American Football is not only the most popular sport in the United States but also one of the best-loved professional sports worldwide. Millions enjoy the game each year, and a recent report found that five million Americans are actively involved at various levels.
The National Football League is the most bet-on American Football competition, with estimates between $80 and $100 million wagered on NFL games and futures markets each season. Those numbers are guaranteed to rise this year as legalized online betting continues to spread across the US.
Have you ever bet on the NFL?
If you’re looking for advice on how to wager on football using your desktop computer or smartphone, you’ve come to the right place.
By the end of this article, you’ll be ready to make predictions, get the best bonuses and odds, confirm bets, and target a profit.
Bet smart, and your football knowledge could finally pay off this term.
Getting ready for NFL season
The NFL season is already underway, and games are coming thick and fast. Many high-profile matches will be broadcast live on television and the best live-streaming apps this year, making it an ideal time to perfect your football betting.
Whop’s online gambling mentor, Frank Monkhouse, has everything you need to know about betting on the NFL in one place.
He boasts almost two decades of experience working in the sports and gambling fields, ranging from a professional athlete to an online betting content editor.
You’ll find his popular betting series covering markets, promotions, and more only at Whop. There’s everything you need at your fingertips.
Whop introduces readers to the season’s most important dates, how NFL games work, how to gamble on the NFL, popular betting markets, how to find the best bets, and much more.
In short, if it’s related to NFL betting and worth knowing, you’ll find it on this page. It’s a one-stop for all your football gambling needs.
Important NFL dates for your diary
The National Football League is an annual American Football competition that begins in a round-robin format before progressing to knockout games. The overall aim of the season is to whittle the starting field down to the two best teams this term, and they face off to decide the champion in a winner-takes-all game for the Super Bowl.
- The 2024/25 NFL season began on Thursday, 5th September, when the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Baltimore Ravens by 27 points to 20 at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
- The regular season lasts for exactly four months, with the campaign ending on Sunday, 5th January.
- When the regular season concludes, the playoffs take over, beginning on Saturday, 11th January.
- The all-important Super Bowl game is set for Sunday, February 9th. Each year, a different stadium hosts the season-defining match, with the 2025 Super Bowl played at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
NFL games are usually spread across a weekend, played between Thursday and Monday. Thousands of fans flock to stadiums to watch their teams in action, while millions more follow the play live on television and the best live streaming apps.
You can watch NFL games on many major broadcasters worldwide, including CBS, Fox, NBS, and ESPN.
How NFL games work
The NFL attracts an audience from many major countries, with new fans joining the party every season. If you plan to make predictions on the outcome of games and gamble at leading online sportsbooks, it pays to know the basics.
A typical NFL season consists of 285 games, with each fixture played in four quarters of 15 minutes each.
A game will typically last around three hours from start to finish. The game clock frequently stops for incomplete passes, timeouts, penalties, changes in possession, and more. That means each quarter will last much longer than the scheduled 15 minutes, and games overrun the 60-minute schedule.
There’s also a 12-minute half-time break between the second and third quarters, with shorter breaks between each other quarter. If a match is tied after four quarters, it enters overtime of up to 10 minutes for regular season games.
If you’re planning on watching an NFL game on TV this weekend, I suggest setting aside between three and four hours, depending on the fixture. The Super Bowl will last four hours due to extended commercial breaks and the halftime show.
Each team starts in a group shared by three others, and the regular season has eight of these leagues, ranging from the AFC East to the NFC West.
The best-performing teams from each pool progress to the playoffs, with the top two sides from that round advancing to the Super Bowl.
The team with the highest number of points scored in each game is declared the winner, and overtime ensures every fixture produces a winning team and a losing team.
How to bet on the National Football League
As NFL games are unpredictable and never end in a draw, they have become incredibly popular with online gamblers. Football fans love to study the stats, make predictions on the result, and follow the game from the stadium or live on television while cheering on their picks.
As you can imagine, the leading sportsbooks worldwide have taken advantage of the situation. The best bookies across the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and further afield offer pre-match and live betting odds on every NFL game.
Fixtures broadcast live on television attract the most attention and have a higher number of betting markets available. Fans can call the winner of a game or play the specials.
