If you’re new to football betting and keen to get involved
then you’ve just come to exactly the right place. On this page
we will teach you all the basics of betting on football, and
make sure that you are on the right track from the moment you
place your first wager. If you feel like you’re ready to dive right in, here are the top football betting sites we recommend:

Bettors love college football because of the smaller market cap, more options lead to more opportunities to find value, and the volume of games to bet on. NCAA The NFL and the NCAA are not the only big players when it comes to football in North America. Complete college football bowl schedule at CBSSports.com. Check out the College Football Playoff Championship, Sugar, Rose, Orange, Fiesta, Peach, Cotton and Sun Bowls. Charlie Strong joining Alabama coaching staff as defensive analyst for Crimson Tide, per report Strong was fired after three years as South Florida's coach, but is a well-regarded defensive mind. How to Bet on Football: A Beginner’s Guide. If you’re new to football betting and keen to get involved then you’ve just come to exactly the right place. On this page we will teach you all the basics of betting on football, and make sure that you are on the right track from the moment you place your first wager.

In our opinion this is one of the most useful beginner’s
guides to football betting you’ll find anywhere on the internet.
It covers everything you need to get started, and yet you don’t
need to worry about getting overwhelmed with detail as we keep
our explanations as simple as possible.

For those who are only really interested in wagering for a
bit of fun, you’ll be ready to go as soon as you’ve finished
reading this page. For those of you with ambitions of making
long term profits, we also point you towards a wide range of
additional information and advice that will help you to achieve
such goals. We’re not promising that we’ll make you an instant
expert, but we’ll certainly give you the chance to become one.

If you’re simply just looking to bet on football games right now we have
listed our top recommendations for online betting sites below. These
are sites that we have found to be trustworthy with our money and
offer football bettors true value.

We recommend reading through this whole page from start to
finish, but we’ve listed the various topics we cover below if
you’d prefer to skip straight to something specific.

How to Bet on Football: Page Contents

Before You Start: Recommended Reading

If you’re already familiar with how sports betting works, and
know a thing or two about football, then please feel free to
skip this section. If, however, you’re completely new to sports
betting and/or not much of a football fan, then there are a few
things you should learn before you start placing bets on
football games.

Firstly you really need to understand the basics of what
sports betting is all about, and what’s involved with placing
wagers. These basics are relatively straightforward, so
thankfully it doesn’t take long to get up to speed. It’s
definitely advisable to familiarize yourself with them though.
Our beginner’s guide to sports betting is the perfect resource
for this. Here’s a selection of some of the topics it covers.

In addition to knowing the basics of betting, you should also
know at least the basics of football too. It’s likely that most
people reading this are big sports fans, and fully understand
it, but that’s not necessarily the case for all our readers. We
like to cater for everyone, so we’ve written the following two
articles explaining all about the game at both professional and
college level.

Different Types of Football Bets

One of the first things you should understand about betting
on football is the fact that there are several different types
of wagers that can be placed. You won’t necessarily use all the
different types, depending on what strategies you employ, but
it’s still advisable to learn at least a little about each one.

Below we look at the two most popular types of wagers, some
of the other commonly used options, and the various options for
wagering on multiple games with a single bet.

The Most Popular Types of Football Bets

There are two types of football bets that are used far more
than any other. Many people who bet on football place only the
following wagers.

• Point Spreads
• Totals

Some readers will already know all about these and how they
work, but we’ll explain a little about them for those that
don’t.

Point Spreads

A point spread is effectively a handicap that’s used to
create a 50/50 wagering proposition. For example, a bookmaker
may offer the following point spread on a football match between
the San Diego Chargers and the Indianapolis Colts.

What this spread means is that, for the purposes of wagering,
the Chargers will have 3.5 points deducted from their final
score. For a bet on them to be successful, they would therefore
have to win by four points or more. The Colts, on the other
hand, will have 3.5 points added to their final score. A bet on
them would be successful if they won the game, or lost by 3
points or less.

You can read more about point spreads on the following page.

Totals

Totals are just as easy to understand. With these, the
bookmaker posts an expected total for the amount of points
scored by both sides. On the previously mentioned match between
the Chargers and the Colts, for example, they might set the
total at 48.50. You then have to decide whether to bet on the
over or the under.

