American football is a unique sport that combines athletic performance and skill, deep strategy, and fast bursts of intense action in a way that no other game does. With its stop-start action, and the range of data and stats available to analyse, American football is an ideal sport to bet on.
With our wealth of NFL betting markets, you’ll find everything you need to start your American Football betting journey. Experience the excitement of successfully calling the outcome of a game, the rush of in-play betting, as you follow the full NFL season with BoyleSports.
To get you set up for some triumphant NFL betting, we’ll cover some popular bet types, detail how NFL odds work, and look at how the American Football season is structured. We’ll even give you some top tips for successful NFL betting.
Sign up to BoyleSports to bet on American Football today.
What is the NFL?
The NFL is the top-tier of American Football in the USA. It features 32 teams, with famous names including the Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots, and more.
The league was originally founded in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association (AFPA) in Canton, Ohio, before being renamed the National Football League (NFL) in 1922.
In 1966, it merged with the rival American Football League (AFL), which led to the creation of the AFC and NFC conferences and expanded the league. The first Super Bowl was played on 15th January 1967. The game was first called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game before being officially named the Super Bowl in 1969. Today, it’s grown to be one of the most watched television events in the US and across the world.
And in 2018, betting on the NFL became legal in the United States following the Supreme Court decision that overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act.
Understanding NFL Odds
Just as with our other sports markets, you’ll find the odds on all our NFL bets presented as fractions. For example, if you bet £1 on the San Francisco 49ers to beat the New York Jets at 5/1 and the 49ers win, you’d receive £5 in winnings plus your £1 back. That’s a total of £6.
In many cases, fractional odds can look more complicated. But in these instances, the same calculation applies. Take the example of 5/6. If you won a £6 bet at 5/6, you’d receive £5 back, plus your £6 stake for a total of £11. If you won a £1 bet at 5/6, you’d win £0.83, plus your £1 back for a total of £1.83.
Here are more examples of fractional odds and payouts to make sure they’re clear:
Stake | Odds | Winnings | Stake returned | Total winnings |
£1 | 50/1 | £50 | £1 | £51 |
£1 | 25/1 | £25 | £1 | £26 |
£1 | 7/3 | £2.33 | £1 | £3.33 |
£1 | 10/11 | £0.91 | £1 | £1.91 |
£1 | 19/23 | £0.83 | £1 | £1.83 |
The odds you’ll see for a bet are an estimation of how likely that bet is to be successful. The odds for an NFL team to win a game will depend on a range of factors, including:
The team’s recent form
The recent performances of key players
Any reported injuries
The predicted weather conditions
Homefield advantage
Where each team is in its division
Alongside fractional odds, you may also see NFL odds using the American decimal odds format. Take the example of the Kansas City Chiefs listed at -150. You must bet at least £150 to win £100. If their opponent, the Philadelphia Eagles, are +130, a £100 bet would win you £130.
The negative number (-150) always indicates the favourite and the amount you need to risk to win £100. The positive number (+130) always indicates the underdog and the amount you win for every £100 risked.
Popular NFL Bet Types
You’ll find comprehensive NFL betting markets at BoyleSports for all the NFL regular season matchups, the playoff games, and of course, the Super Bowl season finale. We offer a huge variety of NFL betting, including match betting, futures betting and live betting.
Match Betting
Some of our most popular match betting markets include:
1. Match winner: Pick the winner of a match-up. Called a moneyline bet in the US.
2. 1st half winner: Bet on the team to win the first half.
3. 14 points ahead: Bet on the first team to reach a 14 points margin. Your bet will be cashed out during play when it happens.
4. Point spread: Bet on whether or not the difference between the winning side and the losing side’s score is more than a certain amount.
5. Over/under bets: Bet whether the total points scored in a match will be over or under a certain amount, such as 45.5 points.
6. Parlay betting: This combines multiple individual bets (for example, the Green Bay Packers to win, the Buffalo Bills to cover the spread, and the Dallas Cowboys game to go over the total points) into a single wager for a higher payout.
7. Prop Bets (also called Player Specials): These are wagers on individual player performances or specific game events. Examples include betting on Matthew Stafford's total passing yards, whether Josh Jacobs will score a touchdown, or the number of sacks in a game.
Futures Betting
With futures betting, you bet on an outcome to happen in the future. This could be an outright bet on the Dallas Cowboys to win the Super Bowl, or the teams to win the AFC and NFC championship games and take their place in the Super Bowl.
Live In-Play Betting
With BoyleSports, you can bet live on the NFL. Live In-Play bets happen once the match begins, with bets on certain outcomes when the players are on the field. Popular live In-Play bets include match winner, half-time winner and next touchdown scorer.
How Do I Bet on the NFL with BoyleSports
To bet on the NFL with BoyleSports, create an account with us. Once you’re set-up, select a bet by clicking on the odds to add it to your bet slip.
Your bet slip will be displayed at the top right of the page and will show all the bets you’ve selected. Add your Stake (the amount you want to wager) to each bet in the empty box on your bet slip. You’ll see your Total Stake at the bottom of your bet slip, plus your Total Potential Return – the overall amount you’ll win if your bets are successful. Click on the button below to place the bets on your bet slip.
To get the most out of your NFL betting, make sure you gamble responsibly. Set a bankroll (the amount of money you’ll gamble with), and don’t be tempted to exceed it. Make sure you only gamble with money you can afford to lose.