In addition to betting on individual games, betting apps also offer what’s known as futures betting markets. These give bettors an opportunity to gamble on long-term markets, such as a team winning their division, making it to the playoffs, or winning the Super Bowl.
You can wager on these markets before the start of the season or at any point of the campaign, thanks to live betting odds. Play on your laptop at home or use your smartphone on the move.
The 2024/25 campaign will be the most-watched and most-bet in history. Studies showed football fans prefer to gamble on their smartphone over a desktop computer or land-based sportsbook. But how do you bet on the NFL using your mobile?
The process is the same regardless of which bookmaker you use to gamble on the NFL, but I will reference Hard Rock Bet in my examples.
1. Decide on a bookmaker
The first step on your NFL gambling adventure is to decide on the best online betting app for you.
In an attempt to stand out from the crowd and win your business, the top betting apps offer welcome bonuses and free bets to new players. You can browse the offers and select the best of the bunch or join several bookmakers and collect the bonuses as you go.
Having an account at many apps not only gives you multiple promos, it also increases your chances of getting the best odds each time you wager. Better still, it takes just a few minutes to create an account using your smartphone.
Check out my list of the best betting bonuses available to gamblers in the US.
2. Register an account
When you’ve found the right bookie for you, it’s time to register as a new customer. You are free to browse the websites and apps without joining to get a feel for the layout, the sports offered, and how they work. But to deposit funds, gamble on the NFL, and land the welcome bonus, you must register.
I’ll now guide you through the process.
It pays to be organized and have all your most important details and documents to hand to ensure you get signed up as quickly and smoothly as possible.
Visit the homepage of your preferred sportsbook and click the join button that’s usually found at the top right of your screen.
You’ll progress to the registration form, where you should add your details to the relevant fields, including your name, date of birth, address, and email address.
Next, you should create a username and password. You’ll require this information each time you access your betting account, so it’s worth choosing a password that’s memorable to you but not obvious or weak.
Add the promo code and details of your chosen payment method, such as credit/debit card, e-wallet, crypto, or pre-paid card.
Deposit $10 or more and make your first bet on a qualifying football market.
When your first bet results, the marketing team working at your bookmaker will add the welcome bonus to your account balance. You can then use your bonus to wager on upcoming NFL games and markets, targeting a profit.
Verifying your account
It’s worth noting that you must verify your details. Again, this process is quick and simple.
The quickest and best way to verify your details is to use the camera on your smartphone to take a snap of your photo ID and email it to your bookmaker’s customer care team.
They will then check the details of your ID match those registered to your betting account, and if everything is as it should be, you’ll pass the verification stage.
Any temporary restrictions placed on your betting account will then be removed.
3. Decide on your NFL gambling strategy
Every gambler serious about getting the most from their NFL betting and targeting a profit from their wagers needs a clear and concise gambling strategy.
All the top bettors and professional gamblers have a strategy, and you should adopt one, too.
Which gambling strategy is the best?
There are a few options, and finding the right one usually involves trial and error, research, and keeping up with the latest trends.
You can study the stats and trends, bet on your favorite NFL team, go for the betting favorites, try the underdogs, or trust the league tables.
A great betting strategy is to follow professional tipsters and handicappers.
You’ll find a wealth of betting knowledge available on Whop. There, you can find an NFL gambling expert and follow their picks.
There’s no hard-and-fast way to beat the bookies when betting on the NFL, but the more work you put in, the better your bets will perform.
4. It’s time to bet on the NFL
Now that you have chosen and joined a bookmaker, collected your welcome bonus, and chosen a betting strategy, it’s time to make your first wager on the NFL.
It’s a simple process that gets even easier with practice.
Log in to your betting account with your username and password. From the sports navigation bar, click on American Football and select the NFL option.
Browse the competitions and games available to bet on today, and click the one that catches your eye to reveal all available markets.
Click the odds of your selection to add it to your bet slip, and then enter a stake. Check the cost of the bet and the potential returns and confirm.
If you have a zero balance, you must add funds to your betting account using your chosen payment card, but if you have a positive balance, the cost of the stake will come from your available funds.