A wager on the over will win if the combined score from the
two teams is 49 or over (e.g. Chargers 29, Colts 24). A wager on
the under will win if the combined score from the two teams is
48 or less (e.g. Chargers 19, Colts 17).

We explain totals in more detail on the following page.

Before we go onto explain some of the other types of wagers
you can place, there’s some very important information that we
need to mention.

The basic principle of point spreads and totals is that you
have roughly a 50% chance of winning, so technically a “fair”
return on these types of wagers should be equal to the amount
staked. However, they are usually priced up by bookmakers at
odds of -110 (1.91 in decimal odds format, 10/11 in fractional
odds format), which means for every $110 staked you stand to win
$100. You don’t have to stake as much as $110 of course, but the
point is that a successful wager will only return 90% of the
amount staked (plus the initial stake of course).

This is because bookmakers are in business to make a profit,
so they effectively charge a commission for taking wagers. This
commission is known as the vig, short for vigorish, and it’s one
of the ways that bookmakers stay profitable. They don’t charge
it just for points spreads and totals either, as it’s built into
the odds for every wager that they offer.

If you have any ambitions of being a
successful bettor, we strongly recommend reading our article
explaining vig and how bookmakers make money.

Other Common Football Bets

In addition to point spreads and totals, there are three
other types of bets that are commonly used for wagering on
football. These are as follows.

• Moneylines
• Props
• Futures

We’ll now provide a brief overview of each of these, and
point you towards some additional information on each one too.

Moneylines

A moneyline wager is very simple. It involves simply backing
a team to win a match, with no point spread involved. The odds
for moneyline wagers are based on each team’s relative chance of
winning. For example, the moneyline on a game between the San
Diego Chargers and the Indianapolis Colts might look like this.

The Chargers are the favorites here, and the odds of -175
mean that a stake of $175 is required to win $100. To put it
another way, every $1.75 staked stands to win $1 if the Chargers
win. Initial stakes are returned too of course.

The Colts are the underdogs, so backing them means the
potential for higher payouts relative to the amount staked. The
odds of +155 mean that every $1 staked stands to win $1.55 if
the Colts win (i.e. a $100 wager stands to win $155 if the Colts
win). Again, initial stakes are also returned.

For more information on moneylines, and the strategy involved
in placing them, please see the following article.

Props

Props, short for propositions, are wagers on outcomes that
are decided during a football game, but are not necessarily
directly linked to the final result. Some examples include the
following.

• The first team to score.
• The distance of the longest touchdown.
• The total passing yards of a quarterback.
• The number of field goals kicked.

These are just a very small selection of some props. Many
bookmakers offer dozens of different options, particularly on
high profile matches. Props are generally considered a fun type
of bet rather than a way to make money, but it is possible to
make consistent profits from them. We explain more about props
on the following page, where we also offer some strategy advice.

Futures

Futures are wagers on how teams, or individual players, will
fare over the course of an entire season. A wager on a team to
win the Super Bowl, placed at the start of the season, would be
considered a future. So would a wager on a team to be the
National Football Conference champions, or a wager on a player
to win the Most Valuable Player award.

There isn’t a lot more to explain about futures, and there
isn’t really much in the way of specific strategy for them
either. We do go into a bit more detail on them on the following
page though.

Betting on Multiple Football Games

A lot of people like to bet on multiple games at once, as
this can provide the potential for big payouts. It’s not
something we particularly advise beginners to get involved with,
but it doesn’t hurt to understand the options available. The
main ones are as follows.

• Parlays
• Teasers
• Pleasers

Let’s take a quick look at what these are all about.

Parlays

A parlay basically combines several different wagers into
one. For example, a parlay could be made up of five point spread
wagers on five separate games. The payout for such a wager could
be very attractive, but only if ALL the wagers were correct.
Just one wrong pick would mean the whole wager failing. That’s
why these are considered quite risky. They’re a bit more complex
than the previous wagers mentioned, but we won’t go into any
more detail here. We do on the following page though.

