If the sportsbook is busy with action, it should be football season. Be it the NFL or NCAA, football betting action is fast and furious during the season. For the newbie sports bettor, it can seem a little confusing, but football bets really drop to two types-straight bets and parlay bets slot.
Football Betting – Straight Bets
Here’s the workhorse for just about any winning football bettor. A straight bet simply means you’re betting using one football game. In the event that you bet on more than one game on the same ticket, it’s a parlay, and we’ll discuss that in a minute.
When you make a straight football bet, you will be betting on a side or total. Simply put, when you bet a side, you “select a side” in the game. For instance, let’s say the brand new England Patriots are playing the Seattle Seahawks. If you’re going to bet a side, you’d bet on either the Patriots or the Seahawks.
Every game has a point total (except NCAA football, which is most games). This can be a amount of points scored between both teams. Once you bet a total, you’re betting under or higher that total. For instance, suppose the total is 47 and you also take the over. To win, both teams must combine for 48 or even more points (47 would be a push, therefore you get your bet back).
Football Betting – Parlays
Okay, so you know about straight bets, which is where you bet on just one single thing per ticket. When you wish to bet on several thing, it’s a parlay. It is possible to bet on 2 – 20 things (depends upon the sportsbook).
For instance, let’s say you bet on the Seahawks and over the total on your ticket. That might be a 2-team parlay (even though technically there’s only one team on it).
The more items you placed on the ticket, the more money you’ll win if they all hit. Naturally, the more items on the ticket, the harder it really is to win.
With parlay bets it’s an all or nothing thing. If one pick fails, the ticket is dead. Some sportsbooks will run specials for getting close, but that’s very rare.
If you enter making football bets via parlay tickets, you might check out “teasers,” which are parlay tickets with added points for you. For instance, rather than taking the Packers -10, you might get them at -3. Needless to say, the payouts certainly are a less since the risk is minimized.
Football betting is really a blast and there’s nothing better than hitting the sportsbook with a big winning ticket. I hit straight football bets and parlays all season long. I look forward to the NFL and NCAA football seasons.