These markets both work in the same way are similar to betting ATS. In Baseball & Ice Hockey it is common for there not to be a Spread market, instead the preferred spread betting market is referred to as the Run Line for Baseball and Puck Line for Ice Hockey. This means you will get the money back from your original bet but you will not receive the profit. the Chiefs win by 7 points (Buccaneers lost by 7 points) this is known as a push. If the margin is exactly the same as the spread line e.g. While if you bet on the Buccaneers ATS you will need them to either win the game or lose the game by 6 points or less for you to win your bet.

If you bet on the Chiefs ATS you will need them to win the game by 8 points or more for you to win your bet. That winner is also said to have “covered” the spread or won “ATS”įor example, say that the Kansas City Chiefs are 7-point favorites (-7) against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The winner of the points spread is the team who covers the spread based on the handicap and the final score. When betting Against The Spread (ATS) the favorite would always have the handicap subtracted from their score while the underdog would have the handicap added to their score.įor example, if a game had a spread of 7, one team would have 7 points subtracted from their final score (the favorite), while the other would have 7 added to their final score (the underdog). In betting the favorite is the team that is most likely to win the game as predicted by the sportsbook, while an underdog is the team that is less likely to win the game. To understand how betting against the spread works you need to also understand the difference between favorites and underdogs. This is the way Sportsbooks level the playing field in the betting market giving both teams similar odds with a different handicap attached to the outcome. Each outcome of a points spread bet has a handicap (or a line) attached to it. When a bettor is betting on the spread it is a bet on the margin of victory. Think of this as if you are playing golf and certain players are given different handicaps to make the contest even (or as close to even as it can be) from the start. By giving each team a points/goals/runs handicap, this creates a market in which the chances of success for both teams are deemed to be even.

Spread (also known as ' line' or ' handicap') is a figure set by the sportsbook to counter the perceived bias in abilities of opponents.

Gambling games what spread means