If one team is the underdog in point spread betting, the other team is designated as the favorite. The underdog gets points added to its final score when calculating the final outcome of the bet. One team is designated the underdog, and that team gets points added to its final score. Point spreads always involve a sporting event between two teams. Los Angeles had to win the game by five points or more in order for the Rams to cover the spread. The Rams won the game 23-20, but Bengals bettors cashed in on the point spread. The spread added 4.5 points to the Bengals’ final score, or subtracted 4.5 points from the Rams’ final score depending on the perspective of the bet.

When wagering on the game, sports bettors could bet on either Cincinnati (+4.5) or Los Angeles (-4.5). The Rams were installed as a 4.5-point favorite in the NFL championship game at several sportsbooks. A point spread bets sees the sportsbook add/subtract a number of points to one team’s final score in a matchup between two teams.įor example, Super Bowl 56 featured the Cincinnati Bengals taking on the Los Angeles Rams. The point spread functions as the most popular way to bet on sports.

If you need help, you can get it here.Photo Credit: Daniel Bartel-USA TODAY Sports These games won’t bet on themselves.īut first this public service announcement: Now go put on your smoking jacket, light a stogie, and call your bookie (or open your favorite sports betting app). If a favored team wins by exactly the spread number – Chargers by 6 – then the bet is a “push” and you get your wager back. One way to refer to this is the Eagles are “getting six.” Underdogs have a positive number, such as Eagles (6). If the Chargers win by three on a last-second field goal, hey, good for them but you still lose.įavored teams will be listed with a negative point spread, such as Chargers (-6). So if the Eagles are 6-point underdogs against the Chargers and you bet the Chargers to win, the Chargers have to beat the Eagles by more than a touchdown for you to collect. How it works: Oddmakers predict by how many points the favored team will beat the underdog.

You can still bet that way, but McNeil opened his own book-making joint in Chicago and introduced what he called “wholesaling odds,” which was betting on point spreads. Back then, if you wanted to bet on a football game with your local bookie, you got odds on the winner – the Bears would pay 2-to-1 if they beat the Giants, for example.

Point spread explained nba