What is Point Spread?

Points spread +/- is the most common sports bet type made on many US sports. It is a bet that can excite one-sided games because you can’t just bet the favorite to win. You have to work out if they will win by more than a certain number of points.

The point spread is betting on who will win the game, with the favorite being handicapped a given number of points. This could be expressed as the underdog getting that number of points head start.

Applying the point spread can even make a game. Let’s say the betting community thinks Argentina is 1.5 goals better than England. Sportsbooks will put up a points spread market of

Selection	Odds
England + 1.5	1.92
Argentina – 1.5	1.92

Let’s say you backed the underdog with the head start, indicated by the “+”. To determine if your bet was a winner, take the final score of the game, then add the underdogs’ head start to their score, and see which team is ahead.

So, if the final score is

• England 1
• Argentina 2

Add England’s head start of +1.5 goals and you get

• England 1 + 1.5 = 2.5
• Argentina 2

So, with the points spread added, you have a winning bet.

If you back the favorite to win with a -1.5 goal handicap, 1.5 goals will be deducted from the favorite’s final score. As such, you need the favorite to win by more than 1.5 goals for that to be a winning bet.

➡️ So in this example, the final score is as follows:

• England 1
• Argentina 2

➡️ Deduct Argentina’s handicap of -1.5 goals, and you get

• England 1
• Argentina 2 – 1.5 = 0.5

If you bet on Argentina to beat the spread of -1.5, you have a losing bet.

The Hook

Point spreads are usually a number plus 0.5, also known as the hook.

This eliminates the possibility of a draw, which would result in a push and have all bets refunded.

Explanation:

If a team had a handicap of -2 goals and then won the game by 2 goals, there would be a draw. However, with a handicap of 2.5, there can be no draw.

The odds

When the points spread represents the betting community’s view of how much better one team is than the other,

The odds will be 50:50 or “pick’em”, which means the same for both teams. This indicates an equal chance for the favorite to cover the spread.

Asian Handicap

An Asian handicap is simply goal-spread betting on soccer. It is popular because it removes the frequent outcome of a draw in soccer by handicapping or head-starting a team by several goals with a  ‘.5 ‘.

A 2-way Asian Handicap, such as Chelsea -1.5 & -2, means half of your stake is put on Chelsea -1.5 and the other half is on Chelsea -2.

This is sometimes displayed as Chelsea -1.75!

 Be aware that if you see an Asian handicap listed as Home +.25, this means your bet is split as follows:

• Half your bet as Home +0
• and half as Home +0.5.