If the sportsbook is busy with action, it must be football season PANDAJAGO. Be it the NFL or NCAA, football betting action is fast and furious through 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.
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. If you bet on multiple game on a single ticket, it is a parlay, and we’ll talk about that in a minute.
When you create a straight football bet, you could be betting on a side or total. To put it simply, when you bet a side, you “select a side” in the game. For instance, let’s say the New England Patriots are playing the Seattle Seahawks. If you’re likely 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 is actually the amount of points scored between both teams. When you bet a complete, you’re betting under or over 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 will be a push, which means you get your bet back).
Football Betting – Parlays
Okay, so you know about straight bets, that is where you bet on just one single thing per ticket. When you want to bet on multiple thing, it’s a parlay. You can bet on 2 – 20 things (depends on the sportsbook).
For instance, let’s say you bet on the Seahawks and over the total on your ticket. That would be a 2-team parlay (despite the fact that technically there’s only 1 team on it).
The more items you put on the ticket, the more income you’ll win if they all hit. Naturally, the more items on the ticket, the harder it 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 so you can get close, but that’s very rare.
If you get into making football bets via parlay tickets, you might have a look at “teasers,” which are parlay tickets with added points for you personally. For instance, rather than taking the Packers -10, you might get them at -3. Needless to say, the payouts are a less since the risk is minimized.
Football betting is a blast and there’s nothing much 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.
