House Rules

"Cause the house always wins. Play long enough, you never change the stakes. The house takes you. Unless, when that perfect hand comes along, you bet and you bet big, then you take the house.” -Danny Ocean from the film Oceans 11 

The NFL is the most popular of all American sports due to the fact that it draws so much wagering. Gambling wether legal or illegal has become very popular from the office pools, to the straight up bets amongst friends, even the common fantasy league has some kind of cash prize at the end of the season. I can be sitting down on a Sunday watching multiple games needing someone to cover a four-point spread, but keep the total under 45 all while rooting for players on my fantasy league to come up big. It’s turned the game into a chaos of mixed emotions, all while making it much more exciting. 

I’m writing this to open up your eyes to the world of gambling, not to turn you into a degenerate. I plan to give you enough knowledge to add another element to your football experience. With Las Vegas a few hours away from SoCal, sometimes I like to take a trip and lay some bets down and enjoy what the sportsbooks have to offer. So if you’ve never placed a bet in a casino this what you will need to know in order to place a few dollars on your favorite team.

The Spread

The point-spread at first glance can be confusing and difficult to understand.The point-spread was created to level the game out. Sometimes a team is clearly far superior to their opponent, by giving a favored team a negative start to the game-essentially what is being created is a coin flip. When betting against the spread you are gaining points or losing points to start the game. In all instances where points are involved, the “favorite’ is losing points at the start of the game or it can be interpreted as the “underdog” is gaining points to start the game. In some instances there is not a spread and the line is left at 0 known as a “Pick Em” because essentially all you are doing is just picking a winner straight up, with no points involved. 

EXAMPLE

Green Bay	-	8:30 PM ET	Green Bay -3.5 (-120)
Seattle	-		Seattle +3.5 (-110)

Here, Green Bay is a three and a half point favorite. The best way to understand, the game starts off Green Bay down by three and a half points. Let’s say the final score was Green Bay 27, Seattle 24 - Seattle would be the winning outcome, since they got the half point to cover in their favor. So really the betting outcome is Green Bay 27 Seattle 27.5 

Another example, if the line wasn’t -3.5 for Green Bay, rather it was
just minus-three, and the same outcome of Green Bay 27, Seattle 24, it's neither a win or a loss. Since the actual outcome results Green Bay 27, Seattle 27, this is known as a push - exactly like in BlackJack when the dealer and the player hold the same outcome. Here, you don’t win any money nor do you lose any money. In order to bet Green Bay -3.5 or minus-three and win, Green Bay just needs to cover by four points so any outcome of Green Bay winning by four points is a win. One thing to remember the bookmakers always make you bet at a price which is what they call, "juice above". If you bet on Green Bay -3.5 the (-120)
indicates you will have to bet $120 to make $100. If you bet Seattle +3.5 the (-110), you will have to bet $110 to make $100. The juice can vary depending on how much is coming in on either side.

THE OVER/UNDER 

Green Bay	-	8:30 PM ET
Seattle	-		Over/Under 45.5 Over-110 Under-125

The OVER/UNDER is the easiest of the lines to understand. It is a line predicting where both teams combined points will result in. Again, for example, Green Bay 14, Seattle 21, the total combined points of both teams is 35. The line is 45.5 so 35 is considered under. As shown above, over 45.5 indicates that you can bet on either over 45.5 total points or under. So if you bet on the over, any total of 46 and above will result in a win. If you bet the under, any total of 45 and lower will result in a win. When the line has a half point as the one above does the outcomes are only a win or loss. When the over/under line doesn't have a half point (for example, the line is at 50) outcomes can be a win, loss, or push.

Betting on the over/under line can very fun as you are rooting for either a high score or a low score. It is very easy to be burned by this, as occasionally some teams score a meaningless touchdown at the end of the game that can ruin your bet. Also, keep in mind that over/under bets have a juice on them as well.

The MONEY LINE 

(EXAMPLE OF WHAT A MONEY LINE MIGHT LOOK LIKE)

NEW ENGLAND -160

BUFFALO     +140

The money-line is basically a pick 'em. You pick who you believe is going to win the game, straight up, no point-spread. Seems easy. Right? However there is a catch because sometimes it is easy for us to just pick a favorite. Usually, the probability of winning would be high, bookmakers aren’t going to just give money away. That would be too simple and flat out dumb on their part. That is where the money-line kicks in, which means you can pick the winner, but the risk is higher. Above New England -160 indicates that you will be paid $100 for every $160 you bet on New England to win. Buffalo however is +140, which means you will be paid $140 for every $100 you bet on Buffalo. On heavy-favorites, the lines can reach -500 and even higher. Making it a bit more discouraging to bet huge dollar amounts just to make 100. This benefits bookmakers because if they get large amounts of dollars on the favorite and the underdog pulls off an upset, they stand to make large amounts of money. If the favorite wins essentially they are only paying out cents on the dollar.

Now that I have explained the three common bets on a football game, these bets also
apply to other sports. The money-lines vary and the spreads accordingly for each sport's scoring systems. Other things that can be bet on are what's called a "proposition bet", better known as “props”. You can bet on an individual players performance. For example, Calvin Johnson, Wide Receiver, OVER/UNDER 97.5 Yards. Prop bets are most popular on bigger games like playoff games and particularly the Super Bowl.

Ridiculous props such as - How long will Christina Aguilera hold the note on "brave" while singing the National Anthem, or what color Gatorade will the winning coach get showered in. Yes, this stuff exists. I will be doing more articles on gambling. I just wanted our readers to get familiar with gambling. I love to do predictions and will start today with my pick for tonight - Green Bay by 3 over 45.

-Daniel