NFL Betting & American Football Odds
American football is a unique sport that combines athletic performance and skill, deep strategy, and fast bursts of intense action in a way that no other game does. With its stop-start action, and the range of data and stats available to analyse, American football is an ideal sport to bet on.
With our wealth of NFL betting markets, you’ll find everything you need to start your American Football betting journey. Experience the excitement of successfully calling the outcome of a game, the rush of in-play betting, as you follow the full NFL season with BoyleSports.
To get you set up for some triumphant NFL betting, we’ll cover the types of bets you can place on the NFL, how NFL odds work, and how the American Football season is structured. We’ll even give you some top tips for successful NFL betting.
How do I bet on the NFL with BoyleSports?
You’ll find comprehensive NFL betting markets at BoyleSports for all the NFL regular season matchups, the playoff games, and of course, the Super Bowl season finale. We offer a huge variety of NFL betting, with our top American Football bets including:
● Match winner: Pick the winner of a match-up. Called a moneyline bet in the US.
● 1st half winner: Bet on the team to win the first half.
● 14 points ahead: Bet on the first team to reach a 14 points margin. Your bet will be cashed out during play when it happens.
● Point spread: Bet on whether or not the difference between the winning side and the losing side’s score is more than a certain amount.
● Over/under bets: Bet whether the total points scored in a match will be over or under a certain amount, such as 45.5 points.
To bet on the NFL with BoyleSports, create an account with us. Once you’re set-up, select a bet by clicking on the odds to add it to your betslip.
Your betslip will be displayed at the top right of the page and will show all the bets you’ve selected. Add your Stake (the amount you want to wager) to each bet in the empty box on your betslip. You’ll see your Total Stake at the bottom of your betslip, plus your Total Potential Return – the overall amount you’ll win if your bets are successful. Click on the button below to place the bets on your betslip.
To get the most out of your NFL betting, make sure you gamble responsibly. Set a bankroll (the amount of money you’ll gamble with), and don’t be tempted to exceed it. Make sure you only gamble with money you can afford to lose.
How do odds work for NFL bets?
Just as with our other sports markets, you’ll find the odds on all our NFL bets presented as fractions. For example, if you bet £1 on the San Francisco 49ers to beat the New York Jets at 5/1 and the 49ers win, you’d receive £5 in winnings plus your £1 back. That’s a total of £6.
In many cases, fractional odds can look more complicated. But in these instances, the same calculation applies. Take the example of 5/6. If you won a £6 bet at 5/6, you’d receive £5 back, plus your £6 stake for a total of £11. If you won a £1 bet at 5/6, you’d win £0.83, plus your £1 back for a total of £1.83.
Here are more examples of fractional odds and payouts to make sure they’re clear:
|
Stake
|
Odds
|
Winnings
|
Stake
returned
|
Total
winnings
|
|
£1
|
50/1
|
£50
|
£1
|
£51
|
|
£1
|
25/1
|
£25
|
£1
|
£26
|
|
£1
|
7/3
|
£2.33
|
£1
|
£3.33
|
|
£1
|
10/11
|
£0.91
|
£1
|
£1.91
|
|
£1
|
19/23
|
£0.83
|
£1
|
£1.83
|
The odds you’ll see for a bet are an estimation of how likely that bet is to be successful. The odds for an NFL team to win a game will depend on a range of factors, including:
- The team’s recent form
- The recent performances of key players
- Any reported injuries
- The predicted weather conditions
- Homefield advantage
- Where each team is in its division
Understanding the NFL season
If you’re used to European sports with tiered leagues, the NFL can come as quite a change and look pretty complicated. But we’ll explain it here simply.
Regular Season
The regular season in the NFL covers 18 weeks, beginning in September each year and ending in early January. It sees 32 teams playing 17 games each (every team gets a bye week) for a total of 272 games.
Rather than there being a hierarchy of leagues, the 32 NFL teams are divided into two conferences of 16 teams, called the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC). Both conferences are then further divided into four divisions, although these aren’t tiered and are divided by geography:
|
National
Football League (NFL)
|
|
National
Football Conference (NFC)
|
American
Football Conference (AFC)
|
|
NFC North (4 teams)
|
AFC North (4 teams)
|
|
NFC South (4 teams)
|
AFC South (4 teams)
|
|
NFC East (4 teams)
|
AFC East (4 teams)
|
|
NFC West (4 teams)
|
AFC West (4 teams)
|
In the regular season, each team plays:
● The three other teams in its division twice (6 games)
● Once against four teams from other divisions in its conference (4 games)
● Once against four teams from divisions in the other conference (4 games)
● Once against each of the two teams in its conference that finished in the same position in their divisions the previous season (2 games)
● Once against a team in the other conference that also finished in the same position in their divisions the previous season (1 game)
Playoffs
The top four teams from each conference progress to the January playoffs, plus three wild card teams from each conference that have the best records (a total of 14 teams).
The second to seventh seeded teams in each conference play each other first (the top seeded team gets a bye), with the three winners staying in the playoffs. The four remaining teams in each conference then play each other in a semi-final. The two winners then play in a final. The one winning team from each conference progresses to the Super Bowl final.
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is a massive event both in American Football and US culture. It determines the championship winning team and crowns the end of the football season. The Super Bowl takes place on the second Sunday in February each year, usually to record TV ratings.
Tips for NFL Betting
American Football is a sport that generates large amounts of data. And whilst you can take time getting familiar with all the available info, paying attention to the following can take you a long way in picking winning bets:
Team form and injuries
Follow a team’s current form, their recent results, whether particular players are performing above expectations, and whether a team has picked up injuries. These may all have a direct influence on their upcoming games.
Home-field advantage
Teams tend to play better at home, and some sides enjoy a particularly strong home-field advantage. This can tip the results in favour of a home team in an equally matched game, or can even help an underdog.
Divisional matchups
Pay close attention to the competitive dynamics within divisions, as these games can often be more unpredictable and more likely to defy the bookmaker’s odds.
Weather conditions
Weather conditions – especially rain and snow – can alter play by causing more fumbles and incomplete passes, in turn reducing the ability of each team to execute their game plans. This could tilt the odds in favour of a scrappy underdog.
Use betting resources
You’ll find a wealth of data, analysis, and commentary available on American Football that can be used to inform your NFL bets, especially in American media. The NFL itself publishes stats, whilst sites like Pro Football Network are excellent for keeping up to date with current NFL events, as is our BoyleSports blog.
With 285 games played over five months culminating in the Super Bowl final (the biggest spectacle in American sports), the NFL offers so many betting opportunities. And with our NFL betting markets and competitive NFL odds, BoyleSports is the perfect place to bet on the NFL. Create your BoyleSports account, then place your first NFL bets today.
