Sports Betting 101: What is a point spread in sports betting?

Understanding the different types of betting options is crucial when you're getting a start as a first-time sports bettor.

The point spread: Betting the spread

For those new to sports betting, the point spread is the simplest, most straightforward approach to placing wagers.

Sports books set a predetermined margin of points on a game and a team must win - or not lose - by that set number. That's why you'll often hear people say the team won, but they "didn't cover the spread" so their bet still came up short.

It's not a matter of a team winning or losing like in a moneyline bet.

• For a favorite: The favorite must win by more than the point spread.
• For an underdog: The underdog must outright win OR lose by fewer than the point spread.

Sports books aren't in the business of predicting who will win or lose games. Their goal is setting a pregame point spread with the intention to generate an equal amount of betting action/volume on both sides of the ledger - as much total money being bet on the favorite as on the underdog.

The vast majority of point spread wagers are made on football and basketball because of the proliferation of points that are scored in comparison to sports like baseball and hockey, where 1-0 or 2-1 games aren't that out of the question or out of the norm. There's one every night.

For example, the New England Patriots are playing the New York Jets and New England is a 9½-point favorite. Bettors typically have to spend $110 or so to win $100 with sports books, known as "the house edge/advantage." With a point spread bet, simply having a team win the game isn't the key. The critical factor to betting a point spread is how much a team wins or loses by. If a wager is placed on New England - "laying" the 9½ points - the Patriots need to win the game by 10 or more points for that bet to pay off. If New England wins 28-20, those betting on the Jets plus 9½ points (points added to their final total) win the bet.