Your wager is now live and can’t be changed. A cash-out offer will often appear on your bet slip, and you can monitor this throughout the game.
Popular football bets for the NFL
Online bookmakers offer an extensive list of betting markets on NFL games, but which are the best options, and which will increase your chances of landing a profit?
In this section of my review I’ll introduce you to some of the most popular NFL betting markets that are available today. Choose your favorite, place a bet, and enjoy the game.
If you need help with some of the jargon used by bookmakers, it’s worth saving my sports betting glossary. It has everything you need to know.
NFL moneyline
I’ll start with the most basic and popular way to gamble on the NFL: the moneyline market.
The name may sound a little confusing, but all you are doing here is betting on a team to win the game.
You have a one-in-two chance of getting it right. Select a team, input your stake, and confirm the bet.
If your team wins, you land the profits. If your team loses, the bookie keeps your stake. It’s clear-cut and easy to follow.
As you can see above, the Giants are priced at -260 to win the game, and the Panthers are +210 for victory, meaning betting traders make New York their pre-match favorites.
The odds on the Giants mean you’d need to bet $260 to win $100.
NFL handicap
A popular way to gamble on NFL games, especially those with a strong pre-match favorite, is the handicap market. Your bookie’s trading team will set a handicap before kick-off, and you must predict if your team will cover that number.
In most cases, the betting favorite will start with a negative number, such as -5 points. If you bet on them, they must win the game by at least six points.
Suppose you’re betting on the above game and expect the Giants to thrash the Panthers. You can bet on New York -7 on the handicap. If the final score reads Giants 27-22 Panthers, New York wins the game, but your bet is a loser because they didn’t cover the handicap.
You can also bet on the underdogs with the handicap. In that case, your team can lose the game, but as long as they remain within the handicap, you’ll land the profits of that wager.
Studying the stats and recent form of both teams is a great way to predict if a team will beat the handicap.
NFL totals
The National Football League totals market removes the burden of having to predict which team will win the game.
Instead, you’re betting on how many points will be scored in a match by both teams combined. The traders will set a number, and you will say if the total points scored will be over or under that line.
With the above bet, you’re betting on the Giants vs the Panthers to score more or less than 40.5 points.
You may wonder why the line is set at 40.5 points instead of 40, and that’s to avoid a level finish. If it was set at 40 and the game produced exactly 40 points, the bet would be level, and the bookmaker would return your stake. But with 40.5, you’ll either win or lose that bet.
In the example above, traders working at Hard Rock Bets think that over 40.5 points is the most likely outcome, and they make that a -125 favorite.
You can bet on the total points in one game and back a single or add totals from several games to create a parlay, targeting a big win off small stakes.
NFL futures
While the other examples of NFL betting markets are on upcoming games, the futures markets are a little different. Now, you’re betting on a market that won’t have a result for several weeks or months.
An example of a futures bet in the NFL would be a team to make the playoffs, win the Super Bowl, or a player to be MVP at the end of the campaign.
The screenshot above shows Hard Rock Bet has the Kansas City Chiefs as their +375 favorites to win the Super Bowl, with Detroit second favorites at +475 and Baltimore in third place at +650.
Every team in the competition will start with a price, and a live betting trader will update the offer after every game.
If you bet on the NFL futures and take Kansas City to win the Super Bowl in February, you’ll land $375 for every $100 staked at the current price.
If Kansas wins the Super Bowl, you land the profits.
But if any other team takes the championship in winter, the bookmaker will keep your stake and your pick will be settled as a loser.
NFL parlay
I already touched on the parlay bet earlier in this article, but it’s so popular with NFL fans it’s worth covering in more detail.
You can place parlays in most sports competitions, including the English Premier League and the NBA, but the NFL is perfectly suited to parlay betting.
Parlay bets are referred to by many names, including accumulators, accas, and even round-ups, but the rules remain the same.
When betting on a single, you need just one result to land for you to bag a profit. But when betting on a parlay, you need several results to go in your favor. That could be five football teams to win on the moneyline.
Parlays are more difficult to land than singles, but the rewards are worth the added effort and risk.
