Point Spread Betting Explained – How it Works | Odds Shark
A point spread in sports is a figure set by oddsmakers to provide an advantage or disadvantage based on the margin of victory or defeat for any particular team. Even the”favorite” team (labeled with a”-” sign) would be at the disadvantage since they would have to win the game by a set variety of points while the”underdog” group (labeled with a”+” sign) will be given an edge to never lose the match by a set number of points. The reason oddsmakers do this is to supply betting interest for the two sides due to a single team typically being better than the other.
Here’s an example of an NFL game where point spreads are utilized and how it might look:
Dallas -4.5 (-110)
New York +4.5 (-110)
As you can see, Dallas is the 4.5-point favorite so they would need to win the match by five points or more to win the bet. Conversely, New York is a 4.5-point underdog so that they would have to win or not lose the game by more than four points to win the bet.
If Dallas wins 20-17, then they win by three factors and did NOT cover the 4.5 points, but New York has”covered the spread” because they remained inside 4.5 points.
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