Wnuggets NCAA Football Betting News

<< Coutinho headed to Espanyol on loan
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Inter Milan midfielder Philippe Coutinho will spend the rest of the season in Spain on loan at Espanyol. The Brazil international will join the club on a five-month loan deal with Espanyol sitting in

<< WPS suspends 2012 season
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Women's Professional Soccer announced on Monday that the league will suspend the 2012 season as a result of its ongoing dispute with a former owner. The WPS Board of Governors voted on Monday to suspen

<< Caldwell lands in Baltimore
Owings Mills, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Ravens have named Jim Caldwell as their quarterbacks coach. Caldwell was fired as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts two weeks ago in the wake of a 2-14 season and front office

<< Isles put Reasoner on IR
Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Islanders placed veteran center Marty Reasoner on injured reserve Monday with a broken hand. The move is retroactive to January 6. Reasoner, 34, has five assists and a minus-16 rating in 35 gam

Belichick has come a long way >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Smug, introverted, standoffish. Those are a few choice words that come to mind when describing New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. There are plenty of other adjectives used to characterize one of the most succe

Iona gives Cluess contract extension >>
New Rochelle, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Iona College has signed men's basketball coach Tim Cluess to a multi-year contract extension. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it is effective as of January 1 of this year and run

ODU standout Cameron added to all-star game >>
Little Rock, AR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Old Dominion defensive tackle Ronnie Cameron has been added to the Players All-Star Classic on Saturday. Cameron was the CAA's defensive player of the year and a first-team selection on The Sportsbook Betting Lines/F

Bengals WR Simpson pleads not guilty to drug charge >>
Covington, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Jerome Simpson pled not guilty Monday in a Kentucky court to a felony drug charge stemming from an arrest in September. Simpson was indicted January 19 on one co

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.