NFL betting guide: How to bet on the NFL, find the best sportsbooks and learn about bets to make
This NFL betting guide will discuss how to bet on the NFL, the different types of NFL bets you can make and more
Betting on the NFL is the most popular way to bet in the U.S. With a wide variety of betting markets to choose from and both team and player wagers available, the NFL provides opportunities for many prospective bettors. Furthermore, the league schedule lends itself to betting, with standalone primetime games and Sundays full of games allowing bettors to wager in several different ways. In this guide, we will discuss where to bet on the NFL, the different markets available to bettors and tips for betting.
Finding the best U.S. sportsbook for betting on the NFL
| Sportsbook | Offer |
|---|---|
Bet $5, get $300 in bonus bets if your first bet wins | |
Bet $5, get $200 in bonus bets if your bet wins | |
Bet and get up to $1,000 in No Sweat Bets | |
Bet $1, double your winnings your next 10 bets | |
Up to $1,500 in bonus bets if your first bet loses | |
Bet $5, get $150 in bonus bets win or lose |
The first step to betting on the NFL is finding the best sports betting apps to use and creating an account (or multiple accounts). It's beneficial to peruse several sportsbooks to see the user interfaces, the markets available, the varying odds offered, and most importantly, to claim all of the best sportsbook promos.
How to bet on NFL games
When users visit the "NFL" section of a sportsbook, the first bets they'll encounter are spread, money line and total for the upcoming NFL games.
Point spread
The spread is the most standard and popular NFL bet to make. In most NFL games, there is a favorite and an underdog. The favorite will be "favored" to win by a certain number of points, indicated by a "-" sign and a number. The underdog will be "given" a certain number of points, indicated by a "+" sign and a number. For example, when the Eagles played the Panthers in the 2024 season, they were favored by 13.5 points. The spread looked like PHI -13.5 and CAR +13.5.
If you place a spread bet on the Eagles with this example, they would need to win by at least 14 points to cover the spread, and for you to win your bet. If you bet on the Panthers, they would need to either win outright or come within 13 points of winning for you to win your bet.
The odds on a point spread are close to "even" on both sides. The spread "gives" the underdog as many points as the sportsbooks believe makes it an even contest. You'll generally see spread odds of -110, but it's not uncommon to find -105, -115, or -120.
Money line
The money line is a much simpler bet than the spread. You're just betting on who will win the game outright. Money line odds vary significantly more than spread odds. In a game featuring evenly matched teams, you may see odds very close to even. For example, in Super Bowl 59, the Chiefs were slight favorites with money line odds of -120, and the underdog Eagles had money line odds of +100.
On the other hand, when the Browns faced the Ravens in the last week of the 2024 season (a game the Ravens needed for playoff seeding while the Browns were already out of playoff contention), the Browns were +1350 on the money line in some sportsbooks while the Ravens were -2800. In the Ravens Browns game, a $100 bet on the browns would have gotten you $1,350 if they had won, while you'd have needed to bet $2,800 on the Ravens just to profit $100.
Total
When you bet on the total (sometimes called the over/under), you're betting on the combined score of both teams. The winner of the game does not matter. The total will oftentimes be a half number, like 48.5. If the Bills are playing the Dolphins, and the total is set at 48.5, an Over bet will win if the two teams combine for at least 49 points and an Under bet will win if they combine for 48 points or less.
NFL parlays
Parlays are a very popular form of sports betting in which users put together several different bets (also referred to as "legs") on one ticket to increase their potential payout. Parlays can be across several games or in a single game, popularly known as a "same-game parlay."
While parlays are extremely popular because of their large potential payouts, they can be difficult to win because every single leg of the parlay must win for the parlay to be considered a winning bet. If a bettor makes a five-leg parlay and the first four legs "hit" and the final leg does not, the payout is zero. If a bettor had made the same five bets individually, and four of them won while the fifth one lost, the first four would have been paid out. However, the winnings on four individual bets would be considerably smaller than what they would have been if they were all in a parlay
Here's an example of a parlay from Week 17 of the 2024 season that would have been successful:
Chiefs money line (-135)
Ravens money line (-320)
Seahawks money line (-215)
All three, individually, were favorites, meaning if a user made all three bets individually, their payouts, relative to the amount they wagered, would have been small. However, by picking all three to win as a package deal, a user would have gotten +235 odds, meaning a successful $100 bet would win $235.
However, if a user parlayed all three covering the spread, the bet would have lost. Though the Chiefs and Ravens covered as favorites, the Seahawks, 3.5-point favorites, won just 6-3.
Parlays can include many types of bets, including basic bets like spreads, money lines, or totals, but also props and futures can be added to your parlay, and same-game parlays are no different. Here's an example of a same-game parlay that would have been successful in Week 17 of the 2024 season:
Chiefs money line (won 29-10)
Patrick Mahomes OVER 2.5 passing touchdowns (he threw three)
Kareem Hunt anytime TD (he had one)
However, if a user added a fourth leg of Mahomes OVER 0.5 interceptions, the user getting the first three legs right wouldn't have mattered; Mahomes did not throw an interception.