Teasers & Pleasers

Teasers and pleasers are essentially types of parlays that
use modified point spreads or totals. With teasers, the spreads
or totals are moved in the bettor’s favor. With pleasers, they
are moved in the bookmaker’s favor. There’s plenty more to
explain about these wagers, which we do on the following pages.

Where to Place Your Football Bets

Now that you know about the different wagers you can place on
football, the next step is actually placing them. The question
you’re probably asking now is “how and where can I do this?”
There are a few options, which we list below, but please be
aware that not all of these are available in all parts of the
world.

• Casino Sportsbooks
• Bookmaking Shops
• Telephone Betting
• Online Sports Betting Sites

Casino Sportsbooks

Many casinos around the world contain a sportsbook. They
usually feature several big screen TVs showing any live sports
action currently taking place, and computerized odds boards
displaying all the latest odds. There are typically cashier
windows where you can place your wagers with a real person, but
some books have interactive machines instead. Either way, these
are great places to place some bets and watch the games at the
same time. The problem for Americans, though, is that they are
only legal in Nevada. There are plenty of sportsbooks in Las
Vegas casinos, but not in other parts of the country.

Bookmaking Shops

Bookmaking shops are mostly like sportsbooks, they’re just
not inside a casino. They also generally have lots of TVs
showing sports, and a counter where wagers are placed. These
shops can be found in many countries around the world, but
they’re not legal in the United States.

Telephone Betting

A lot of bookmakers offer telephone betting services, and
they are usually very straightforward to use. It’s a simple
matter of calling the relevant number, telling the operator you
reach which wagers you want to place, confirming the odds, and
then providing your credit card details. Some bookmakers take
other payment methods too, and some even offer credit lines to
select customers.

This is another option that’s not available to Americans. Not
legally at least, as the Federal Wire Act of 1961 made telephone
betting illegal. You might be getting disheartened by now if you
live in the US, and wondering exactly how you’re ever going to
place any wagers. Don’t worry though, as we have one more option
to tell you about.

Online Sports Betting Sites

Using an online sports betting site is far and away the best
way to bet on football, or any sport for that matter. It’s the
most convenient and accessible option, and there are several
other advantages too. Best of all, it’s legal in the United
States. There are some laws against online gambling in the US,
but these mostly apply to companies and individuals providing
gambling services. There’s no law that states it’s illegal to
use a gambling site of any kind, so Americans are at liberty to
place football bets online if they so choose. We’ve written the
following page explaining things in more detail for those
interested, or you can just keep reading for a quick guide to
getting started online.

Using Online Betting Sites

Using sports betting sites to bet on football online is
relatively straightforward. It’s super easy to open accounts at
most sites, and the majority of them are very user-friendly.
Finding and placing wagers generally takes no time at all, and
can be done from the comfort of your own home with just a
computer and internet access. You can even use most sites from a
smartphone or tablet these days.

Please make sure that you use the right sites though. Most
places are pretty good, but there are some that are best
avoided. It’s vital that you use a safe and trustworthy option,
and you also want to use somewhere that is suitable for
football. We suggest taking a look at the following sites.

Our Top Ranked Football Betting Sites:

Finding the best football betting site is crucial to not only having the best experience but giving yourself the best chance at making the big bucks! Whether you’re betting the NFL, college football, Canadian football, or any other football leagues, you want to know that you’re betting at the best football betting sites. Above, you’ll find a list of the best sites to bet football that are trustworthy, safe, and secure. If you’re ready to get into football betting, you’ve come to the right place.

The best sites to bet on football we’ve recommended above are truly the best in the business at what they do. If you’re looking for somewhere online to bet that is friendly to beginners as well as capable of handling the action of experienced professionals and aspiring professionals, any one of these top football betting sites will be perfect for you. Football betting online can be a lot of fun, but only if you’re betting with an online sportsbook that is safe, secure, and offers an honest and trustworthy platform to use.

The best US football betting sites online:

• BetUS – Very user friendly website and great promotions
• MyBookie – Many football betting promotions and offers
• BetNow – Offers many different football betting options like prop bets and futures
• Bovada – Offers great promotions and excellent football betting lines
• BetOnline – Excellent customer service and has a strong reputation

What Football Betting Sites Are Safe to Bet With?

