How to bet on the NFL

The National Football League is the biggest sports division in America and it is continuing to find a bigger and bigger audience outside of its homeland with every passing year. 

To those unfamiliar with American football, the rules of the game and the complex league structures can be quite confusing at first, but once you have spent some time studying them you will discover that they are not too difficult to follow.

The NFL is one of the most financially successful sporting franchises on the planet and as such, online sportsbooks and bettors alike are always looking for new and exciting ways to make money off the product. 

Getting started with NFL betting can be quite a daunting prospect, but once you have read this guide on the basics of betting on American Football, you will be making money from betting on NFL in no time!

The NFL is made up of a total of 32 teams which are split into two conferences, the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC).

Each of these two conferences in then divided into four divisions, North, South, East and West, with four teams playing in each division. 

Each team plays 16 games during the regular season. They play all three of the other team’s in their division twice, then play against six other teams from their conference. They then play against four teams from the other conference. 

This then leads to the NFL playoffs, where the eight division winners will all enter, as will the two best runner ups from each conference, meaning there are 12 playoff teams in total. 

After three rounds of playoffs, the division finally reaches the Super Bow l- the holy grail of American Football and one of the most watched sporting events in the world. 

The NFL season starts in September and runs until the end of the year, with the playoffs lasting through January and culminating in February at the Super Bowl. 

Games are typically played on a Sunday, with one game each week played on a Thursday and one on a Monday.

Full-time result: The most common type of bet placed on any team sport is the full-time result bet, and American Football is no different. This bet is simply where you predict the full-time result of the game will be a home win, an away win, or a draw. 

Over/Under: Over/Under markets are another incredibly popular market when it comes to team sports and they are becoming increasingly popular when it comes to betting on the NFL. 

Over/Under markets are simply when you decide whether the total number of points scored in a game is over or under a designated total. 

These markets can tend to be quite useful when you feel like a game has a strong chance of having a particularly high or low number of points scored. 

Half-time/Full-time: American football may be split into quarters but that doesn’t mean you still can’t use this classic team-sport betting market when betting on it. 

Half-time/full-time bets are when you decide which way the result will be going at half-time and then at full-time. You will need to be correct for both of them to win the bet though. 

These kinds of bets can be advantageous when there is a team who has a record of either flying out of the gates or completely imploding late in games.

Special Bets: The NFL is a huge market for sportsbooks and the majority of the best online betting sites will have lots of markets to bet on, including a number of special bets.

Specials in NFL betting can range from bets on individual players to points totals to future bets, with the latter of those three being a particularly popular market. 

Most sportsbooks will also run markets on the Super Bowl throughout the year, meaning you may be able to pick up decent odds on a fancied team before the season even starts. 

A lot of the major online betting sites have in-depth markets when it comes to betting on the NFL, but which ones offer the best value? 

Stake.com is the world's biggest crypto betting site and is one of the best in the world for NFL odds and promotions.

If you are unsure as to which sportsbook you want to use, our betting site reviews are designed to help you out!