NFL prop betting
Prop betting is betting on certain events to happen within a game, not affected by the outcome of the game itself. Many here "prop betting" and immediately think it refers to betting on a player's statistics, and while that is a great and popular example of a prop bet, there are many different kinds of props to bet on in an NFL game.
Touchdown scorer
This is straightforward: Will a player score a touchdown? Touchdown scorers can be "anytime" (if a player scores at any point during the game, the wager hits), first touchdown scorer (if the player scores the first touchdown of the game, the wager hits) or the number of touchdowns scored. Odds will get longer based on specificity; it is more likely for a player to score a touchdown at any point than it is for him to score the first touchdown of the game, for example.
On the most popular sportsbooks, every relevant player will have touchdown scorer odds. Some players, like Derrick Henry, who find the end zone almost every week, will have "-" anytime touchdown scorer odds. It was common to see Henry with -220 odds to find the end zone in any given game. In contrast, a tight end who only gets a few targets a game and only scores a few touchdowns per season could have anytime touchdown odds of +650 or longer.
Player props
Other than touchdowns, most NFL players will have a full set of prop lines for every game they play. A wide receiver like Justin Jefferson may have props like O/U 99.5 receiving yards, O/U 9.5 receptions and longest reception O/U 49.5 yards. All of the popular skill position players in a game will have multiple prop lines where you can bet the Over or the Under.
Team props
You can also bet on team props. Some examples of team props are how many points a team will score, how many touchdowns a team will score, how many times a team will turn the ball over, and other bets of that nature
Game props
Bettors can get even more specific with game wagers, such as which team scores first, which team leads after a quarter/a half and how many lead changes a game will have. These are also popular options in parlays.
NFL futures bets
Futures betting is wagering on events to happen weeks and sometimes months in advance. These bets are a good way for bettors to pursue large payouts, and they can be either team-based bets or individual bets.
Team-based future bets
Team-based futures can involve several categories, including Super Bowl, conference winner, division winner and team win totals. These bets can be made almost all year round. For example, the Chiefs have a team win total of 11.5 in the spring before the 2025 season. The Chiefs have gone over that number in six of the past seven seasons, including a 15-win 2024 campaign.
Super Bowl, conference winner and even division winner bets can offer larger potential payouts, as bettors would be betting on a team against the rest of the field. For example, the Eagles, who dominated the playoffs in 2024 and return several key contributors, are the Super Bowl favorites at +650 in the offseason before the 2025 season, an enticing payout possibility.
Player-based future bets
Player-based futures include individual awards (MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, etc.), individual prop futures and seasonal stat leaders. For something like most rushing yards in a season or most passing touchdowns, users are taking a single player over the field. Again, different sportsbooks may provide different odds and different players to wager on.
Futures bets can be a good way to pursue large potential payouts well before the season begins.
Live betting on the NFL
You can also make bets on an NFL game while you're watching it, or while it's "live". The NFL is a popular sport for live betting given the frequent breaks in the action, the changes in momentum and the unique scoring system that allows for quick swings. Spread, money line and total are the most popular ways to wager on live betting. The odds will constantly change throughout the game based on the game's flow and who is scoring when. You might get longer odds on a favorite if they start the game down a touchdown.
How to bet on the Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the premier event on the NFL calendar and, in turn, on the NFL betting calendar. The spread will likely be within a few points, given that the game features two of the best teams in the NFL.
The Super Bowl is also the premier prop betting game. Due to the massive popularity of the game, prop bets may include categories that don't even focus on the game, such as length of the national anthem, songs in the halftime show, color of Gatorade dumped on the winning coach or result of the coin toss. It's important to note, though, that many popular sportsbooks do not offer some of these novelty bets
There are, of course, several additional categories that do involve the game. Users can wager on Super Bowl MVP, for example, whereas there isn't an MVP of any other game. The biggest game on the calendar offers the biggest buffet of betting categories.
Tips and advice for how to bet on the NFL
Betting on the NFL is very enticing given the wide range of betting markets available, and there are several ways for bettors to gain small advantages. For example, the conditions in which the game is played—not only location (home or away) but also weather—ought to be factored in. The Dolphins, for example, play home games in Miami and have struggled in away cold-weather games. Some players have struggled in primetime games or playoff games, too.
Furthermore, understanding the probabilities for how a game will go is important. A big favorite that leads for much of the game may run the ball a lot in the second half to chew up the clock, meaning a wager on a running back for that team may be prescient.
In terms of knowing which games to bet, it's helpful to keep the look-ahead lines in mind. Before Sunday's games, there will be spreads out for the following week's games, and sometimes sportsbooks will overreact to a team's performance and make a change in the spread of their game next week. When you see a big discrepancy between the look-ahead lines to the lines you see Monday morning, it should raise a flag.
You can also predict what spreads will be for games based on what you expect them to be, and attack the games with the biggest discrepancies between your expectations and the sportsbooks' lines.
