What are Spreads?

What are spreads? Point spread betting, or spreads, are a method of betting that involves how big a team is expected to win or lose. Where moneylines are straight bets against who you think will win or lose, spreads even the playing field because you’re betting on the margin of victory or defeat. It makes sports betting between mismatched teams a little more even and interesting.

It’s easy to predict who’s going to win when one team so outclasses another; it’s harder to predict when that same team needs to defeat the opposing team by X-amount of points.

How Spreads Work – Straight Bets

Straight bets, aka sides, are a form of point spread betting and are the most common type of betting in the industry. To make a straight bet, you place a wager on which team/side you think will cover the points spread, the Over/Under, or a moneyline.

For example, the defending Super Bowl Champs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers are facing the Atlanta Falcons. The spread might look like Buccaneers -10, Falcons +10. That means if you bet on the Bucs, they need to win by at least 11 points for your waver to succeed. If you bet on the Falcons, you need them to lose by nine points or less or outright win. If the Bucs win by exactly 10 points, it’s a push and you are refunded your wager.

Point Spread Examples

Let’s look at how some point spreads work for different sports.

Basketball & Football. Point spreads are popular in basketball and football and work normally like the above example. Spreads in these sports are more likely to range much more than in other sports because of the scoring nature of both sports – anywhere from .5 to double digits.

Hockey & Baseball. Spreads in these sports are less common. Spreads in hockey are called puck lines and in baseball they’re called run lines. The standard spread for these sports is (+/-)1.5 goals/runs.

Soccer. Handicaps are commonly used in soccer spread betting.

For example, a -1 handicap basically means the underdog team starts up 1-0 (for purposes of betting). If you bet on the favorite, they need to score two goals for your bet to succeed; if they score just one, it’s a push.

Winning a bet with a handicap has a higher payout since the chances of success are lower. The flip side is the opposite for betting on the underdog when there’s a handicap given – payout is lower than normal.

Tennis. In tennis, spreads about how many games an athlete wins compared to their opponent. Spreads in tennis are rare, however.

For example, if the spread for the favorite is -2.5, they need to win three more games than their opponent. If in this scenario, the finally tally is 6-3 & 6-4, the favorite has won 12 games to their opponent’s seven – a difference of five games and beating the spread.