It is here to stay. If you are just getting into betting on college football, you’ll fast find yourself immersed in the art of placing the Point Spread bet.
A point spread is what now?
Remember David versus Goliath? Let imagine that they were not engaged in a biblical struggle but a game of points. The point spread was invented for situations like this. If there had been bookies taking bets on this significant match, they might have written - or carved out in stone, something like this. David +100. Goliath - 100. As a prospective bettor, you would have known that Goliath was the heavy favorite to come out on top, and placed your gold or silver accordingly.
If you bet on Goliath to beat the spread and he won by 125 points, you’d have added to your treasure. If he won but by only 99 points, you’d hang your head and wait for the next match.
If you went for David and he lost in a massive way, by 128 points, you’d be slathered in silver.
Lets leave David and Goliath and zoom into the twenty-first century. The premise is exactly the same, just with college football teams instead of biblical characters.
Who sets the Point Spread?
The bookmaker. Well, the community of bookmakers. As we saw in our David and Goliath example, the Point Spread was invented to even things out between two teams, to make up for any difference in ability. Though there is something that you need to understand about the Point Spread. Something every savvy bettor knows.
The bookmakers set the Point Spread based on how the public thinks about the two teams. Let’s face it, some teams have a mystique that can lead us in the masses to think they are more able than they really are. And some teams have a less-than-stellar rep but have solid results.The wise bettor is aware that gigantic machine that is the bookmaking community has its own reasons for setting the Point Spread at X or Y.
Is the Point Spread a risky business?
Not as risky as some. If you place a regular Point Spread bet, you are putting up $110 to win $100. You might see some special offers from specific betting sites – you may be asked to put up only $105 to get a chance to win $100.
A language tip
You may hear your betting friends speak of the “juice”. They are not referring to the sweet nectar of the apple or the orange. Or street cred. In the betting world, juice is the commission the bookmaker takes for taking your bet. It is also referred to as the “vigorish” or the “vigor”. So, if you want to be seen as having juice, you’ll say juice when you are talking about the bookmaker’s take.
Betting fads come and betting fads go. We can think of the Point Spread as the brick house in the Three Little Pigs.