Winning Football Bets

Winning football bets might be easy for some people, but I seem to be allergic to the cash out window, so I don't get to hang out with the winners too often. However, so many casinos have awesome sports books with huge TV's and a snack bar nearby, it's only natural that I can be found checking out the scores there when I'm in a casino.

Football bettors are a unique breed among casino goers. They are much more vocal about who and why they bet on certain teams, and they are a lot more vocal when rooting for their teams.

Unfortunately, most bettors have favorites: players, coaches and teams. That's a bad thing when it comes to sports betting and gambling in general. The very best sports handicappers have no favorites - except those teams that tend to cover the point spread each week.

If you have a favorite team, your view of that team, especially with regard to its chances of winning, is going to be influenced. This usually results in a bettor putting too large a bet on their team and also accepting a point spread that is not good. If you want to win more sports bets you have to take your own emotions out of the equation.

Once you've accepted the fact that there should be no emotion in making your bets, you also have to understand that the betting line at your local sports book is not as it seems. When team "A" is favored by 7 points, team "B" is not really 7 points worse. The point spread is set so the bets on each side even out.

The sports book has a built-in advantage when they take a bet of 11 units and pay you 10 more when you win. They hope to get the exact amount bet on each side so they can earn the "vig" - about 4.5 percent (1/2 x 1/11). They don't care which team wins because they win if they get even bets.

They have no emotional tie to either team playing, and you need to follow that lead. Have no emotion tie and make your bets strictly on the numbers you use to choose winners. Don't apply anything extra to your favorite team  - you'll do better in the long run.