NFL Sports Betting Trends - Staying Sharp This Season

Sports betting is a serious game for millions of people around the world and in the United States, the NFL is top dog when it comes to action. Everyone seems to have an opinion when it comes to who is going they think is going to win but the best information you can get before laying down that hard earned cash comes from sports betting trends.

Some people love them and others can do without them, preferring to rely on their gut feeling. I’m from the school of thought that stats produce trends and those trends seem to follow specific patterns that increase your chances of placing a winning bet.

Even if you don’t like betting trends or stats, it never hurts to have as much ammunition in your betting arsenal as possible. They are bits of information that should at least be looked at and can be used to compliment an existing wager or perhaps keep you away from a possible bet.

As we countdown to the start of the 2009 NFL season this Thursday, it's time to look at some of the NFL betting trends that will come into play for the upcoming season. Going back eight years, here's a look at the best trends you may want to consider before placing a wager on an NFL game.

The majority of the trends fall into the category of being team specific, there are several which cover the league as a whole and can prove to be extremely valuable.

Trends for the 2009 NFL Season

Trends that are LOCKS

• Take New England when at the New York Jets (10-0-0)
• Take Arizona in the month of January (7-0-0)
• Take Pittsburgh on the road in January (5-0-0)
• Take New York Giants on the road in January (5-0-0)
• Play against Detroit as a road favorite (4-0-0)
• Take Buffalo as a favorite on grass (4-0-2)
• Take Cincinnati as a favorite against Baltimore (5-0-0)
• Take Jacksonville against New York Jets (4-0-0)
• Take Green Bay against San Francisco (4-0-0)
• Take Chicago against St. Louis (4-0-0)
• Take Seattle against Tampa Bay (4-0-0)
• Take San Diego against Tennessee (4-0-0)
• Take Cleveland against Oakland (4-0-0)

High Converting Trends

• Take Indianapolis as an away favorite on artificial surface (10-1-0)
• Take San Diego as a favorite against Oakland (9-1-0)
• Play against any team after they won five or more games in a row and then lost (16-2-0)
• Play against Washington as a favorite in November (8-1-1)
• Take Pittsburg as an underdog in October (8-1-1)
• Take Kansas City at Oakland (7-1-0)
• Take New York Jets at Miami (7-1-0)
• Take Carolina at New Orleans (7-1-0)
• Take the underdog when they failed to cover the spread by 10 or more points last week AND they face a team that covered the spread by 10 or more points last week (35-6-1)
• Take Philadelphia as an underdog against New York Giants (6-1-0)
• Take New York Giants as an underdog in January (6-1-0)
• Take New York Jets as a favorite against Miami (6-1-1)
• Take Philadelphia on the road in January (6-1-0)
• Play against St. Louis as a favorite in September (12-2-2)
• Take Dallas as an underdog versus Washington (5-1-0)

These stats are missing the actual line figures but they are irrelevant as they differed from each game, but the trends continued regardless. So next time you’re betting on an NFL game just remember, you can follow your gut or you can use the information that is out there to get better informed and make the smartest bet possible. That’s why they call smart bettors sharps, they collect all the data they can and make an educated decision based on facts, not a gut feeling.

Action
A wager of any kind.

Book
An establishment that accepts wagers on the outcome of horse racing and sporting events.

Bankroll
Your available gambling money.

Buy Points
Buy Points means that you can move the point spread so that you give away less points with the favorite or get more points with the underdog, for both football and basketball. To do this you must pay an extra 10% for each ½ point you buy in your favor. For the NFL and NCAA football, you will pay an additional 15% to buy on or off of 3 points - also know as Key Points. And if you buy through 3 points, you will pay an additional 20%. NOTE: There are no Key Points for basketball. You pay a flat 10% for each 1/2 point you buy. An example of how to buy off of 3 points: the Baltimore Ravens (-3) are 3 point favorites. To buy 1/2 point and make them a 2.5 point favorite, you would need to lay 125 to win 100.

Buy Point Chart (Football Key Points)

Cover
To bet the spread by the required number of points. If such occurs you have "covered the spread."

Dog
The underdog in any betting proposition.

East Coast Line
Mainly used in hockey, which has a split-goal line e.g. - Philadelphia Flyers (1 - 1 ½) favorite over the LA Kings as opposed to goal spread plus moneyline (-1/2 -180).

Edge
Advantage

Exotic Wager
Any bet other than a straight bet, i.e., parlays, teasers, if bets, reverses, round robin, round robin box reverses, etc.

Futures
Odds posted on the winners of various major sport championships in advance of the event, including the Super Bowl, the World Series, the Stanley Cup and the NBA championship.

Hedging
Placing bets on the opposite side in order to cut losses or guarantee winning a minimal amount of money.

Holding Your Own
Neither winning or losing, just breaking even.

Hook
A half point added to football and basketball betting lines.

Line
The listed odds on a game (points or money line).

Lock
Easy winner, can not lose.

Longshot
A team or horse that is unlikely to win.

