If the sportsbook is busy with action, it should be football season. Be it the NFL or NCAA, football betting action is fast and furious during the season. For the newbie sports bettor, it could seem a little confusing, but football bets really drop to two types-straight bets and parlay bets.

Football Betting – Straight Bets

Here’s the workhorse for just about any winning football bettor. A straight bet simply means you’re betting using one football game. If you bet on more than one game on a single ticket, it is a parlay, and we’ll talk about that in a minute.

When you make a straight football bet, you will be betting on a side or total. To put it simply, once you bet a side, you “select a side” in the game. For instance, let’s say the New England Patriots are playing the Seattle Seahawks. If you’re going to bet a side, you’d bet on either the Patriots or the Seahawks.

Every game includes a point total (except NCAA football, which is most games) . This is the quantity of points scored between both teams. Once you bet a total, you’re betting under or over that total. For instance, let’s say the total is 47 and you take the over. To win, both teams must combine for 48 or even more points (47 will be a push, therefore you get your bet back).

Football Betting – Parlays

Okay, so you know about straight bets, that is where you bet on just one thing per ticket. When you want to bet on multiple thing, it’s a parlay. You can bet on 2 – 20 things (depends on the sportsbook).

For instance, let’s say you bet on the Seahawks and over the total on your ticket. That would be a 2-team parlay (despite the fact that technically there’s only one team on it).

The more items you placed on the ticket, the additional money you’ll win if they all hit. Naturally, the more items on the ticket, the harder it is to win.

With parlay bets it’s an all or nothing thing. If one pick fails, the ticket is dead. Some sportsbooks will run specials for getting close, but that’s very rare.

If you get into making football bets via parlay tickets, you might check out “teasers,” which are parlay tickets with added points for you. For instance, rather than taking the Packers -10, you might get them at -3. Needless to say, the payouts are a less since the risk is minimized.

Football betting is a blast and there’s nothing better than hitting the sportsbook with a large winning ticket. I hit straight football bets and parlays all season long. I look forward to the NFL and NCAA football seasons.