American Football Betting

Betting on American football is the leading form of wagering in the United States. Thanks to international television broadcasts, exhibition and regular season games played in other countries, the establishment of leagues in Europe, and ready access to sportsbooks via the Internet, this sport played in helmets and uniforms resembling battle gear is rapidly gaining popularity elsewhere in the world.

Although the game is unique in many ways, it is still a cousin of rugby football, which was first played on the west side of the Atlantic in 1869. That’s when two colleges, Rutgers and Princeton, played a test match under the rules of the London Football Association. Seven years later, a set of domestic rules were written, with the assistance of Walter Camp, who would later be recognised as the “father of American football.”

By 1892, local athletic clubs began forming their own teams. Competition was especially keen between two organisers in the Pittsburgh area: the Allegheny Athletic Association (AAA) and the Pittsburgh Athletic Club (PAC). To gain an edge, the AAA paid $500 to a former All-American college player from Yale to join them in a game against AAA. Professional football was underway.

The first World Series of Football was held in 1902, a five-team tournament won by Syracuse AC. But professional football was disorganised and slow in gaining fans’ interest until the formation of the American Professional Football League in 1920. It quickly expanded from ten teams to 22 before a proper championship could be played, eventually won by the Chicago Staleys, who changed their name to the Bears in 1922 when the league was rechristened as the National Football League (NFL).

Today, the NFL fields 32 professional teams. Each of them plays a 16-game regular season between September and December. This is preceded by four or five preseason contests and followed by a single-elimination post-season play-off that determines two conference champions. They, in turn, meet at in February to decide the NFL Champion at an event dubbed the “Super Bowl.”

Each year, the Super Bowl attracts more wagering than any other annual sporting event in the world. Ante post betting begins on which team will win the championship outright even before the pre-season starts. Bets can also be placed on which teams will win their respective conferences and what the final records of each team will be.

Throughout the season, straight-up match betting gives short odds, so spread betting is much more popular. Bookmakers take or give points to attract bettors to a side. Such wagers do not require one team score more that the other in order to claim a payout—only that the team wins “against the spread” (ATS) and cover the adjusted points.

Other popular American football bets include first half betting, over/under wagers on the total of the final score, and parlays, picking from two to ten teams to win on a given day. The latter offers longer odds for the more winners selected. There are also bets called propositions, or “props,” which are most common for in-running or live betting or during the Super Bowl. These include wagers on which team will score first, how they will score, how many field goals will be kicked over/under, how many touchdown passes will be thrown over/under, and many more.

But professional football is not the only opportunity that bettors have to wager and win. College football, under the aegis of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), is almost as popular as the NFL. The game differs only slightly from the version played by the pros, and there are many more match-ups available.

NCAA Division I-A football is made up of 119 teams, and another 119 form Division II-A. They are organised in local conferences, which allows ante post bets on what teams will win their region as well as who will be crowned the National Champion. That title is determined through a series of polls and post-season matchups called “bowl” games. The latter include the Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl, in addition to the BCS Championship Bowl. Spread bets and props are also offered at the college level of the sport.