You’re familiar with the popular saying, “It’s always nice to be first, but it’s more important to be the best.” The same can be said for sports betting. After all, it’s not always nice to be the closer to a deal. However, being first is usually the key to securing the best possible lines and betting conditions. The question is, what does it mean when NFL betting odds are posted in red?
The Basics
Odds are usually posted in the black with the exception of college and international betting where they are posted in red. This is just a general guideline when it comes to online betting, though, so it’s not set in stone. Generally, you’ll see odds fluctuate around even money, except in cases where a game has a significant amount of betting interest. For example, a game with large New Jersey sportsbooks might see odds as low as -110 or as high as +150.
What Does It Mean?
Being posted in red means that the sportsbook believes the game has significant interest in terms of betting volume. Sometimes, this will mean a free bet offered to attract betting customers. Other times, it might just mean that the sportsbook is trying to avoid the game due to the matchup or the fact that the game has low betting interest in general.
The key is to determine which is the case. If you’re getting frustrated by the lack of information or the impossibility of picking winning numbers, then it might be time to find a new place to bet. However, if you’re looking for a good bet and the only problem is that the lines are a little too favorable toward your opponent, then it might mean that this is just a bad game and you should look for another. Luckily, there are ways to figure this out before the game even starts. Keep reading.
Pre-Game Workouts And Analysis
NFL games are notoriously difficult to predict. This is mainly because players and coaches usually don’t give away much information about their strategy and plan of attack in advance. This makes sense in terms of preserving game secrets and trying to beat the house advantage, but it also makes it really hard for the average fan who wants to try and figure out a winner before the game even starts.
Fortunately for you and me (and the rest of the world’s bettors), there are stats guys who make our lives way easier by studying games and providing us with information and analytics that help us make better betting decisions. These guys are professionals at figuring out football games and it’s their job to analyze and dissect games and present us with concrete data and statistics that we can use to beat the casinos at their own game.
How Do I Use This?
This is probably the most important question, given that we’re on the subject of NFL betting. How do I use this information?
Well, it depends on what you want out of your NFL betting experience. Do you just want to place a bet on the game and wait for the results? If so, then you might not need to do much more than look at the line and grab whatever matchup or event you feel more comfortable with. However, if you want to be successful at NFL betting, then you need to take a more active role and look at the entire picture.
As we’ve established, it’s difficult to judge interest in an NFL game based only on the odds. This is why it’s so important to do your own research and look at as much information as possible. Once you’ve gathered this information, you’ll be well-positioned to make better-informed decisions and have the edge over the casinos at their own game.
More Than Meets The Eyes
This information is more than sufficient for deciding whether or not to place a bet. However, it’s always nice to have as much information as possible and for this reason, it’s smart to look at more than just the numbers. You should also check out the schedule, the line, and, of course, the events that you’re most interested in.
This way, you’ll be able to form a complete and accurate picture of what’s going on. Even if you don’t place a huge amount of money on each game, the effort will be worth it. Looking at more than just the line and the matchup might also help you find patterns and decide which teams and players are more likely to win.
Once you find these teams and players, it’s much easier to figure out which ones will win. Even if you don’t have the inside information that the professionals have, this kind of analysis should help you place winning bets with relative confidence.
Being able to judge the interest of an NFL game based on statistical analysis and objective data is very helpful (and free!). It would be great if the outcome of an NFL game was as easy to predict as the winner of the EuroMillions jackpot. Unfortunately, it takes a lot more effort than just picking numbers and hoping for the best. However, with a little bit of effort, we can be confident in placing winning bets and beating the casinos at their own game.