point spread betting basketball explained

If the final score was Dallas 12, New England 10, you can see that New England +2.5 would put them at 12.5 points, which beats Dallas’ 12. If you bet Dallas -2.5, then their final score of 30 – 2.5 = 27.5, which still beats out New England’s tally of 27 points. As for the Cowboys, they’d have to win the game by three or more for you to cover.Ī very basic way to do the math is to take the final score and add and subtract the points. What this means is that if you bet the Patriots, they are able to lose the game by two, one, tie or win the game, and you’d win your bet. In this case, the Cowboys will be losing 2.5 points. The minus sign indicates that points will be losing points. In this case, the Patriots will receive 2.5 points. The plus sign indicates that this team will be receiving points. We’ll use one of common NFL point spreads to take a closer look: Teamįor point spread betting purposes, the first thing you’ll want to do here is notice either the ‘+’ or ‘-‘ sign as that will give you an important indication. The easiest way to explain this is with an example.

When you bet the point spread, you’re betting on a margin set by the oddsmaker and you have to decide which side will “cover” or beat the spread.

When you bet on the moneyline, you simply predict the outright winner of the game. Please see SportsBet.io's General Rules for full Terms and Conditions, which apply to any and all promotions from SportsBet.io.Ī spread is merely the margin of victory or a handicap in a given game.

Point spread betting basketball explained