Football is the most popular bet sport in the U.S. with $93 billion wagered per season. American Gaming Association (AGA) estimated that the Super Bowl (yes, just one game) drew an astonishing $4.2 billion of bets (even up to $8 billion according to some estimates).

Both football and the NFL are a part of American life and culture. They’re going nowhere. (And, who knows, soon one franchise may go to the U.K.)

What you’ll find on this page are the best U.S.-friendly betting sites that accept live wagers on football games – in other words, a combination of the best live betting odds, most betting options, and reliable service.

We’ll also explain the basics of football betting, and, towards the end of this page, we’ve written a few words about the most popular events and shocking upsets in the history of the league.

Where to Bet?

Bet LIVE with our free live matches betting tips and predictions. Daily updated live football matches predictions from our expertes. Experience LIVE Betting like never before! In-game betting is all about wagering on what’s happening in the game in real time and we’ve got it! Our player friendly interface will provide readjusted spreads, moneylines and totals for the entire live match and while commercials are on so you won’t miss a single second of action.

Winning bettors need to keep two things in mind when selecting NFL betting sites:

• Always shop betting lines at multiple sites, and;
• Only bet at reputable online sportsbooks with long-term positive track records.

That’s right: in order to profit from live betting on the NFL, you need accounts at several online bookmakers. There’s no betting site that’s going to give you the best odds 100% of the time. Even a slightly improved betting line can be the difference between making a profit and breaking even.

You can’t just join any sportsbook though, no matter how good its betting lines seem to be. Well, technically you can, but if you hope to get your withdrawal processed successfully, there’s only a handful of sites worth spending your time on.

We’ve spent countless hours rating each website that’s proven to be accurate and reliable so that you don’t have to. These ratings are updated constantly so that if any new sites or trends develop, our readers are the first to know about them.

How You Can Bet

Before we dive into the more obscure bets, let’s take a look at the three most popular forms of betting on football:

The Spread

No, it’s not your favorite flavor of jam on your toast each morning, but it can be equally as enjoyable. The “Spread” is the most popular form of NFL betting and refers to a handicapped score that you think one team is going to beat.

In a spread bet, you choose one team to beat their projected “line”. For example, if San Francisco’s line is -3.5, that means that San Francisco would have to win by four points if you chose them. It means they start the game (at least for your purposes) in a three and half point hole.

You can also pick the underdog which is popular way to bet. If San Francisco was playing Philadelphia and they were the underdog, Philadelphia’s line may read as +3.5. That means they would have to lose by less than four points in order for you to win your bet.

If San Franciso wins 24-21, you still win your bet!

The Moneyline

The Moneyline is popular as well because it takes the guesswork out of predicting how much a team may win or lose by. All you need to do as a bettor is choose who you think is going to win the game, and apply the odds to your wager. Moneyline odds are always represented as a reflection of a $100 bet.

For example, if we use the same example and San Francisco is a favorite, their line may read as -180. This means you would have to bet $180 to win $100. If you chose Philadelphia, the line may read as +150. This means that if you bet $100 dollars you win $150. The odds are always better for the worse team, which makes gambling on an underdog so exciting!

The Over/Under

This may be the easiest of all to understand, and takes the stress out of choosing just one team to follow. The name of this bet says it all: Simply choose whether or not the total score of the game will be over or under the set line. For example, if the line for that same San Francisco/Philadelphia game is set at 41.5 it means that both teams are expected to combine for close to that sum. You as the better simply choose whether it will go over or under that line and reap the rewards.

While these three bets may be the most popular, there are countless ways to enjoy football action from a financial point of view. Further examples are broken down briefly for you below:

Futures

As the name suggests, this refers to any bet where the outcome is happening in the future. These can include how many games a team will win, what player will win the MVP, or which team will emerge victorious in the Super Bowl. (For more, read our article on future bets.)

Teasers

A Teaser refers to two or more bets that are wagered on together, where you can adjust the lines to your favor by sacrificing your money earned. It’s a popular form of gambling amongst experts, and allows for more control over your destiny with a lower payout.

Pleasers

Similar to the Teaser bet, but gives the sport book you’ve chosen the better odds. This allows for a higher payout for yourself but at increased odds. It is not a very popular form of gambling but can be effective given the right circumstances

Parlays

A Parlay is an incredibly entertaining form of betting. All the bettor needs to do is choose several games (at least two) and link them together under one bet. That means all games the bettor chooses must be correct, but that the payout is exponentially higher with each game added on.

Propositions (Props)

There can be dozens and dozens of prop bets in a single game. It simply refers to one thing happening within a game. Examples can include the number of fumbles, interceptions or sacks and can range to the absurd like length of the national anthem or the color of gatorade poured on the winning coach. Props are incredibly popular for special events like the Super Bowl (which is we have a separate page dedicated on the subject).

Live Bets

NFL live betting is a popular and exciting form of betting. You bet on the action as it unfolds in front of you. This means that the odds change by the minute and you can always win your money back if your pre-match wagers seem to go down the drain.

