What Are Point Spreads Articles | Gambling

By: Richard Bleuze

What are Point Spreads?

In this article you will learn how to place your bets using the point spread.

A point spread or line, is a number that is derived by odds-makers in which they use to level out one teams talent against another. Point spreads are very common in football and basketball.

In sports betting, the two major sports which use point spread as a form of wagering are football and basketball as mentioned above. Let us take an NFL football game as an example, becasue once you understand what a point spread is, basketball and other sports are the same, only more points on the spread.

For example, let us say that the San Diego Chargers are going to play the Atlanta Falcons.
Thus, the numbers would look like the following:
San Diego Chargers +3
Atlanta Falcons -3

For most sports bettors, these are the numbers that they look at when determining which team they are going to place a wager on.

Once the point spread is determined by the sports books, you need to understand how it works. If you see Atlanta is -3 this simply means that Atlanta is favored to win the game by 3 points. Thus, if you place your wager on Atlanta in order to win your bet, Atlanta would need to win the game by at least 4 points. Here is where the ATS comes to play, ATS means "against the spread", so Atlanta is 4 points ATS. If Atlanta wins by 3 the bet would be considered a push or no action since the point spread was 3 points. That is why you will often see games with 1/2 point spreads. If the point spread was 3.5 that is (3 and a half) and Atlanta wins by 3 you lose your bet because of the half point. If they win by 4 or more points you win your bet.

On the flip side in the above example San Diego would be considered the underdog. You can tell the underdogs in a given game because they have a positive number (San Diego is +3). Thus, if you placed your bet on San Diego instead of Atlanta, you are betting that San Diego will lose the game by less than 3 points. The point spread would read San Diego +3 if you chose them to bet on San Diego. If San Diego lost the game by 2 points or less or even wins the game by any amount, then, you would win your bet. If they lost by exactly 3 points you would push. Thus, it would be considered a no bet and you get your money back. If they lost by 4 or more points you would lose your bet. Just remember, the most basic form of the point spread is that you simply add or subtract the spread from the final score.

The ultimate goal for any sports book is to have a point spread where the betting public would bet the game 50% on San Diego and 50% on Atlanta. By doing this, the sports books eliminate the risk of loss to the book. That is why you need to shop around for the best odds.

Sports books make their money on what they call the juice or the vig. If you make a wager in football or basketball and lose your bet you pay a 10% premium to the sports book for the use of their services. On the otherhand, if you win your bet their is no cost whatsoever. Thus, it is in the sports books best interest to have half of the money bet on both sides of the game, this way they are guaranteed a 10% return.

Just remember, the point spread is not designed to be a true representation of how much better one team is than another, but is designed to attract an equal amount of money on both teams, so that the sports books are guaranteed a profit.

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