How do you read a negative spread?

In the simplest terms, a negative spread indicates the favorite, which is the side that's expected to win the matchup. A negative point spread really means that team has some work to do. For a negative spread bet to hit, the team has to beat its opponent by a margin greater than the point spread.

What does a minus 3.5 spread mean?

Therefore, -2 means that a team must win by more than two points in order to cover the spread. If they win by exactly two points, the bet would push and the stake would be returned with no winnings. Similarly, -3.5 means the team must win by more than four.

What does negative 7.5 spread mean?

For example, if a spread is (-7.5) points, your team needs to win by eight or more. If you bet on an underdog, they can lose by fewer than the assigned spread or win outright for you to win. For example, if a spread is (+5.5) points, your team can lose by 5 or fewer or win outright.

What does a negative 4.5 spread mean?

Betting Line

Following this example, the Chiefs are at -4.5. This means that in order to win on the point spread or cover, Kansas City would need to win the game by five points or more.

What does a minus 7 spread mean?

A favorite will always be surrendering points, i.e. a -7 spread for the Buffalo Bills against the Miami Dolphins means that oddsmakers have labeled the Bills as the favorite by seven points.

What is the "Spread" in Sports Betting

What does +/- mean in spread?

A point spread is a bet on the margin of victory in a game. The stronger team or player will be favored by a certain number of points, depending on the perceived gap in ability between the two teams. A minus sign (-) means that team is the favorite. A plus sign (+) means that team is the underdog.

What does minus 8.5 spread mean?

Let's say that a team is favored as 8.5 point favorites or written as -8.5. For the favored team to “cover the spread,” they must win by at least nine points. If they win by eight points or less, it doesn't matter that they won because they didn't cover the spread.

What is a minus 3 spread?

In football, a minus 3 point spread means the team that is expected to win should win by 3 points.

What does minus 9 spread mean?

The negative value -9 indicates the Giants are favored by 9 points. The positive value (+9) indicates the Jets are underdogs of 9 points. To place a bet on the favored Giants means they must win by at least 10 points to cover the spread. The underdog Jets can lose by eight points and still cover the spread.

What does a minus 10 spread mean?

The +10 means that Team A will have to win by at least 10 points for you to win our bet, while the -10 means Team B has to lose by fewer than 10 points for you to win your bet.

What does minus 10.5 spread mean?

Looking at the underdogs, the Redskins are +10.5 on the spread (10.5-point underdogs), meaning they would have to lose by 10 or less in order for your bet to cash. The Titans are 4.5-point underdogs, meaning they would have to lose by four points or less in order to win.

What does a negative 13.5 spread mean?

You would generally see that listed as -13.5 for the Chiefs or Broncos +13.5. A minus symbol (-) always indicates the favorite, while a plus symbol (+) means a team is the underdog. This means that the Chiefs are expected to beat the Broncos by at least 14 points.

What does a minus 12 spread mean?

The 49ers have to win by 12 or more points to cover the spread. If the Cardinals win or lose by 10 or less, that side wins the bet. If the game lands on 11, like a 21-10 49ers win, it's a push and all bets are refunded. If you see a -11 that means that team is favored, and +11 means you're taking the underdog.

What does a +4.5 spread mean?

In basketball, you might see a point spread of -4.5/+4.5, which means the favored team will need to win the game by five points or more for your bet to cover the spread. If you bet on the underdog, they simply need to win the game or lose the game by less than four points. If they lose by five, your bet won't cash.

How does +3.5 spread work?

A spread of -3.5 means that that team must win by 4 points or more to cover while a spread of +3.5 means that the team must win or lose by 3 points or less to cover. There is no possibility for a “push” in this situation since teams cannot score a half-point.

Is a negative spread good or bad?

It's not possible to have two of each sign for a spread. The team with the negative (-) number is the favorite, or team predicted to win the game. The team with the positive (+) number is the underdog and is expected to lose the game.

How does a +7.5 spread work?

If you bet on them to win, they must beat the opposing team by at least 7.5 points. On the opposite side of the wager, the New England Patriots are the underdog to win. To beat the spread, they must close the point gap to within 7.5 points or win outright.

What does a +7.5 spread mean in basketball?

A 7.5 spread means the favorite needs to win by at least 8 points. That's because you can't score half points, half goals, or half runs in sports.

What does a negative 1.5 spread mean?

The team with -1.5 is the favorite, while the team that is +1.5 is the underdog. In this particular spread, the two teams are pretty close. Point spreads can vary, but this is one of the most common point spreads. It essentially means that the underdog pays out as the winner, but also if they only lose by one.

What does minus 2.5 spread mean?

The team must lose by 2 points or less or win the game in order for the bet to win. For example, let's say the Buffalo Bills (-2.5) and the New England Patriots (+2.5) are playing each other. Patriots +2.5 would win if the Patriots win or lose by 2 or less. The Bills -2.5 would win if the Bills win by 3 or more.

What does a negative 9.5 spread mean?

A 9.5-point spread means that one team is getting +9.5, and the other is getting -9.5. The team getting +9.5 wins the bet if they win the game, or they lose by nine points or less. On the other side, the team with -9.5 only has a chance to win the bet if they win by 10 points or more.

What does a minus spread mean?

In the simplest terms, a negative spread indicates the favorite, which is the side that's expected to win the matchup. A negative point spread really means that team has some work to do. For a negative spread bet to hit, the team has to beat its opponent by a margin greater than the point spread.

How do you read a spread?

The point spread is the expected final score difference between two teams. It is represented as both a negative and positive number; if the spread is 3 points, you'll see that as both -3 and +3. The team that is the favorite to win gets the minus-number (-3); the underdog gets the plus-number (+3).

What do spread numbers mean?

The spread

The point spread is the number of scoring units (i.e., points for basketball and football, runs for baseball, goals for hockey and soccer) representing the projected margin of victory for the favorite over the underdog. The amount of the spread can range widely from sport to sport and event to event.

What does +12.5 spread mean?

Oddsmakers have assigned a “point spread” to the matchup, which basically gives the underdog team an artificial “head start”. The Point Spread is +12.5 for Charlotte, which means that when they start the matchup and the real score is 0-0, Charlotte will actually be leading 12.5-0 for the purposes of picking a winner.