The Basics Of Betting Over/Under

Football fans betting for the first time, should know that there are three main forms of betting on matchups. These three types of bets include, the point spread, money lines and the over/ under bet. Of the three NFL bets, the point spread is the most popular form of wager, followed by the money line, with only the true expert bettor using the over and under as the wager of their choice.

Fundamentally, the over under is a wager determined by a sportsbook in which the bookmaker predicts the total number of points scored in a game. Patrons then wager on the total being higher also known as over or lower also known as under, the predicted score by the sportsbook. For instance, during the 2009 Super Bowl game between the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers, many predicted the score would total out to be 50. As it turns out the Steelers won the game 27 to 23, totaling 50, meaning that the sportsbook won rather than the patrons. However, if the score had been 27-21 or 27-30, fans betting under or over would have won the bets.

Aside from the total of games, other factors that can come into play for the over under bets, includes the point total of an individual basketball player, the total amount of rushing yards in a single game for a running back and in baseball, a player or teams total number of home runs. For example, a sportsbook could predict that Adrian Peterson will rush for 200 yards and the line would read

O/U 200 – Adrian Peterson

Leading up to the game for fans betting on Peterson to go over or under the line, for every large bet, the line will read either

O/U 200.5 – Adrian Peterson
or
O/U 199.5- Adrian Peterson