Sports - Betting NFL Money Lines

The money line concept is well understood by regular gamblers. However, for sports bettors it is a rather unfamiliar option and they are often unaware of the benefits that can be derived from it. We will discuss how the money line can be used to win more in the NFL with little risk.

We will now review the 2004 NFL football schedule. We will make a comparison of the most boring games in any given week with those of marquee match-ups that will help draw attention away from your target football bet. No matter how bad one or two sides of a match-up might be seen, sports bettors will always bet heavily on Sunday night and Monday night games; these will thus have to be removed from the overall equation.

The meaning of a money line is in reality choosing a team, which could be either a favorite or an underdog. There is no spread, and if the team you have selected wins, you win the bet. Conversely if the team loses, you lose. There is also no juice or vig. If you pick a favorite to win straight up, you have to put down more than you can win. If you select an underdog, you need to put down less money than you can win.

Our favorite match-ups to place a football bet on are:
For this game, the sports book has set the Money Line at -180 for Miami and +150 for Minnesota. That means that if you want to bet Miami to win straight up, you would need to lay $180 to win $100. If you want to take Minnesota to win straight-up, you would lay $100 to win $150.

Example 2: Buffalo Bills +6.5 over Green Bay Packers
For the second game, the bookmaker has set the money at -300 for the Pack and +230 for Buffalo. The larger numbers reflect the larger spread. If you can pick a 6.5 point underdog to win straight-up, you would win $230 for a mere $100 bet.

Thus, if you can successfully pick underdogs to win straight-up, you can win hundreds of dollars without much risk. And, if you combine money-line picks into parlays, you can hit the jackpot with a small investment. It is not always easy, however, to pick underdogs to win straight-up. The spread only comes into play about 84% of the time in the NFL. Thus the team that wins the game doesn't cover the spread only 16% of the time.

Also, since you win more than you bet when picking underdogs with the money line, you have to win a much smaller percentage of your games to break even. This depends on the spread in the games you pick - the higher the spreads, the fewer games you need to win since the money line pays more for higher spread dogs.

Use the money-line to your advantage. If you like an underdog and think they have a chance to win outright, you might be better off putting that $100 on money-line for your team. If they win straight-up, you'll make more profits than if you had just bet them to cover the spread. If you are unsure, split your bets and put $50 on the underdog to win straight-up and $50 to cover the spread. Thus even if the team covers the spread but doesn't win the game, you have a chance to break-even. If they win the game, you win both bets!