A Guide to NFL Betting Lines and the Best Football Sportsbooks

What are the Best Football Online Betting Sites?

Before you buy or lease a car, you take it for a test drive. Nobody walks into the dealership, points to the first car they see and says, “MINE.” Because you’re looking to have some fun wagering on the NFL each week, and may not have time to test-drive every place to bet on the internet, we’ll do it for you.

Our sportsbook reviews offer insight into the vast landscape of NFL online betting. Whether you’re looking to make simple prop bets, or want to know which NFL sportsbooks have the best deposit bonuses and odds, we have the goods.

Odds Shark’s Criteria for an NFL Sportsbook

Sportsbooks are the fancy industry name for the website you visit to bet on football games online and not a book about sports like Grays Sports Almanac.

When we evaluate a sportsbook, we look for the following:

• Variety of NFL betting lines, bet types and odds

• Bonus programs

• User interface

• Deposit and withdrawal options

• Trustworthiness

• Customer service

• Currencies and languages

Any of the sportsbooks we list above meet our criteria, otherwise we wouldn’t recommend them.

How to Sign up at a Sportsbook to Bet on the NFL

From our list of sportsbooks, pick the one you like the best. The sign-up process only takes a few minutes. All you need is your email address and your deposit info ready. You can use everything from PayPal to Bitcoin to fund your account.

Fill out the relevant information and wait with bated breath for a confirmation email or link. This should happen quickly, like a center getting the ball into the quarterback’s hands. Look for a welcome offer, deposit bonus or first-time bettor rebates, like free bets, to give your betting bankroll a boost.

We can’t guarantee you’ll make enough cash to buy the Miami Dolphins, but we can guarantee that any of the sportsbooks we champion are reputable and have betting odds on each NFL game played.

How to Bet on NFL Matchups

There are many ways to bet on an NFL game. Whether you’re looking to lay down a few dollars on Patriots odds or take the UNDER in the next NFC championship game, our tutorials will help take your betting IQ to the next level.

Moneyline Betting: Picking a Winner

Often referred to as a straight-up bet, the moneyline requires you to pick an outright winner of the game. Odds would look something like this:

New Orleans Saints -185

Atlanta Falcons +125

In this scenario, the Saints are the favorite – as denoted by the minus sign (-). The Falcons are the underdog – as shown by the plus sign (+).

If you were to bet $25 on the Saints, a winning bet would give you $38.51 – your original $25 is returned along with your winnings of $13.51. The other side of that bet would need to see the Falcons win and you’d get $56.25 – your $25 comes back along with your loot of $31.25.

Betting on the underdog comes with more risk, therefore, it’s more financially rewarding. To see what you’d win based on the amount of your bet and the odds, check out our Odds Calculator.

Point Spread Betting: Which Team will Cover?

To give both sides in a game an equal betting field, oddsmakers create a spread. The underdog is given a certain amount of points and the favorite has that same number of points taken away. This is done to give the dog an advantage, which is great in football games where one side is completely outmatched by the other.

Odds would look something like this:

Pittsburgh Steelers -4.5

Green Bay Packers +4.5

Those who took the Steelers would need the team to win by five or more points. Those who bet on the Packers would need their team to either win or lose by four points or less. If the final score is 28-24 for Pittsburgh, the team did not cover the spread since they only won by four points. However, Green Bay did cover since they only lost by four points.

Totals Betting: More or Less Points Scored

Totals or OVER/UNDER bets require you to predict if the total score of an NFL game will be more or less than the oddsmaker’s set number. For instance, the total for a game between the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks is set at 35.5. If you believe the total will be less than 35, you would bet the UNDER. If you believe the total will be more than 35, you would bet the OVER.

Let’s say the Rams score three touchdowns (21) and the Seahawks score one TD (7) and a field goal (3). That would make the total 31 and those who bet the UNDER would be on the receiving end of a winning wager.

Sometimes you’ll see a totals number without the decimal (.5). For example, for the same game, the total could be set at 35. If the combined score is 35 exactly, it’s called a PUSH. Should this happen, you would get your money back since you didn’t win or lose your bet.

Prop Betting: Fun Wagers

Prop bets are popular with NFL bookmakers, especially during the playoffs and Super Bowl. These are wagers that can be made on certain players or the team as a whole like: How many rushing yards will X have? Or, how many TDs will Y throw? You can also make fun bets like: What will be the color of Gatorade poured on the winning Super Bowl coach? Or, how long will it take to sing the national anthem?

Futures Betting: Long-term Gambles

Football betting sportsbooks offer NFL wagering year-round in the form of futures. These are bets made on events that usually take place at the end of the season. You can wager on things like which teams will win their divisions, NFL season win totals, which teams will make it to the Super Bowl, total passing and rushing yards, and NFL draft picks.

Parlay Betting: The Multiple Bets Bundle

This is a bet that combines two or more bets on one ticket. Parlays let you create a betting slip with a moneyline, OVER/UNDER and point spread bets on it. However, all your bets must hit in order for your parlay to cash out.

Live Betting: Wagering while the Game is Going On

One of the greatest things about putting money on the NFL – besides the potential to win money – is live betting. Football wagering sites offer live odds and lines as the game is going on, giving you the chance to bet on almost every play. In-play betting, as it is sometimes called, allows you to bet on potential drive results like whether it will end in a field goal. You can also bet on what the next play could be.

NFL Betting Tips

• Use a safe and trustworthy sportsbook – any of the online NFL betting websites we recommend are worth it.

• Ensure you read the terms and conditions before accepting any betting bonuses or rewards.

• Now that you know how to bet on NFL matchups, don’t bet with your heart, bet with your brain. If you love the Eagles and there’s no chance of them covering the spread against the Cowboys, take the other side of the bet. The odds are set for a reason. Bookmakers don’t create the lines out of thin air. They pick apart previous games to determine the best possible outcome for each matchup.

• Follow our NFL Odds, Scores and Schedule, Betting Trends, Consensus, Game Logs, Team Reports and Free Picks betting pages to help you handicap your bets.

• Look to our advanced betting guide with articles like Moneyline vs Point Spread and Databases for an advantage.