How Does Covering The Spread Work
Posted : admin On 4/2/2022The point spread is an estimate of the final point difference between the teams in an event. A handicap of the point spread value is given to the favourite team so bettors can choose sides at equal odds.
“Cover the spread” means that a favourite wins an event with the handicap taken into account or the underdog wins with additional points.
“Cover the spread” means that a favourite wins an event with the handicap taken into account or the underdog wins with additional points. The spread goes beyond classifying a team as the favourite or the underdog and assigns a numerical value to the perceived difference between teams. Using the app is one more thing we can all do to help limit the spread of COVID-19, in addition to washing our hands, keeping 2 metres apart, and wearing a non-medical mask or face covering when it’s difficult to maintain physical distancing. Two hands are being washed. A team favored by -7 must win the game by eight or more points to win the bet. If the team wins by seven, the result is a “push” and the bet is refunded. A spread of +7 means the team must win the game or lose by fewer than seven points to win the bet. A loss by seven would result in a push. A vertical spread is an options strategy constructed by simultaneously buying an option and selling an option of the same type and expiration date, but different strike prices.A call vertical spread consists of buying and selling call options at different strike prices in the same expiration, while a put vertical spread consists of buying and selling put options at different strike prices in.
The spread goes beyond classifying a team as the favourite or the underdog and assigns a numerical value to the perceived difference between teams.
Take a matchup between the San Antonio Spurs and the Charlotte Bobcats. The Spurs are clearly favoured to win as they are a much stronger team, making betting on the matchup lackluster at best.
But what if the Bobcats were given an extra 4 points? A few more people would bet on the Bobcats. What about 12? Sportsbooks set a spread at a value which accurately represents the perceived difference in value between the teams.
Say the sportsbook set the line at:
San Antonio Spurs -12.5 1.91
Charlotte Bobcats +12.5 1.91
Oddsmakers have assigned a “point spread” to the matchup, which basically gives the underdog team an artificial “head start”.
The Point Spread is +12.5 for Charlotte, which means that when they start the matchup and the real score is 0-0, Charlotte will actually be leading 12.5-0 for the purposes of picking a winner.
Say at the end of the matchup, the real score is Charlotte 100 and San Antonio 109.
If you picked San Antonio on the moneyline, you would have picked correctly because they won the matchup.
But with the point spread, it’s a different story.
Because the Bobcats started with an artificial 12.5 point lead, it gets added to their real score at the end of the game. Adding the 12.5 points to their real score of 100 gives them an adjusted score of 112.5, which is now better than the Spur’s real score of 109!
In this scenario, the Charlotte Bobcats are said to have covered the spread, meaning that they won the game with their head start.
On the other hand, if the final score at the end of the game is Charlotte 80 and San Antonio 98, then Charlotte’s adjusted score is 92.5 (12.5-point head start plus a real score of 80). However, even with the head start, Charlotte’s adjusted score (92.5) is less than San Antonio’s real score of 98.
This time, the San Antonio Spurs have covered the spread.
Of course, if the Charlotte Bobcats won the matchup outright, then they automatically cover the spread.
While sometimes a source of confusion for people new to making picks, all the point spread really does is makes picking either team equally attractive!
Why Do Some Spreads End In .5?
There is no such thing as a half point in sports, but there is in sports betting! The half point ensures that a side will win and that the match will not end in a push, where the spread equals the actual difference in points between the two teams. In a push all bettors get their money back, which is no good for the oddsmaker! Half points also give oddsmakers more control over lines, allowing them to set more specific values.
Easily the most popular type of betting for NFL football is “spread” betting or more commonly known as betting against the spread. Bettors who are new to NFL betting or betting in general may be a little confused with NFL spread betting, but it is pretty easy to understand once it is explained to you. We will explain what betting against the spread means below.
What is Betting Against The Spread?
For each NFL game the oddsmakers set a number of points in which the favored team is favored by. Bettors can then either choose for the favored team to win by more than the number of points set, or bet on the underdogs to lose by less than the number of points they are underdogs by or win the game straight up. For example, the spread could be set on the favored team at 6.5 points. This would mean in order for a bet on the favored team on the spread to win they would need to win by more than 6.5 points (7 or more) in order to win the bet. It also means that a bet on the underdog team would win if the underdogs lost by less than 6.5 points (6 or less) or won the game outright.
Example of NFL Spread Bet
Below is an example of what NFL spread betting would look like:
Matchup
- TeamsSpread
- Dallas Cowboys -2.5
- New York Giants +2-5
The negative (-) sign indicates that the Cowboys are the favorites, while the positive (+) sign indicates that the New York Giants are the underdogs. With the spread set at 2.5 points, a bet on the Cowboys would mean that they would have to win by more than 2.5 points (3 or more) in order for you to win that bet. A bet on New York would mean that the Giants would have to either lose by 2.5 or less points (2 or less) or win the game outright in order for your bet to win.
Here is another example with a screenshot taken from 5Dimes.eu during Week 3 of the 2013 NFL season:
Here you can see that the Rams are +3.5, while the Cowboys are -3.5. So for this example the Cowboys are 3.5 point favorites, while the Rams are underdogs of 3.5 points. If you were to bet on St Louis you would need them to lose by 3 or fewer points or just win the game outright. If you were to bet on Dallas you would need the Cowboys to win by 4 or more points.
If the Cowboys were to win by 3 points, lets say 30-27, any bets on the Rams +3.5 would win. Even though the Rams didn’t win the game they covered the spread of 3.5 points.
Now if the Cowboys were to win by 4 points, lets say 31-27, the Cowboys have covered the spread and anyone who wagered on Dallas would win their bets.
Other NFL Spread Betting Information
You may often notice that the spread is sometimes set at an even number such as 3, 6 , 10, etc. In this case if the favored team won by the exact amount set for the spread the bet would be pushed, and all bets would be returned. For example, if the Patriots were 3 point favorites and they won by a FG (3 points) than this would results in a push, meaning no matter which side you bet on you would get your money returned to you.
The most common NFL spreads are usually set between about 2.5-10.5 points, but you will also almost always have games each week with spreads lower than 2.5 and higher than 10.5. In the event that the oddsmakers feel the game doesn’t need a spread, it would be set at 0 or what some call a pick’em (both teams are given even odds to win for this type of bet).
The odds given on the spread are usually -110 unless otherwise noted. It is not uncommon to see one side of the spread being -105, with the other side being -115. If you don’t see any odds listed for each side of NFL spreads you are supposed to assume the odds are -110 on each. Not sure how to read NFL betting odds? Check out our Sports Betting Odds guide.
How Does Covering The Spread Work In The Stock Market
Now that you know the basics of NFL spread betting you’ll want to check out our Sports Betting Strategy guide which has some great NFL strategy articles written by a professional bettor.