Understanding point spreads

November 1, 2008
by Simon M Skinner

Every major sport that people bet on has a point spread system.

Inexperienced bettors who do not understand college football point spreads may not understand the system. Point spreads are of interest because sports analysts often refer to these although one must bear in mind that you are not legally allowed to bet in all areas of the US.

If you want to add a little spice to your understanding of the game and to your betting enjoyment then a good understanding of point spreads will certainly help.

An understanding of point spreads will require that you have to understand sportsetting in general. All sports have a point spread or line associated with them. These are determined on a game-by-game basis between the two teams that are playing each other.

Let me give you an example, if the University of Oklahoma is playing the University of Texas then there will be a point spread associated with that game.

The two teams are rarely exactly matched in skill, so you are going to find that one will have a better chance of winning the game. In college football spreads this can be a very large number depending on who the two teams are.

In a game between OU and UT, the point spread is going to be less because the teams are pretty well matched in regards to skills and competition level.

It is always obvious that one team is going to be better than the other and that is why we have the point spreadsystem. If bettors only gambles on the better team, then on average and according to probability bettors will win 50% of the time. The point spread evens the odds for bettors and for teams. The teams have to win by a certain number of points to win the game.

Another example would be if OU is favored by 10 over UT, then OU would have to win by 11. If they win by 10 then it is called a push. You wouldn’t lose or win any money if they won by 10 points.

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