We’re here to walk you through the process. Be sure to follow our steps below to make sure that no matter what football betting site you choose, you know your money is safe and protected.

1. Pick out a football betting site that is right for you.

We know you’re looking to get into the action fast, but you need to make sure you choose the best football betting site for you. This is most likely where you’re going to be making your bets for a long time to come, so we’d recommend slightly pumping the brakes to make sure you find the perfect online betting site.

In the chart above, we’ve picked out five of the top betting websites available. Why five and not just one? Because while every one of these football betting sites is trustworthy and high quality, they all offer a slightly different experience. We’ve outlined who each site is best for to give you a good starting point. What we recommend you do, though, is pick out two or three football betting sites from that list and poke around for a few minutes. You should be able to easily tell which site is the right one for you in a matter of minutes, if not seconds.

You’ll be happy down the road that you took the time to do this.

2. Create your free account and make an initial deposit.

Once you’ve sorted through a list of football betting sites, it’s time to create your free account and make your initial deposit. Creating your account is easy. You’ll pick out a screen name, enter your email, create a password, and give a few more details about yourself and that’s it!

Once you have an account, you’ll want to navigate over to the deposits page and make your first deposit. Every football betting site that we have recommended has lots of different options for you to get your account funded including using credit cards, debit cards, e-wallets like PayPal or Skrill, bank transfers, pre-paid cards, and a whole lot more. You should be able to get real money into your account easily in a matter of minutes.

3. Select and make the bets you want to make.

Once you’ve gone through the football betting sites we’ve recommended, created an account and funded it , it’s time to bet! If you already know what you want to bet on, go for it! If you still need some help making your picks, check out the tips and strategy guides we have for you later on in this guide. We’ll load you up with the tools, tips, tricks, and resources that you need in order to become one of the best football bettors on the planet.

4. Win big!

The last step is the “easy” one and can be the fun one. You just need the players on the field to do their jobs and fulfill your expectations. If they can do that and you picked well, you’re going to walk away a big winner!

That’s all you have to do to get started. Scoot on back up to the top of the page and take the first step by picking out the best football betting websites for you. If you still think you need a little assistance, we do have some additional resources for you below that can help you with the process.

Football Betting for Beginners

Brand new? Feeling lost? Need a hug? We got you covered. Getting involved in football betting can seem overwhelming. How do we know this? Because we were in your shoes before. Everyone has to start somewhere. Because we remember that feeling, we want to help by providing some resources specifically targeted towards you and getting you up to speed. Betting on football is not hard, but it can seem like a lot if things aren’t broken down properly.

Start With Sports Betting Basics

When someone first learns how to play football, do you start by teaching them intricate plays or do you start with general sports fundamentals like running, throwing, hand-eye coordination, etc.? You start with the general sports basics as long as you are a good coach who actually wants to see results.

The same is true when it comes to betting on football. You need to start by learning the basics of sports betting in general, and then you can move to the specifics of the sport to get into the action. Here are two guide that are must-reads if you’re brand new to all of this. Everything in these guides is completely applicable to betting on football, so make sure you pay attention and don’t drop the ball with this one.

Once you’ve completed reading and understanding those guides, you should take a look at our How to Bet on Football guide. This is an incredible read jam-packed full of links, additional guides, resources, and more to turn you into an expert when it comes to knowing how to bet on football. Once you finish the information there, you will be more than ready to start building out your strategy and start winning big!

Top Tips for Betting on Football

Looking for some quick football betting tips to get you started on the right track right now? We have got you covered. Below, you’re going to find five of the best football betting tips and resources you need to get started betting on football the right way right now.

Understand the Different Types of Football Bets

Betting flexibility is a phrase that you need to become extremely familiar with if you want to succeed betting on football. Betting flexibility refers to the ability to bet on way more than just the winner of a football game. It’s the multitude of different types of bets and variations of wagers that you can use to build out your winning football betting strategy.

Below, we’ve broken down the most popular types of football bets in an easy to understand manner. You don’t have to use all of these different football bet types to be successful, but being aware of your options is crucial to a successful football betting career.

Stop Making the Most Common Football Betting Mistakes

It’s painful to see football bettors of all skill levels continually making the same betting mistakes over and over again. It doesn’t matter if this is because of laziness, lack of knowledge, or just bad training from a fellow sports bettor; it’s still detrimental to your bottom line and your ability to be a profitable football bettor.

In the guide below, we’ve outlined the most common football betting mistakes and what you can do to make sure you don’t fall victim to them.

Follow Good Bankroll Management Practices

Betting on football is all about the long run. Even if you make the best picks, bet at the best football betting sites, and are really sharp with what you’re doing, you will fail and go broke if you don’t have great bankroll management practices. Our bankroll management guide linked below is one of the most important reads you’ll ever see in your entire football betting career.

Don’t Let the Betting Public or Sports Media Guide You

There are two statements that you need to learn real quickly if you want to succeed betting on football.

1. The betting public is not smart when it comes to betting on football.
2. The sports media’s goal is to entertain fans, not help you pick value sports bets.

The reason that football betting is so profitable is because the betting public is terrible at it.

They have a tendency to bet with their hearts and without doing any research often causing the betting lines to shift the wrong direction giving you the opportunity to pick up extra value. With this knowledge in mind, do you think you should be listening to the betting public for football betting advice? Absolutely not. A popular quote you’ll hear from sportsbook managers and owners is:

The second statement about the sports media is equally important for you to commit to memory before choosing a football betting site. Talk shows, news reports, magazines, and online articles are typically written with one goal in mind – entertain the reader, viewer, or listener and get them to come back for more. Notice we didn’t say their goal was to help you make great picks. Their goal is to entertain and that often means that they have to ignore what they really think is going to happen to push a more attractive narrative. It also means they are usually not looking at odds, spreads, or payout lines when they are making their picks.

Do not let the betting public or the sports media sway you from making an intelligent football bet. If the source is a proven, sharp football bettor who focuses solely on making intelligent bets, they are the only exception to this tip.

Shop Your Football Betting Lines

Thanks to the addition of our betting center above, there are now zero acceptable excuses for not shopping your football betting lines. Shopping your betting lines means checking multiple sportsbooks to see who is paying out the most on the exact same bet. Yes, different sportsbooks will pay you more or less money on the exact same bet all based on how much action they have brought in on the game so far.

Sportsbooks want even action on both sides of the game, and in order to do that, they have to adjust the lines to sway the action as needed. Each sportsbook does this independently. You should be taking advantage of this unless you don’t like money or want to leave free money on the table.

Football Betting Strategy

You can have a great deal of fun placing bets on football with just a little bit of knowledge, and there’s even the possibility of earning a little extra cash. For the best chance of making consistent profits, however, you really need to know more than just the basics. The strategy section of our guide is an incredibly useful resource for anyone that’s serious about making money. It features advice on several key aspects of general strategy along with articles on a range of specific strategies as well.

There are a number of different strategies you can use. You don’t need to use them all to be successful, but we do recommend learning the basics about each one. This will make it possible to determine which strategies will work best for you and the knowledge gained through this experience can also be used as a tool for developing your own systems and strategies.

Super Bowl Betting

The money bet on the Super Bowl every year is MASSIVE. Want to see for yourself? Check this out.

Every year, billions of dollars are bet on the Super Bowl. This massive movement of money means there are a lot of great opportunities for you to make some serious cash on the big game. You have additional bet types to choose from and amateur bettors who have no idea what they are doing driving the lines all over the place and creating value opportunities.

Because this is such a monster event in football betting, we’ve created a dedicated guide packed with Super Bowl betting strategy and the best Super Bowl betting sites.

The Most Popular Football Leagues to Bet On

If you’re new to betting on football or this is your first trip to a football betting website, you may not be aware of all the different opportunities you have to bet on football. Below, we’ve gone ahead and outlined the most popular football leagues in the world where you’ll be able to get action on games from the football betting sites we’ve recommended on this page.

Apps To Bet On College Football Teams

Get Started With a Football Betting Site Now!

Apps To Bet On College Football Games

There’s just one thing left for you to do in order to get started betting on football right now. It’s to get started and take that first step! We’ll make it easy for you. We’ve linked the top football betting site below for your convenience. Click the link, create your free account, and start looking at the bets that are available. If you find something that you like, make a deposit and get yourself into the action!