Understanding Point Spread
Understanding Point Spread is critical for basketball and football betting. It is an essential first step to learning about legality of sports betting.
In any football or basketball game, where point spreads are typically used, there are two teams playing against each other. The primary function of the point spread is to balance the probability of each team winning by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is carried out, you get the ATS (Against The Spread) outcome.
The better team or side is called the Favourite. It is expected to win the game and must give or lay points to the weaker team or the underdog. The favorite is listed with a minus sign against it and the number of points they are favored by. For example Team A -7 v/s Team B. Here, Team A must not only win the game, but it must ensure its victory by winning by more than 7 points for its bettors to have a winning ATS result. If the Team B bettor were to win his bet, then Team B would have to win the actual game by any amount of points, or lose the game by less than 7 points.
There is a chance that the final score may land exactly on the spread number which would then be known as ‘push’ or ‘action’. In such an event, a refund will be issued to bettors of both teams.
The game can also be considered from the weaker team or the underdog’s perspective which is Team B. Since this side has little expectation of winning the game, it ‘gets’ points given by the favourite team. Here the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points it is regarded an underdog by. For example Team B +7 v/s Team A.
Thus whether it is Team A -7 or Team B +7, the point spread is the same in the same game, only stated differently. The former is from the favourite team’s perspective and the latter from that of the underdog.
