One of the more popular sports betting styles is point spread betting. Rather than choosing a side and betting on the outcome, point spread betting allows you to make accurate predictions about the outcome of a sporting event, but without having to guess which team will win. For example, if you predict that the total points scored in a football game will be between 38 and 42, you are committing to a particular outcome, but you also gain the flexibility of also betting that the points will be below or above that number. In addition, you get to keep all of your money should your prediction come true, as opposed to risking it on a long shot. Finally, since the point spread is a relative number, it can be applied to any sporting event, not just ones that are held in the United States, which makes it a versatile tool for sports betters. Despite its popularity, however, point spread betting can be difficult to understand, and that is why we are here.
Point Spreads On The Clock
As noted, the main appeal of point spread betting is its ability to offer a precise prediction of the outcome of a sporting event, while keeping all of the money you put in should your prediction come true. This is made possible by having all point spreads expressed in terms of the number of points that will be scored, rather than in terms of the point totals that the teams are currently standing at. The reason the points are usually expressed in terms of time remaining is that sportsbooks update their spreadsheets (which keep track of the odds for each potential combination of scores) every two minutes, during the game, to ensure they get all of the action, and this means you will always get your money quickly, if not immediately, upon placing a bet. In other words, since the odds are always in favor of the house (the bookmaker), the quicker you get your money back, the better, especially if you are trying to beat the odds and win some significant amount of money off of a single bet. If you are trying to determine whether or not to bet on this game, it is always a good idea to look at how many points the spread is above or below the number of points that will be needed for a particular team to win.
The Keys To Understanding Point Spreads
If you want to fully understand point spreads and how to read them, there are many valuable lessons you need to learn, but for now, let’s cover the essentials. First off, the points scored in a game do not necessarily match the points that will be needed for victory. This means that even though the Patriots might be leading the Ravens 32-30 at the end of the third quarter, it does not necessarily mean they will win the game, as they might only need a field goal to do so. In cases like this, you need to look at how the points were scored in the first place to determine how much those scores will matter in the grand scheme of things. In general, the higher the number of points that will be needed for victory, the narrower the spread will be, and vice versa – the fewer the points that will be needed for victory, the wider the spread will be. Another important point to make is that the point spread determines the winning side, not the final score. For example, if the total points are 44-42 in favor of the Cowboys, but the spread is -3, then you would win if the Cowboys scored 10 or more points, while the Cardinals would win if the Cowboys only managed to score 7 points. This is because 3 points would beat a 44 point spread, but only 7 points would beat a 42 point spread, resulting in a narrow win for the Cowboys.
There are also a few instances where a team may have such a wide lead that it would be mathematically impossible for them to lose, in which case the point spread is effectively meaningless. To give you an idea of how much significance the point spread holds in terms of determining a winner, here are a few examples of point spreads and the results of the games in which they were active: