NFL Lines
Please find the latest NFL Week 16 Lines from our Betting Partners across the United States below (when available).
How to read NFL Lines
The major three ways to bet on NFL matches are via the Moneyline, Spread and Total Points markets.
Moneyline Betting:
Don’t care about the final score or margin of victory in an NFL game? The moneyline is another option. Here, you wager simply on which team you think will win. The score 100 percent doesn’t matter – although a tie game would be a “push” and all money returned.
In the above scenario, the betting menu might look like this:
Dallas Cowboys +250
New England Patriots -300
That means a wager of $100 would return $250 on a Dallas victory, while it would take a wager of $300 on New England to return +100. The bigger a team is favored on the spread, the bigger it is also a moneyline favorite. Very rare for bettors to put down a moneyline bet on a huge underdog.
Spread Betting:
Let’s say the Patriots and Cowboys played in the next Super Bowl – that would set some ratings and betting records for sure. In this scenario, New England won a few more regular-season games and is considered a better team by the oddsmakers. So they might list the Patriots as 7.5-point favorites against Dallas. That would look like this in an online betting menu – the home team is always at the bottom in American betting menus (even in a neutral-site Super Bowl there is a designated home team):
Dallas Cowboys +7.5
New England Patriots -7.5
This simply means that a bet on New England would require the Patriots to win by at least 8 points to cover the spread and return a winning ticket. Any New England win by fewer than 7 points or an outright defeat would be a losing bet. To win on the Cowboys, Dallas need only to lose by no more than 7 points or win outright. Half-points are often included so there can’t be a tie or “push.”
Most NFL spreads are between 1-14 points but can get to 20 on occasion.
Total Points Betting:
The total is simply the total amount of points scored in a game, including any possible overtime. NFL games will generally have a total set anywhere between 35-65. Two terrific offensive teams would see a very high total. Two stellar defensive teams a low one. Games played outdoors in inclement weather can bring a total number down a bit.
Here is what the betting menu would look like for the above game:
Dallas Cowboys Ov 50.5 (-115)
New England Patriots Un 50.5 (-105)
This means you are betting this game will finish with a total score of either more or less than 50.5 points. There is always a small moneyline attached to both the over and under simply as part of the “price” the sportsbook sets to take the wager. The moneylines often can be the same price. As in spread, totals often have a half-point attached so there is no tie.