When betting on the parlay shown in the above screenshot, you’re taking the Ravens, Panthers, and Falcons all to win with combined odds of +582.
That means if you place a $100 stake on that bet and all three teams win, you receive $682 in returns. But if just one of your three teams fails to win, your entire bet loses, and the bookie keeps your stake.
Parlays are a great way to target a big profit, and because all bets must win, one stake is required. If you place a $10 parlay with five teams, for example, the bet will cost you $10.
The more picks in your parlay, the higher the returns. It’s a great value-for-money bet that can last all day or across a weekend.
NFL prop bets
You may have heard the term prop bets used in sports gambling, but what are they, and how do you place a prop bet?
Prop bets are available in every NFL fixture and allow you to wager on just about every aspect of a match.
Instead of betting on a team’s performance, you can wager on the correct score, the first player to score, the half-time result, and other options.
Remove the need to pick a winner and seek value in the props. Let’s look at an example from Hard Rock Bet.
In the example above, you’re betting on the first team to score, with the Ravens available at -150 and the Bengals at +115.
The final result doesn’t matter to you with this wager. You are risking your stake on which team will score first, and it’s a great way to target a quick profit.
If you bet on the Ravens to be the first team to score in the match, and they do, you land the profits. But if the Bengals get the first points, regardless of the final score, your bet loses.
Player props
Similar to prop bets, where you gamble on several elements of a game, there are also player prop bets.
You can now wager on an individual player’s performance, and how his team performs in the game doesn’t impact your stake. Here’s an example.
With the bet above, you’re betting on Joe Burrow’s longest completed pass in the game to be more or less than 38.5 yards. You can see Hard Rock Bet also offers Lamar Jackson’s longest completed pass at over or under 35.5 yards.
Other examples of player prop bets include the name of the first touchdown scorer, pass attempts, pass completions, interceptions, anytime touchdown scorer, and more.
NFL spread
The spread is one of the most popular ways to bet on NFL games. The market can make a game even more exciting as you’re betting on the points rather than the result.
You can bet on the NFL spreads as a single, but it’s most commonly used in parlays.
The spread is similar to the handicap, allowing you to predict how many points the favored team will win by, helping to level the field and make a game more competitive to watch as a fan.
You can bet on the Ravens winning by seven points at odds of +110, and if they cover the spread, you get the returns.
If they fail to cover the spread or lose the game by any margin, your bet fails, and you drop your stake.
How to find standout NFL bets
It’s a dilemma faced by bettors gambling on a wide range of popular sports. With so many opinions, stats, predictions, and advice available online, it can be difficult to know who to trust, and finding a reliable resource can leave you feeling frustrated.
Thankfully, that doesn’t have to be the case for NFL bettors any longer.
You could leave your NFL picks to luck, backing the same teams and hoping for the best, but I wouldn’t advise such a clumsy approach.
You could spend hours pouring over the latest stats, head-to-head results, injury news, and form before making a prediction. But that could take a very long time, and I know few of my readers have the spare team needed to dig around in the numbers.
You’ll be glad to read I’ve found the ideal place for NFL bettors looking for researched predictions on upcoming games and the season.
You can read our list of the best NFL picks Discord communities.
Whop boasts several respected NFL and sports betting communities filled with respected gamblers, handicappers, statisticians, and gambling mentors, all ready to help improve your online betting.
Browse Whop now - I’m confident you’ll love what’s available.
Score the top sports picks at Whop today
You now know everything worth knowing about how to bet on the NFL, including the next round of fixtures from this exciting season.
Unfortunately, that’s not all you need.
Knowing how to bet on the NFL is only half the battle, and it’s not as valuable if you don’t know which teams to bet on. Knowing the teams to bet on and the markets to use gives you the advantage in the ongoing battle with bookies.
Once again, Whop stands loyally in your corner. Visit today, and you’ll discover a world of sports and betting communities ready to explore using your smartphone or laptop.
Each resource comes to you from experienced names in the betting world who know what it takes to beat the bookies and make a profit from sportsbook gambling. They’re ready to share their experience and wisdom with you.
Join a sports picks community at Whop today for advice on NFL gambling ahead of the next big game broadcast live on television.
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