Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
07/09/2010 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Hawks have signed rookie guard Jordan Crawford.
The Hawks acquired Crawford in a draft night trade from New Jersey last month. The Nets took the Xavier product with the 27th pick.
Crawford led the Musketeers and the Atlantic 10 in scoring last season, averaging 20.5 points in 35 games.
<< New York hosts D.C. in Eastern tilt
Harrison, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red Bull New York hopes to inch closer to the
top of the Eastern Conference table when it hosts D.C. United in Major League
Soccer action at Red Bull Arena on Saturday night.
The home side is coming off a 1-
<< France leads reigning two-time champ Spain 2-0
Clermont-Ferrand, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A quality French team, led by
Gael Monfils, has a 2-0 lead against reigning two-time champion Spain in their
best-of-five Davis Cup quarterfinal in France.
The world No. 17 Monfils outlasted g
<< Germany's Klose targets record against Uruguay
Port Elizabeth, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miroslav Klose can become the
all-time leading scorer in FIFA World Cup history Saturday when Germany plays
Uruguay in the third-place match at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
Klose scored five
<< Tennessee football players involved in bar brawl
Knoxville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Tennessee football program
had six players reportedly involved in a fight at a Knoxville bar early Friday
morning.
Two of the six have been arrested thus far, according to the Knoxville
Panthers sign third-rounder Edwards >>
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Panthers have signed third-round
draft pick Armanti Edwards.
Edwards was taken 89th overall in April's draft after a successful four-year
run as quarterback at Appalachian State. The Panthers
Chargers sign two draft picks >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Chargers announced the
signings of third-round draft pick Donald Butler and fifth-rounder Cam Thomas
to four-year contracts Friday.
Butler starred at Washington as an inside linebacke
TFC tries to keep unblemished home record against Rapids >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto FC puts its home unbeaten streak on the
line on Saturday when they welcome the Colorado Rapids to BMO Field.
TFC has yet to taste defeat at home this season after Dan Gargan rescued a
point for the
Crew square off with Dynamo at Robertson Stadium >>
Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Eastern Conference leading Columbus Crew
travel to Houston to take on the Dynamo in Major League Soccer action on
Saturday night.
The Crew have just two losses this season thanks in large part to
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.
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:
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.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
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.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting