Football Betting Guide USA
Football betting is a billion-dollar industry and draws in hundreds of thousands of US bettors every day. Football is a massively popular sport in the US, the proliferation of the internet has moved betting on this sport online.
With options such as the NFL, NCAA, and even the Canadian Football League, bettors who love watching football have many football betting options to choose from.
Best Football Betting Sites for US Punters 2020
We’ve rounded up some of the best football betting sites for Americans.
What you’ll find in this football betting guide:
How to Place a Football Bet
Firstly, you’ll need to know how to place a bet to start taking part in the action. In our football betting explained guide, let’s take a look at how you place a football bet.
- Firstly, you have to find an online sportsbook that has markets for football. Because of the popularity of the sports, all US and off-shore sportsbooks will have online football betting. The main concern is if they are a legal online sports betting site, what bonuses and promotions they have on offer, and if you like the odds they have on offer or not.
- Now that you’ve found a US online football betting site that you like, you’ll have to sign up. Generally, this is a simple and straight-forward process. You’ll have to enter your email, name, phone number, and a password to create an account. You’ll be asked to verify your account by some sites with a security pin sent to you via text or email.
- The next step is depositing funds into your sportsbook account. You can find out which banking options are available to you under the banking tab of the site. Mostly, when placing bets, football betting sites accept Bitcoin and usually have bonuses linked to it.
- Lastly, in learning how to bet on football, you’ll head over to a game you’re interested in betting on. Pick your type and place the football bet.
Now, depending on what you want to achieve, the best football bets vary in importance and ease. This leads us to our next section of our football betting explained guide.
Check out our other sports betting guides:
Types of Football Bets
Not all bets are created equal. Therefore, it’s important to consider the best football bets for what you want and your skill level. Let’s take a look at the different football betting types.
Point Spread
One of the most popular and best football bets, the point spread is essentially handicapping. Point spreading is meant to level the playing field between a team considered weaker than its opponent. For example, the point spread between the San Diego Chargers and Indianapolis looks like this
| Los Angeles Chargers | -3.5 |
| Indianapolis Colts | +3.5 |
So, this means the oddsmakers have removed 3.5 points against the Chargers’ final score. Therefore, in order for a bet on them to win, they will have to score four or more points. On the other hand, the Colts have 3.5 points added top their final score meaning a football bet on them would win if they won the game or lost by 3.5 points or less.
Totals
In this type of popular football bet, the oddsmakers will post the total amount of points scored by both teams that they expect from the game. Using the Colts versus Chargers example, let’s say they post a total that’s at 48.50. You as the bettor then wager on whether the final score will be higher (over) or lower (under) that the set points. Another name for this type of bet is an over/under bet.
Both the point spread and totals are good football bets to make because US bettors have a 50% chance of winning.
Money Lines
In football betting, a football money line bet is very simple. Basically, all bettors have to do is pick the winner of the match. Sportsbooks place the odds on each team’s chance of winning. The team with a negative (-) sign before the odds is the favorite to win. While, the one with a positive (+) is considered the underdog. So, you’ll find the odds looking like this at football betting sites:
| Los Angeles Chargers | -175 |
| Indianapolis Colts | +155 |
This means that the Chargers are the favorites to win and you’ll have to wager $175 to win $100. Alternatively, the Colts are the underdogs which equals higher payouts if you win. Betting $100 on the Colts will win you $155.
Props
Proposition football bets are wagers on possibilities that may happen during the game. These are the more light-hearted and fun bets that don’t depend on the outcome of the match. There are dozens of options, especially when it’s a high-profile football game. Props online football bets can be:
- The first team to score.
- When the first foal will occur.
- When a certain player will score.
Futures
This type of football betting is about wagering on how well a team or player will do throughout the entire season. A futures football bet is usually placed at the beginning of the season, with the ultimate prize being who wins the Super Bowl.
Parlays
Basically, this is when you group bets on different teams into one. For example, you could have four money line bets on four games as your parlay. As much as this football betting type is attractive because it has such a high payout, you have to get all your bets in the grouping right to win. Parlays wouldn’t be on the top of our recommended football bets list, especially in when following a football for beginner’s guide.
Teasers and Pleasers
These are modified parlay bets using point spreads or totals. With teasers, the point spread or totals are in your – the bettor’s – favor. Alternatively, pleasers are in the bookies favor.
There are various football leagues open to American bettors looking for some betting action outside of the NFL. Learn more about the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the NCAA college football league in our guides below:
Top Football Betting Tips
In our football betting explained guide, we’ll now be looking at how to bet on football in a smart and strategic way. Here are our top online football betting tips.
Have a Dedicated Bankroll
Football betting is meant to be a fun and interactive way of engaging with the sport, plus you make some cash on the side. Setting money aside for football bets is extremely important and it shouldn’t be money you need for anything else. Sports betting isn’t supposed to cost you your comfort in life.
Shop for Lines
You’ll find that there are hundreds of football betting sites out there offering a variety of odds on games. Shop around for sportsbooks with the best odds for you. And don’t be afraid to place football bets at more than one sports betting site.
Use Cryptocurrencies
More and more online football betting sites are encouraging US bettors to make use of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. You’ll find that they have bonuses directly for bettors using Bitcoin when betting. Not only does a payment method like Bitcoin provide anonymity, the processing time for withdrawals and deposits is much faster than other banking options.
Take Advantage of Bonuses and Promotions
Finally, and we can’t stress this enough, use the bonuses and promotions the online football betting site has on offer. This will help you stretch your bankroll even further, providing you with extra money.
