Football Betting: How-To, Odds, Popular Markets & FAQ

Football is the uncontested king of American sports. The sheer volume of media attention, intense rivalries, dedicated fanbases, and comparatively short seasons place significance on each and every snap. With legal sportsbooks now at the fingertips of more and more fans across the country, football betting has never been more popular in the United States.

Below we’ll recap everything related to betting on football, including how to read and interpret odds, the most popular football betting markets, how to sign up and place a wager on Hard Rock Bet, and answer a host of frequently asked questions. If you’re looking to learn how to bet on football, you’ve come to the right place.

Popular football leagues to bet on

While there aren’t a ton of football leagues in existence, the ones that do are available for betting on Hard Rock Bet. While there are competitive and entertaining leagues around the world for those interested in betting on soccer, for example, the same can’t be said for football since it’s predominantly an American fascination. With that said, if a football game is being played, you’re going to be able to bet on it through Hard Rock Bet. Available leagues include:

• National Football League (NFL)
• College Football (NCAAF)
• Canadian Football League (CFL)
• United Football League (UFL)

NFL

It doesn’t get any bigger than the NFL, and betting on the NFL in American sports. From pre-season games, to 18 hotly contested regular season weeks, and into the playoffs – the least interesting NFL game will still attract more eyeballs and betting interest than all but the most important fixtures in other popular sports.

Hard Rock Bet is well equipped to handle any and all betting needs, with excellent NFL odds available around the clock on so many markets. We’ll get more into these markets a little later, but suffice to say you can bet on every NFL game in just about any way that you might want including player props and futures.

NCAAF

College football remains extraordinarily popular amongst those who like to bet on football. While the professional game has a stronghold on Sunday’s, Saturdays belong to the collegiate game. While college football has gone through a number of significant changes over the years, it doesn’t change the importance of each game.

Hard Rock Bet has college football odds on all kinds of matchups, futures, and more. From lower division games to the SEC and the college football playoff – it’s all here.

Notably, some states have elected to place more restrictive regulation on college football wagering. For example, for New Jersey sports betting you can’t wager on in-state college teams, like Rutgers, or on games taking place within the state of New Jersey.

CFL

Running from mid-June through the end of November, the Canadian Football League is perhaps the third most prestigious football competition in the world. Having run since 1958, the CFL has established itself as an exciting, slightly different way to enjoy the game of football. It’s a much smaller league than the NFL with just 9 franchises, but each play 18 games over the course of the season creating plenty of betting opportunities.

Hard Rock Bet has CFL odds available for every regular season game, plus the three-week playoff culminating in the championship game, known as the Grey Cup… and yes, Grey Cup odds are also available.

UFL

While the NFL, CFL, and college football have cornered the football betting market during the fall and winter, the spring and summer remain a down time for fans, and bettors of the sport. Enter the UFL. The United Football League is the product of an exciting merger between the XFL and the USFL.

The UFL season runs from March until June, offering a football outlet for fans during a time which previously had none. Hard Rock Bet offers UFL odds including spread, totals, moneylines, and more, on each contest.

How to bet football with Hard Rock Bet

Now that we’ve established the various forms of football that are available to bet on, let’s dig into how you actually place a bet on football.

Set up your Hard Rock Bet account

First things first, you need to register for a sportsbook account with Hard Rock Bet. Don’t worry, no Hard Rock Bet promo code is required on sign up. While some sportsbooks may gatekeep these offers behind a promo code, Hard Rock Bet doesn’t. All new players are eligible for the best possible bonus offer.

Find the right bet

Rest assured if there is football taking place, Hard Rock Bet will feature it prominently within the betting app and sportsbook website so that it’s not hard to find. However, you can also search for all football betting markets by selecting the ‘All Sports’ button in the top right corner of the app, or the top left corner of the sportsbook website. From there, scroll down to ‘Football’ and pick the league you want to browse.

Once you’re on the league dashboard you will see a variety of categories displayed across the top of the sportsbook interface. You can select the ‘Games’ menu to peruse each individual game, but there are a lot of other categories to choose from, too. From team futures, to individual awards like MVP, to season win totals, and beyond.

