How to Read NFL Football Odds

The National Football League (NFL) is a favorite for millions of sports fans. One way to even add to the thrill of the games is to place bets on the games. It is important that you understand how to read NFL odds when you are considering gambling on pro football. You can easily find the odds posted in newspapers or online and then with a little effort you can interpret them also. Even if you are not going to place money on a game and only bet with your friends, why not increase your chances of picking the winner by understanding the odds?

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Newspaper or Football Odds website

1. Locate the odds of the NFL football games. Beginning with the pre-season and going through to the Super Bowl, there are lines (odds) posted for every football game played. You can find these listed in most newspapers in the Sports section. If you do not have access to a paper, you can find them online also. There are links to various sites under Resources (below) where you can get hold of the latest lines. Some even show multiple odds for you to compare, if you were interested in placing bets on them. Find the odds for the NFL games and move on to Step 2.

2. Become aware of the various odds available. Each team playing has posted lines for every game. These include “Straight-up Point Spread” and “Total – Over/Under” that are detailed in the following steps. These are the two most commonly found football odds in newspapers.

3. Understand the NFL Straight-up Point Spread Odds. You will see the team name and then a number. These odds are shown in either negative (Pittsburgh Steelers -7) or positive (Dallas Cowboys +7) amounts. The football team listed with the negative amount (Pittsburgh) is the favorite, or projected to be the winner. The one with the positive amount (Dallas) is not predicted to be successful and is considered the “underdog”. Normally the favorite football team is listed first. These numbers represent the amount you must take away from (favorite) or add to (underdog) the final scores, if you were betting on the games. For example, if Pittsburgh won in the above example 20-10 over Dallas, Pittsburgh bettors win. If the Cowboys win or lose by less than 7, the Cowboy bettors win.

4. Understand the NFL Total (Over/Under) Odds. This number will most often be to the right of the point spread one in parentheses or shown with “ov” at online sites. It is seen like this: Pittsburgh Steelers (33) Dallas Cowboys, or online like this: 33 ov. It represents the amount predicted to be the final (total) score of the game. If you were placing a bet on the game, you would have to predict if you think the ultimate combined score would be “over” or “under” this amount.

Tips & Warnings

• Newspapers may only show one number centered in-between the two teams playing for the Straight-up Point Spread odds. The football teams listed before the number would be considered the favorite.
• If you see “PK”, “PICK” or “OFF” on any of the listed NFL football games in place of odds, the two teams playing are considered to be equal or some other factor has come up that is expected to have an affect on the game.
• The home team is often shown in newspapers with all capital letters to distinguish them from the other football team. Online it may have the words “at” instead.

Resources

• Yahoo! Sports – NFL Live Odds – Spreads & Totals
• Doc’s Sports Service – Compare NFL Odds, Lines & Point Spreads
• Maddux Sports – Compare NFL Live Odds, Lines and Spreads

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