NFL is, without a doubt, the most popular among the American football leagues and Americentric sports. It has far surpassed its country of origin and, nowadays, there are many great NFL betting sites where you can bet on all the events throughout the league, including the Super Bowl. Check them out!
How We Choose The Best NFL Betting Sites
NFL sportsbooks are a dime and dozen, with plenty of bookies adding NFL betting to their repertoire on a daily basis. The sport is incredibly popular all around the world thanks to TV rights getting into the hands of more international stations and live streaming, which brought the sport closer to millions of viewers.
Not every betting site is worth your time, though. To determine the quality of the sportsbooks and create the definitive list of the best betting sites for the NFL, we employ our expertise and analyse several key factors at each betting site we review.
Bonuses and Promotions
Going through the betting sites for the NFL, we first check out whether they have any bonuses in store for sports bettors. Typically, these are first-deposit matched bonuses, free bets, and cashbacks. The bigger the variety and frequency of bonuses, the better.
We especially like it when bookmakers offer bonuses directly related to specific sports, whether they’re free bets or boosted odds. These promotions are a great incentive for customers who are planning to bet on the NFL already, so it’s a good idea to sign up for newsletter notifications when such promotions occur.
We also check for restrictions and wagering requirements on these promotions. The deals are only as great as the unlock requirements. A bonus that requires players to wager many times just to get a small influx of funds is not worth the effort.
Security and Customer Support
A solid sportsbook should have solid security, too, specifically in the form of SSL encryption and any other security measures, to help players protect their accounts. Of course, the bookie should hold valid licenses for operating in all of its target markets. We won’t recommend sites that are unsafe or operate without a license.
Sportsbooks should also provide support for their customers via different methods, ideally through live chat that’s available around the clock. We always test the support’s responsiveness when writing our reviews and highlight whenever we’ve had a positive experience.
Betting Types and Markets
Solid American football betting sites should offer plenty of betting lines and a healthy variety of markets to bet on. As the season starts, you should be able to bet on the outright winner of the NFL season, as in the winner of this year’s Super Bowl, followed by betting on various events during individual matches.
Live betting is always a big plus, so the sites supporting live American football betting will get ranked higher in our system. Overall, the sport should be properly covered on the betting site, with different markets and good coverage for each match, especially the Super Bowl.
NFL Betting Types and Markets
At a glance, betting on the NFL doesn’t differ much from MLB betting or betting on any of the European football leagues. Since the NFL is a long season, there are plenty of opportunities to place your bets during individual matches, so players are constricted to just a singular, main event.
Typically, you’ll find several popular markets for each NFL match on your sportsbook of choice.
Spread Bets
One thing common for betting on American-dominated sports is that spread betting is the most popular market. Doesn’t matter if you’re betting on the NBA, MLB, or in this case, the NFL, you’re guaranteed to see this market at the betting sites that cover these sports.
Spread betting works just like handicap betting, meaning that each team gets a point spread assigned by the bookmaker, either a negative in the case of a favourite or a positive for the underdog. The favourite needs to cover the spread to actually win the bet, making this a good market when you’re certain that the team will win by a large margin.
Total Betting
Betting on totals, or over/under as it’s typically called, is another very common market at the NFL sports betting sites. You wager on whether the total number of points scored during a match will be over or under a certain number, typically represented with a .5 decimal. It’s a simple bet and an ideal entry point when you’re just starting out with NFL betting.
Prop Bets
American football, being such a dynamic sport, is ripe for some unusual bets. Lots of stuff can happen during a game, allowing you to make proposition, or prop bets. Those bets can be anything from who’ll score the first touchdown or which team will get a first booking, to how long the national anthem will play during the Super Bowl. In fact, props are the most common in Superbowl betting, when bettors combine them into parlays and really get into the nitty-gritty of what they can bet on.
What Does Moneyline Mean in American Football Betting?
Another classic market for any kind of sport really is the moneyline. Found at both top NFL betting sites and those that just lightly dabble in this sport, moneyline bet mean simply predicting which team will win the match. You put your wager down and, if your chosen team wins, you’ll collect the winnings.
Typically, the odds for moneyline bets are displayed in the American format, as in positive and negative numbers representing the underdog and the favourite, respectively. The positive number means how much you’ll win on a $100 wager, while the negative number shows how much you’d need to wager to win $100.
Super Bowl Notable Dates and Events
Each NFL season is split into several stages and concludes with the grand finale at the Super Bowl. The teams have to go through a whole gauntlet, though, and this year’s schedule is packed.
In total, there are 32 teams playing in the regular NFL seasons. They’re divided into divisions and conferences, but they’ll get to meet each other long before the playoffs.
On 5 September, the regular season starts and matches are played until 5 January. It’s played over an 18-week schedule and each team will need to play a total of 17 games during this period.
After a short break, the best teams go into the playoffs, with the first kickoff scheduled for 11 January 2025. This all culminates with the Super Bowl LIX on 9 February 2025, the grand spectacle of a match more than 120 million people watch religiously. Luckily, you’ll find Super Bowl betting odds posted days before the event so you can grab the best lines on time, but we also recommend hunting for live bets during the match.
There’s also a Pro Bowl game scheduled for 2 February 2025. Formerly known as the National Football League All-Star Game, it’s an exhibition match in which teams are comprised of the best athletes from both divisions.
Is It Legal to Bet on The NFL?
The legality of betting on American football has been an ongoing discussion, especially among US customers as each state has different sports betting laws and regulations. Since September 2023, NFL betting has been legal in 34 US states.
As for the rest of the world, it all depends on the local laws for each territory and if the betting site holds a valid gambling license. Basically, if your country doesn’t explicitly ban sports betting and your sportsbook of choice offers NFL and Super Bowl betting, then you’re perfectly fine betting on this league.
NFL Betting Tips
As you can see, it’s very exciting to play at the NFL online betting sites, especially if you follow through the whole league and all of the main events. Optimizing your experience at these sportsbooks is, therefore, crucial for getting the most out of your NFL bets.
Try to be an early bird, especially when hunting for good Super Bowl betting odds. It’s common practice for bookies to change the offered odds as time goes by and until the matchday. Try to place those bets early and take advantage of the best odds guaranteed and similar tools.
Explore various markets and combine them into parlays when you’re certain they’ll win. Spread betting is super popular among NFL bettors, as well as totals betting where you’ll have a greater margin for error. If you prefer live betting, don’t forget to check out prop bets for some unique markets.
Lastly, manage your bankroll. It doesn’t matter whether you bet on baseball, basketball, or American football, it’s always important to avoid playing by heart. This leads to making bad calls, overspending, and playing too risky. Always analyse every bet before you put down some money, employ the tools, read up on tips, and stay smart.
