over Texas. The undefeated Lady Bears (28-0, 15-0 Big 12) also got a doub

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Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dwyane Wade scored 30 points and dished out 10 assists, and the Miami Heat pulled away in the fourth quarter to take down the Sacramento Kings, 120-108, on Tuesday. Chris Bosh and Mario Chalmers each add

<< No. 7 North Carolina downs NC State
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kendall Marshall scored a career-high 22 points, hitting four of North Carolina's 10 three-pointers as the seventh- ranked Tar Heels downed North Carolina State, 86-74, at RBC Center on Tuesday. Mars

<< Lehtonen, Stars blank Canadiens
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kari Lehtonen made 31 saves to record his second shutout of the season and 19th of his career as the Dallas Stars blanked the Montreal Canadiens, 3-0, at Bell Centre. Ryan Garbutt netted his fir

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Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves to shut out the Eastern Conference's top team, leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 2-0 win over the New York Rangers on Tuesday night. Fleury had six saves in the first

Fisher, Preds deal Canucks rare regulation defeat >>
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pekka Rinne made 32 saves and the Nashville Predators handed the Vancouver Canucks their first regulation loss in more than a month. Mike Fisher had a goal and two assists, leading the Nashville offense

UConn shakes off weekend defeat, routs Pitt >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis totaled a game-high 23 points as No. 4 Connecticut routed Pitt by an 86-37 count on Tuesday. Tiffany Hayes added 13 and five steals for the Huskies (25-3, 12-2 Big East), who snapp

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Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marc Gasol fill the stat sheet with 15 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists and five blocks, as Memphis started strong and beat Philadelphia, 89-76, handing the 76ers their season-high fourth straight loss. Rudy

Michigan uses long ball to down Northwestern in OT >>
Evanston, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - No. 11 Michigan went 14-of-38 from long range, hitting three in a row near the start of overtime to run away with a 67-55 win over Northwestern on Tuesday. Trey Burke led all scorers with 19 points, while Ti

Scott leads Virginia over Georgetown >>
Blacksburg, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Scott had 20 points and nine rebounds on Tuesday, leading No. 25 Virginia to a 61-59 win over Virginia Tech. Sammy Zeglinski and Jontel Evans both added 13 points for the Cavaliers (21-6, 8-5 ACC),

What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.

Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).

If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).

Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.

How to Read Point Spreads

New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)

In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:

  • Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
    OR
  • Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.

  • There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.

    The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:

    Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots

    Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.

    For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically

    Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:

  • Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
    OR
  • Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score

    Who Really “Won” the Super Bowl odds ?

    Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21

    The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.

    Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.

    Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).

    Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.

    And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.

To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.