An example of a live bet can be applied to our San Francisco and Philadelphia example we were using earlier. If you bet on San Franciso to win by four points and they start the game down 14 early thanks to some lucky Philadelphia touchdowns, the “line” will change in San Francisco’s favor. Where they were once expected to win by four, they may be expected to lose by seven! You can now bet on that line and hope San Francisco makes a comeback. This allows for the bettor to constantly be in on the action, regardless of how they may have started.

Live wagering combines the most popular sport to bet on with the thrill and excitement of live-action betting and allows for everyone stay in on the action regardless of how they may have been doing previously.

Here are some tips to make sure you stay ahead of the game:

Tips for Live Football Betting

It may seem obvious, but do your research. Too many uninformed bettors simply wager based on their gut, or their favorite team. This can blind them to facts and analysis that are directly related to the outcome of every single game. Take the time to understand the following factors before deciding where to place your hard earned income.

Trends

There are a multitude of trends that affect every game. Has one team won their last six games in a row? Does one team always beat the other? How well does this team do in January? How well does this team do against the spread? These are just some of the questions you can ask yourself, and the information is readily available at any trustworthy gambling website.

Weather

While several NFL teams play indoors, many don’t. This is where weather becomes a factor. How good is this team in the rain? What happens to this field goal kicker in severe wind? How accurate are both quarterbacks in the snow? Determining the factor of weather can pay huge dividends for you in the future and should aways be looked at before each game.

Rest

Football is a bruising, physical game that often results in devastating injury, but also simple wear and tear. Some teams are more rested than the other when they square off each week, and that’s an important factor to consider. If one team hasn’t played in ten days and the other played as recently as six days ago who would you choose if they were evenly matched?

Injuries

It may seem obvious, but staying up to date on each team’s injured players is was important as knowing who the players are themselves. As the football season progresses, injuries pile up and differ from week to week. A player that is healthy on Wednesday may be injured by the time you go to make your bet on Sunday so always stay informed.

Here’s Our Live Betting Tips Page.

Fading the Public

Have you ever heard someone use the phrase “the public” when referencing sports betting?

It’s a part a system that’s been outdated for around a decade now and no longer works. This old system suggested that all you need to do to beat NFL betting is to find out who the biggest fish you know has wagered on and then place your bets on the opposite.

The reason this worked in the 80’s and 90’s and the first few years of the millennium decade is because betting shops were small. These sites had $250 to $1000 betting limits and mostly serviced recreational players. Back then bookmakers could anticipate which teams fans had a biased towards and then shade the line in such a way wagers on these teams were so far –EV that wagers on their opponent were +EV.

Now let me go ahead and explain why this no longer works.

While these sites don’t take American bettors, at Pinnacle Sports punters are free to wager up to $30,000 per bet, and can keep betting as many times as they’d like with no maximum, so long as each time they make a bet, the odds move. If the odds don’t move they have to wait 4 hours before wagering $30,000 again. Meanwhile Betfair is a massive peer to peer betting exchange with millions and millions of dollars in liquidity. Here bettors can wager as much as they’d like.

Meanwhile at US friendly betting sites 5Dimes allows $10,000 per NFL side, BetOnline $25,000 per NFL side, and Bookmaker.eu $40,000 per NFL side.

All of these mentioned sites have no choice in the matter – they absolutely have to do their best to set accurate lines. When they fail to do that, they get max. bet to death and all the +EV wagers they are giving out don’t come remotely close to offsetting the $25.00 and $100 bets made by casual sports fans.

Now if you’re thinking “okay, but at recreational sites with smaller limits the lines are still shaded to take fan bias in account,” think again.

There’s something like 200,000 “full time” professional poker players (as in people who make their living at it) all of which understand expected value in gambling. Next add small-time but talented stock traders, financial advisors, investors and businessmen to the list that understand market theory. This is only a portion of the market sharp enough to know, if the Jets are +6.5 at Pinnacle, Betfair, 5Dimes AND Bookmaker and +8 at Bodog or Intertops, obviously +8 is the +EV bet.

You now have several hundred sharp punters having spotted the shaded line and even if this site has a $1,000 max bet, they’re going to pay the price. What’s vital to understand is betting is near an efficient market, sportsbooks don’t and can’t afford to set lines that are off to cater to fan bias; this worked in 2001, but has no place in any serious sports betting discussion in 2011.

To conclude with some actual tips that do work especially well in today’s market, I encourage you to read our articles on teaser betting, prop betting and future betting. Each of these articles contains gems that will get off on the right track to thinking like a winning sports bettor.

Popular Events

The Super Bowl

Like all great sports, the NFL has its moment to crown a champion each year, and that moment is the Super Bowl. There is rarely a more watched event in all of television, let alone sports, and billions of dollars are gambled on the one game each year. The props bets we discussed earlier number in the hundreds and go right down to what song the halftime performer will sing. There simply isn’t a more entertaining spectacle in all of sports.

The Pro Bowl

The NFL’s Pro Bowl is still considered a bit of a joke considering the players don’t really hit each other, and often the very best players aren’t even there. Never the less, theres a lot of action to bet on every year when the all-stars converge to play some pick-up football, and its fun to get in on the action.