Middles (or Middling)
To win both sides of the same betting proposition; betting the favorite team at -1.5 with one bookmaker and then taking +3.5 with another bookmaker; the game ends up with the favorite winning by exactly 3 points, you have then "middled the game."

Money Line
A moneyline is offered when no handicap is given, such as a point spread or run line, and the odds are not therefore fixed. Payouts are then based on true odds rather than fixed odds. The favorite and underdog are given odds to win a game or fight.

The minus sign (e.g.-130) always indicates the favorite and the amount you must bet to win 100. The plus sign (e.g.+110) always indicates the underdog and the amount you win for every 100 bet. Therefore based on the above moneyline, you bet 130 to win 100 on the favorite. For the underdog, you win 110 for every 100 bet.

Newspaper Line
The betting line which quite often appears in the daily newspapers. The lines are only approximate and quiet often totally inaccurate and misleading.

Odds On Favorite
A horse, team, or individual so favored by the public that the odds are less than even.

Official Line
The line that the bookmaker uses for wagering purposes. The line which comes from Las Vegas is quite often referred to as the official line; however, the line that your bookie offers you is actually your "official line."

Overplay
An advantage for the bettor in which the price on a given wager is greater than the
real probability of its success.

Over & Under
A wager for the total score by both teams will more or less than the total posted by the sports book.

Parlay
The number of teams in the parlay must all hit or the parlay loses. 2-team parlay pay 13-5 odds. 3-team parlay pay 5-1 odds. 4-team parlays pay 8-1 odds.

Parlay Cards
Wagers on a minimum of 3 and up to 15 propositions; the more you pick, the higher the payoff.

Pick
Occasionally, there will be no favorite on a game. In this instance the game is said to be a pick and you can bet 10/11 (bet 110 to win 100) on either team.

Pointspread
The pointspread - also called "the line" - is used as a margin to handicap the favorite team. The oddsmaker - also called the handicapper - "gives" points (or goals) to the underdog - for betting purposes only. The bettor must take either the favorite or the underdog. The favorite is always indicated by a minus sign (e.g. -8.5) and the underdog by a plus sign (e.g.+8.5). For betting purposes, the outcome of the game is determined by taking the actual game score and finding the difference between the scores of the two teams playing (called the pointspread or just the "spread").

For example - The Detroit Lions are 8 point favorites over the New York Giants (an 8 point spread shown as -8 beside Detroit on our "lines" page). If the final score is Detroit 20 New York 13, then the actual game score "spread" is 7 points (20 minus 13). In our example if you took New York (called the "dog"), you would win the bet since Detroit had to win by 9 points or more to "cover the spread." Detroit needed 2 more points to "cover" since if the game landed right on the "spread" of 8 points it would be called a "push" (similar in concept to a tie in Moneyline wagering, which is also called a push) and it would be "no action" (no bet and money held in your account to cover the wager is released back into your available balance). If the "spread" is put in at a half point (e.g. -8.5 for the favorite Detroit) by the Sportsbook handicappers then there can be no "push." In this case, there is "action" at any final game score pointspread. In a pointspread, you must wager 11 to win 10 (21 is returned to the winner). 10/11 is the standard for pointspread bets on most sports.

Post Time
The Schedule starting time.

Proposition Bet
A wager on a particular aspect of the game such as how many field goals will be made.

Puckline
Hockey combines both a handicap/spread and odds. This is called the Puckline.

Sample line:
Boston +1 (-110)
Detroit -1.5 (-110)

The favorites are the Detroit Red Wings, who are giving the Boston Bruins 1.5 goals. To win the bet, Detroit would have to win the game by 2 goals. When placing this bet you are getting even money, which means that for every 110 you wager, you will win 100. If you are betting on Boston, you will receive a 1.0 goal handicap, meaning that if Detroit wins by 1 goal the game is a push. If the game ends in a tie or Boston wins, then you win the bet. The odds again are at -110.

Push
If the result of a game lands exactly on the pointspread or is a tie in the case of betting a moneyline, or if the exact score of the game matches exactly the Sportsbook's posted game total (Total), then the game is a "Push" or "No Action" and all wagers are released back to the Available Account Balance.

Round Robin
A form of parlay betting in which we wager various combining team wagers. A 3-team robin is team 1 to 2, 1 to 3, and 2 to 3. 4-team robin is team 1 to 2, 1 to 3, 1 to 4, 2 to 3, 2 to 4, and 3 to 4. 5-team, etc.

Run Line
A line used when wagering on baseball.

Side
When one side of a wager wins and the other side ties.

Steam
When a betting line starts to move quite rapidly. Most "steam games" do not
necessarily reflect the "right side", but are games that the mass of bettors somehow decide to key on.

Taking
Wagering on the underdog; taking the odds.

Totals
Total combined point/runs/goals scored in a game; In baseball, if either of the two listed starting pitchers don't go the distance, the bet is automatically canceled.

Value
Getting the best odds on a betting proposition; the highest possible edge.

Wager
Any Bet.