Buski Team Organization

Choosing an NFL Handicapper

Investing money entails risk, and sports betting is no different. By favoring one team over another, you are risking the loss of that money; no matter how certain you are that your team will win. The element of luck pervades all sports and sports betting. By leaving as little to chance as possible though, it becomes a game of large numbers. If you are involved for a long enough time and you have a winning strategy, it is inevitable that you will make money by wagering on sports. Just as the successful stock market investor will see their money grow over time, the winning sports bettor will be able to watch their money multiply.

American sports betting works on a system called the “money line.” Rather than posting fractional odds as is done with horse racing, sports are given a number based on the return of a $100 bet. There are two types of money lines to be aware of: positive numbers and negative numbers. For example, a game might read “Patriots (New England) -130, Saints (New Orleans) +110.” This simply means that a $130 bet for the Patriots will return $100 if they win, and a $100 bet for the Saints will return $110 if they win. The negative number is the amount you need to bet to gain $100, and the positive is the amount that a $100 bet returns. There are three main ways that individuals can make a living betting sports.

    •    Line shopping: This involves searching through many sports books to see which has the most favorable line for your team of choice and then wagering there.    •    Self handicapping: By figuring out for yourself what the true odds of each team to win are, you eliminate the need to actively line shop since you will know right away whether or not the odds being offered are favorable.    •    Touting services: By paying a reasonable fee to an outside source, a tout will do the work for you. This eliminates hours of research on your behalf. There are two other major forms of nfl handicapping in the U.S. that bettors may take advantage of. The “spread” involves a number by which the favorite must win by. So if the spread is +2 ½, the favorite must win by this amount or more. Since it is impossible to win a game by 2 ½, this means that the favorite must win by 3 or more points. If you are rooting for the underdog, you may choose the negative number in the spread. In the above example, this means that if the winning team wins by 2 or fewer points, including a loss, the wager will pay off.

The last betting form to be aware of is the “over/under.” This is simply a wager that the ending score of the game will be higher than or lower than the selected score.