Against the Spread Review

What Is Against the Spread ?

Against the Spread is a phrase usually used in sports-betting to describe a bet against the betting line. Every online game has its betting line which would favour one of the betting teams. Then, betting against the spread means that the bettor will be using points to bet on the underdog.

In sports betting, betting ‘Against the Spread’ refers to the American-coined term that mainly occurs by giving the favourite players to win a point, a deduction before the game starts. The term refers to the act of backing the favourites, even with points deducted, with the hope that they would win enough points to surpass that deduction.

Against the Spread Explained

The term ‘Against the Spread’ is commonly used in NBA and American Football. In sports-betting, the favourite team will be given a negative value of points before the start of the game. That value is determined by the bookmakers along with the odds that are calculated.

The greater the difference in form between the two teams, the greater the negative value of the favourite team will be. Then the underdog would receive a positive points value.

For example, the Los Angeles Hawks are the favourite team against the Dallas Bengals, thus the bookmakers would favour the Hawks by seven points, which means that the Bengals are the underdogs by seven points. As for these points, the bettor would bet ‘Against the Spread’ on the Hawks if they believe that the team can overcome the Bengals by seven points or even more. If the Hawks run out 23 to 15 winners, they would successfully have won the game by at least seven points. This means that the bettor can cash in on the bet.

Furthermore, betting ‘Against the Spread’ is a great betting strategy in cases where the point spread is low or if the bettor believes that the team they bet on could win against the opponent by at least up to the point-spread advertised. If the bettor hopes that the team they are betting on would win big, then betting ‘Against the Spread’ would result in an overwhelming payout.
Betting in this way allows the bettor to increase his/her odds. Meaning that the payout in this case would be larger than that of a standard win, since it gives the underdog a good head-start.