Tips for NFL Betting
American Football is a sport that generates large amounts of data. And whilst you can take time getting familiar with all the available info, paying attention to the following can take you a long way in picking winning bets:
Team form and injuries
Follow a team’s current form, their recent results, whether particular players are performing above expectations, and whether a team has picked up injuries. These may all have a direct influence on their upcoming games.
Home-field advantage
Teams tend to play better at home, and some sides enjoy a particularly strong home-field advantage. This can tip the results in favour of a home team in an equally matched game, or can even help an underdog.
Divisional matchups
Pay close attention to the competitive dynamics within divisions, as these games can often be more unpredictable and more likely to defy the bookmaker’s odds.
Weather conditions
Weather conditions – especially rain and snow – can alter play by causing more fumbles and incomplete passes, in turn reducing the ability of each team to execute their game plans. This could tilt the odds in favour of a scrappy underdog.
Betting resources
You’ll find a wealth of data, analysis, and commentary available on American Football that can be used to inform your NFL bets, especially in American media. The NFL itself publishes stats, whilst sites like Pro Football Network are excellent for keeping up to date with current NFL events, as is our BoyleSports blog.
Player prop markets
Looking at player prop markets on certain star players – like Jared Goff or Patrick Mahomes – can help with your betting strategy as the performance of these players is critical to the overall performance of their team. Plus, prop bets can offer unique betting opportunities in themselves.
Understanding the NFL season
If you’re used to European sports with tiered leagues, the NFL can come as quite a change and look pretty complicated. But we’ll explain it here simply.
Regular Season
The regular season in the NFL covers 18 weeks, beginning in September each year and ending in early January. It sees 32 teams playing 17 games each (every team gets a bye week) for a total of 272 games.
Rather than there being a hierarchy of leagues, the 32 NFL teams are divided into two conferences of 16 teams, called the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC). Both conferences are then further divided into four divisions, although these aren’t tiered and are divided by geography:
National Football League (NFL) |
National Football Conference (NFC) | American Football Conference (AFC) |
NFC North (4 teams) | AFC North (4 teams) |
NFC South (4 teams) | AFC South (4 teams) |
NFC East (4 teams) | AFC East (4 teams) |
NFC West (4 teams) | AFC West (4 teams) |
In the regular season, each team plays:
1. The three other teams in its division twice (6 games)
2. Once against four teams from other divisions in its conference (4 games)
3. Once against four teams from divisions in the other conference (4 games)
4. Once against each of the two teams in its conference that finished in the same position in their divisions the previous season (2 games)
5. Once against a team in the other conference that also finished in the same position in their divisions the previous season (1 game)
Playoffs
The top four teams from each conference progress to the January playoffs, plus three wild card teams from each conference that have the best records (a total of 14 teams).
The top seeded team in both the AFC and NFC receive a bye, which means they get to skip the first round on the playoffs.
In the first round, the second to seventh seeded teams in each conference play each other first, with the three winners staying in the playoffs to then be joined by each of the top seeded teams.
The four remaining teams in each conference then play each other in a semi-final. The two winners then play in a final. The one winning team from each conference progresses to the Super Bowl final.
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is a massive event both in American Football and US culture. It determines the championship winning team and crowns the end of the football season. The Super Bowl takes place on the second Sunday in February each year, usually to record TV ratings.
Bet on the NFL at BoyleSports
Sign up to BoyleSports to bet on the NFL with us. You’ll enjoy competitive odds and comprehensive betting markets for every single game in the NFL.
BoyleSports is licensed and regulated by The UK Gambling Commission, and we always promote Responsible Gambling to all our players.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I bet on NFL?
Yes, at BoyleSports we offer NFL betting. You can bet on the American Football matches in the NFL. At BoyleSports, you’ll find NFL match betting markets, with popular bets including match winner and over/under bets. You can make futures bets, like betting on the winner of the Super Bowl. Plus, you can bet live In-Play on NFL matches while the players are on the field.
How do you bet on the Super Bowl winner?
At BoyleSports, we offer futures NFL betting. This means you can bet on the winner of the Super Bowl at any time during the NFL season. During the regular season, you’ll see Super Bowl winner odds for each of the 32 teams in the NFL. Once we hit the playoffs, each team that makes it will have odds to win the Super Bowl. And once two teams get to the promised land of the Super Bowl itself, you’ll see odds on each to win the competition outright. To place an outright bet on the winner of the Super Bowl, simply select your chosen team and add it to your bet slip.
What is handicap betting in the NFL?
With handicap betting, the favourite will start the game at a points disadvantage. Say Kansas City start the game at -2.5. They must win by 3 or more points to win the bet. If you bet on an underdog starting at +2.5, they must either win outright or lose by less than two points to win the bet.
How to bet on the NFL draft?
Before the NFL draft, you’ll see the odds on certain players being drafted as the number one pick. You simply choose your player and back them to be the top pick. If they’re picked first in the NFL draft, you win your bet.
Is it legal to bet on the NFL in the UK?
Yes, it’s perfectly legal to bet on the NFL in the UK with a licensed bookmaker like BoyleSports.
With 285 games played over five months culminating in the Super Bowl final (the biggest spectacle in American sports), the NFL offers so many betting opportunities. And with our NFL betting markets and competitive NFL odds, BoyleSports is the perfect place to bet on the NFL. Create your BoyleSports account, then place your first NFL bets today.
