How To Read NFL Football Point Spreads Since betting on point spreads in the NFL is the most popular bet that people make, it is probably pretty important that you know what you are doing. The point spreads in the NFL are always alot closer then college football because you are dealing with the best of the best. So, for a favorite, the odds will begin with a minus (-) sign. This is the amount you need to bet in order to win $100. On the other hand, the underdog’s odds will begin with a plus (+) sign. This is the amount you will receive if you were to bet $100.

With over 3.5 billion fans worldwide, soccer is the most popular sport in the world. If you want to learn to bet on soccer, you came to the right place. First off, one of the most important aspects about soccer betting is that the best sportsbooks will display odds in decimal odds format (1.20, 3.40, etc.), instead of whole numbers used in American Odds (+140, -220, etc.) and fractional odds mostly seen in racetracks and racebooks (1/3, 2/4, etc.). Decimal odds are primarily used in Europe and sometimes Canada, while American Odds are used in the US.

A lot of online sportsbooks use decimal odds when it comes to soccer since a considerable number of bets will be placed on popular European leagues and competitions using European betting principles (such as: English Premier League, UEFA Cup, Champions League, etc.), and as such, throughout all of our soccer articles and points, we will mostly use decimal odds to explain the different types of soccer betting.

Examples of Online Soccer Over/Unders

* Please see illustration below to help understand over/under bets, text explanation follows.

One of the easiest ways of making wagers on this popular sport is over/under betting. This form of betting is based on the total number of goals scored by the two teams playing against each other. In over/under betting you are simply betting if the total scores of the two teams will be higher or lower than a the sportsbook’s estimated number. Similarly to baseball (see our previous Online Baseball Over/Under Betting article), soccer does not have many goals in a game. Most games will have about 2 goals, so 2.5 over/under is the most widely used odds that you will see throughout many online sportsbooks.

Let us say Manchester United is playing against Chelsea in the English Premier League. The over/under odds are listed as:

2.5 goals
Over (1.2)
Under (1.4)

How To Read Odds For Football

In this case you are betting that the total score in this game will be over or under 2 goals. That is, if the score is 1-0, then the total goals scored is 1 and the ‘Under’ bet wins. If the total score is 2-2, then the total goals scored are 4 and the ‘Over’ bet wins.

The Use of 0.5 in Over/Unders

The 0.5 is used to make sure that the results need to be either 2 or lower for the ‘under’ bet to win, or higher than 2 for the ‘over’ bet to win. The 0.5 is used to avoid a “push” happening, where a sportsbook would have to return the bets to the bettors. However, sometimes the 0.5 is dropped and the odds are adjusted, so be prepared for that as well.

Strategies and Tips for Soccer Over/Under Bets

One of the enticing things about soccer over/under betting is the ability to place live bets. Live betting is when you can bet on the outcome of the game after it has already started. For example, Chelsea is playing Manchester United, its 10 minutes in and Chelsea has just scored a goal. The over/under prediction is 2.5 for the game and it is (2.1) for the ‘over’ and (2.5) for the ‘under’ bet respectively. It is early in the game and you can see that Chelsea is pressing to score more goals and that Man U is playing aggressively as well for a comeback. Thus, there are more chances that there will be more than 2 goals. However, the pay back will also be much less, going down as much as (1.1) for the ‘over’ and (1.5) for the ‘under’.

Strategy/Aggressiveness of Teams

Within the over/under betting tips is the one where you have to consider how aggressive or defensive the teams are playing the match. For example, if both of the teams are known for their aggressive goal-scoring strategies then it is likely that the score will be high. If they are known for being defensive, then it is likely that the score will be low. Sportsbooks consider these factors, as well as the players within the team, are the forward strong (like Messi) or not so much? The best solution is to always pay attention to the teams, their players and strategies to be in the loop so you can make your winning soccer over/under wagers.

Fractional odds are read as (how much you win)/(how much you bet)

Example:

How To Read Soccer Over Under Odds

Odds = 3/2
Stake = 100
Winnings = (100 x (3/2)) = 150

How To Read Soccer Odds Movement

Fractional odds are the oldest way which bookmakers have displayed prices. They are harder to read than decimal odds, but are quite common and thusly worth learning. To decipher fractional odds, lets look at a tennis matchup between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal:

Nadal – 4/6
Djokovic – 6/5

The easiest way to read fractional odds is to think of the price as:

How To Read And Understand Soccer Odds

The Amount You Win
The Amount You Bet

That means that if the number on top (the numerator) is bigger than the one on the bottom (denominator), then the market is an underdog, the side viewed as less likely to win the matchup. If the denominator is bigger than the numerator, you are looking at a favourite, the side viewed as more likely to win.

Of course, you are not always going to bet the denominator on a market, so how do you figure out the payout using fractional odds? To see how much you are set to win with fractional odds simply multiply the stake by the fraction. Using the example above, if we were to bet 100 on Djokovic we would see that we win 120, add back in your stake and you get a total payout of 220.

To convert any odds formats check out Pinnacle’s odds converter.