If you’re looking at the individual games the Hard Rock Bet sportsbook will initially show football odds for the spread, total, and winner (also known as a moneyline). However, you can click the ‘More wagers’ button in the bottom right corner to see every individual bet that’s available within that game – from player props to alternate spreads.

Once you’ve found a bet that speaks to you, simply click on it to move it to your bet slip, enter the amount that you would like to wager, and press the button just below to finalize the wager. You’ve placed a bet on football.

All Hard Rock Bet Terms & Conditions and House Rules apply at all times.

Popular ways to bet on football

Now, let’s keep the lesson going and discuss some of the most popular types of bets that can be used to bet on football games.

Betting a football spread

When looking at a football game in the Hard Rock Bet lobby the first option on display is the spread. A football point spread will tell you which team is judged to be the favorite in the game, and by how much.

A negative number on a point spread indicates that this specific team must win by the indicated number of points. In the example below the Chiefs are listed as a -2.5 point favorite over the Ravens. This means they must win the game by 3 or more points to cover the spread and win the bet.

On the other side of the coin the Ravens are available at +2.5, meaning they can win outright, or lose by 2 or fewer points to win the bet.

Football totals

The second option that will appear next to every football game on Hard Rock Bet is the total. The total indicates the line that Hard Rock Bet has set for total points in the game.

In the below example, the Ravens – Chiefs game has a total of 46.5 points. If you take the over it means you think the two teams will combine for 47 or more points. If you bet on the under, you’re betting that there will be 46 or fewer points scored. Again, the total takes into account the combined score for both teams, so a 27-20 victory for either side would hit the over while a 24-21 finish would only add up to 45 points, hitting the under.

It’s also possible to bet on individual team totals by selecting the ‘More wagers‘ button.

Football winner bets explained

Often referred to as moneyline bets, a winner on Hard Rock Bet is the simplest wager you can make. Who wins the game? You pick a side, place your bet, and your only rooting interest is if the football team you backed comes out on top. Now, anyone that’s watched football before can tell you that not all teams are created equal. If you’re betting on the favorite, like the Chiefs in this example, your stake won’t return as much as it would if you bet on the underdog Ravens.

• A $100 bet on the Chiefs at -150 would return $166.67 total, or $66.67 profit.
• A $100 bet on the Ravens at +125 would return $225 total, or $125 profit.

So when betting the football moneyline make sure you take into consideration the available odds as they will effect the potential payout.

Football betting futures

Looking for super bowl odds? Wondering whose the favorite in the NFC East? Have a feeling about who might win the college football playoff? What about NFL MVP or the Defensive Player of the Year? Hard Rock Bet offers all kinds of football futures where you can wager on outcomes long into the future.

Futures come in many shapes and sizes and are one of the most popular ways to bet on football. From betting on a team to hoist the Lombardi trophy to taking the over on a wide receivers yearly yardage prop, there are a ton of ways to engage with football.

Football prop bets

Football props are a way to bet on a game without specifically taking a stance on the eventual outcome of said game. As an example, let’s say the Bills are visiting the Jets and you don’t want to make a judgement on whose going to win the game, but you think the Jets defense is going to make things difficult for Josh Allen. Hard Rock Bet will have a line on an assortment of different Josh Allen props including yardage, completions, passing attempts, touchdowns, and more. If you think it’s going to be a tough matchup, you can pick your favorite(s) and bet the under. However, if you think a breakout is incoming, you can go the opposite way and bet the over.

No matter which way you think a game is going, Hard Rock Bet offers an assortment of player props to support that conviction. It’s also worth noting that college football prop bets are prohibited in some regions.

Football live betting

Not familiar with live betting? The long and short of it is that Hard Rock Bet offers football live odds throughout each game that update in real time to reflect what’s happening on the field. Got distracted and missed kickoff? Missed the first half? You can load up Hard Rock Bet and place a wager with real time odds at any point in the game.

Football is an ideal sport for live betting. While the action on the field is continuous and compelling, there are a lot of stoppages in a football game. There are timeouts, injuries, breaks for each quarter and half time, and each play in itself offers a chance to pause and refresh, allowing Hard Rock Bet to set new odds based on the result of the previous play. Live betting allows football bettors to engage with the sport in new, exciting ways.

FAQs about football betting

Still have questions about betting on football? We’ve succinctly answered some of the most common questions below.