Playoffs

Because the NFL only plays one game a week, the playoffs are the same. There are no three game, five game or seven game series, just one showdown winner-takes-all affair that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. The Playoffs last four weeks, culminating in the Super Bowl and offer some of the best gambling opportunities in all of sports.

A Gambler’s Paradise

Every gambler chases the ultimate underdog win, a game that lets you place money on the unthinkable happening, only to see it come true. Below are a few of the biggest upsets in NFL History to give you the encouragement you need to take a few risks in the upcoming season.

Super Bowl XXXVI

Tom Brady wasn’t always the historically great quarterback he is today. In his second year in the league he showed flashes of brilliance but didn’t dominate the way Kurt Warner and his St. Louis Rams did. That didn’t matter to Brady. He led his Patriots to a 20-17 win against one of the most heavily favored Super Bowl teams in history to start growing his legend.

Super Bowl XLII

Brady is in this upset as well, but on the wrong side of the football. After leading his team to an 18-0 record leading up the Super Bowl the game was all but sealed until Eli Manning and David Tyree connected for one of the greatest catches in history to help the Giants upset the Patriots 17-14

Super Bowl III

This game dates way back, but if you have the time you need to go watch it. Joe Namath made a pledge that his New York Jets would win against the heavily favored Baltimore Colts. Everyone thought Namath was crazy until he led his team to a 16-7 victory.

It goes to show you that anything is possible in sports, and as long as you do your research, stick to trustworthy advice and play within your limits you can open up a world of unlimited potential. Welcome to gambling on the NFL.

Live Betting Lines

Read More About Football

Sports betting has come a long way since the advent of the internet. The rise of online betting has not only made sports betting safer, quicker, and easier, it has allowed for the introduction of new forms of sports betting to be invented and/or evolved.

Live betting (sometimes called in-play betting and real-time betting) is a new format that creates an exciting way to win money by betting on sports as they happen, live. In fact, most pro bettors today only place bets in-play, and pre-betting is considered a practice for beginners.

Live betting is available for a number of pro and college football games for American Football as well as European Football. Many online sportsbooks now offer live betting but Betfair stands out as the Live Play marker leader, taking sports betting to the level of odds trading.

Nfl Football Betting Lines

Mastering the art of live betting can be extremely profitable for football gamblers, heightening the thrill of each NFL, NCAA or soccer games while it occurs.

Types of Live Bets for Football and Other Sports

Live Sports Betting

With developments in a team’s score, performance, health, and game plan happening every minute of a football game, there is an endless list of factors impacting the next play and end result of any game. This creates a long list of ways to live bet on a football game, with different types of bets adjusting as the game goes on.

Some live bets simply offer spreads at the end of a half or quarter. Spreads may also shift in real time so that bettors can lay down money at any time based on new insights and events in the game. Prop bets are offered as the game goes as well, such as “will Tom Brady make a complete pass?” “Will the next pass be intercepted?” etc.

NFL and college football bettors can use money line style betting to decide which player will score the game’s next touchdown within the prop bets, which team will score next, or even props such as turnovers and first down.

Depending on the online football sportsbook, the list of live bets available can be incredibly long allowing gamblers to choose from a huge selection based on what they’ve already seen in the game. Looking at this, it is obvious that the types of live bets are constantly changing and increasing with market demands.

Advantages to In-Play Live Betting

Live betting, or in-play, opens up doors that traditional sports betting had been unable to.

As the week’s football games approaches, bets are placed on anticipated matchups or expectations for how players will respond to the conditions. However, much of the most crucial betting information isn’t revealed until after the start of the game.

The first drive or score can be a great indicator of the game’s possible outcomes than every statistic and news clipping available leading into the game.

While previously bettors and punters were subjected to sit and watch the fate of their bet for the length of the game, live betting changes that. NFL and college football gamblers can respond in real time, as spreads shift and odds adjust.

Many times, bettors can see the momentum of a game shifting before their eyes or pick up on trends that will help to decide the game’s outcome. Live betting on football allows gamblers to make smarter and more insightful bets; thus allowing bettors to hedge their bets as games progress or extend the size of their wager to make even more off the outcome.

There are many strategies employed by live bettors, and it’s always a good idea to have a strategy based around expectations before the game starts. Often times though the best bets are those made simply by trusting what you see as the game goes on. Smart bettors look for market reactions to events in the game that shift the odds outside of its eqiulibrium zone to buy and sell when it stabilizes once more.

Live Betting and Similar Services

Live betting is the next stage of football betting, pre-match bettors rely on old data to predict the future while live betting used real time information to take a decision on the spot. Bettors become traders of odds and learn how to take better decisions, limit their losses and increase their profits.

Live Betting Football Strategy

There are other similar betting systems like live betting that allow the bettor to limit their risk to 0%, and that is Sports Arbitrage. Also known as sport arbs, arbitrage is the proccess of hedging opposing odds of a same bet with different sportsbooks, and no matter the end result, win or lose a profit will remain.