Online betting in South Africa is now more popular than ever, thanks to world-classed, fully licensed and regulated iGaming sites like the official 10bet Africa website – Africa and South Africa’s number-one real money gambling site.
One of the most popular sports to bet on at 10bet is American Football, the NFL (National Football League), and as the culmination of this season rapidly approaches, more people than ever will be placing a wager on Super Bowl LVIII.
Let’s dive straight in to learn more about the most popular NFL betting strategies and how to find the best odds.
What is the most popular type of bet in the NFL?
When betting on the NFL, there are many different betting markets and bet types to choose from, which can be confusing, especially if you are new to NFL betting.
However, getting to grips with the different ways you can bet in the NFL shouldn’t take too long. Here are the three main NFL bet types:
- NFL betting lines – this includes things like match winner odds, totals, and point spreads
- NFL futures – these bets are on things like the outright winners of divisions, conferences, and the Super Bowl
- NFL prop bets – these bets take action on almost all other possibilities and outcomes that can occur in pro football matches
The basic types of bets you will likely encounter on 10bet are point spread, totals, prop bets, parlays, betting the moneyline, future bets, and teasers. You also have quarters and halves, halftime betting, ‘If’ betting (similar to parlays), pleasers, and round robin, to name a few.
The most popular type of NFL bet is betting ‘against the spread,’ which is also commonly referred to as point spread betting, betting the spread, or against the spread (ATS). It all means the same thing. Point spreads represent a point total that a team is predicted to win or lose by.
With this particular bet type, it’s typical to see spreads hover between the 3-7.5 points ranges in a regular season fixture.
However, this number may also fluctuate somewhat (shrink or expand) based on the difference in talent between the two teams that are playing each other. Handicap betting is another popular way to bet on the NFL.
What’s the difference between the American/moneyline, fractional, and decimal odds formats?
In North America (mainly the US, but also in many parts of Canada), the American/moneyline odds format is used.
In the UK, the fractional odds format is more prevalent, and in South Africa and most other parts of the world, the decimal odds format is used on iGaming sites like 10bet, which has the best NFL betting odds in South Africa.
In other words, a bet with an 80.00% implied probability rate (meaning something that is most likely to occur but still not guaranteed) would appear as -400 in the American/moneyline odds format, 1/4 in the fractional odds format and 1.25 in the decimal odds format.
Tips for betting on the NFL
Draws are extremely rare in the NFL, so avoid placing this bet, no matter how tempting the odds/profit margin might appear. Remember that the home team is usually marked as 1, the away team as 2, and X is a draw.
Many points are usually scored in your average NFL match, and it’s not uncommon for teams to win by 20 to 40 points or more. Handicap betting is designed to balance the odds so that games with unevenly matched teams (based on their talent) become more evenly priced.
Over/under betting on the NFL is also popular. With this particular bet type, you won’t be betting on exactly how many points will be scored but whether the number of points at the end of the game will be over or under a certain ‘line.’
For example, you can bet on a game ending with +26.5 points. Therefore, if more than 26.5 points are scored, your bet will be successful.
Before betting on the NFL, the best thing is to research the teams/players and gather as much important data and relevant stats as possible to help you place more informed bets.
Try to understand the different bet types and, more importantly, what the IPR (implied probability rate) and odds are trying to tell you about what the most likely outcome will be for that event.
Where can I bet on the 2024 Super Bowl LVIII if I live in South Africa?
If you live in South Africa, are aged 18 or above, and want to have a flutter on the upcoming Super Bowl LVIII, which is scheduled for February 11, 2024, the most trusted South African online bookmaker you can turn to is the official 10bet South Africa iGaming site (aka 10bet Africa, 10bet Games, or 10bet Sports).
This globally renowned iGaming brand is known to have some of the most competitive NFL sports betting odds in the world and specifically caters to the South African market by accepting Rand and welcoming SA’s most popular online payment methods.
Final note
At the time of writing, the San Francisco 49ers are the current odds-on favourite to win this year’s Super Bowl. If you were to place a wager on them right now on the 10bet site, you would be looking at odds of around 2.60 (decimal odds).
In other words, the 49ers have a 38.50% chance of winning the Super Bowl outright. 2.60 equates to +160 in American/moneyline odds and 8/5 in fractional odds.
Don’t forget that no bets are ever guaranteed to return a profit and that these odds are subject to change at any time between now and February 11.
Finally, if you don’t want to place a pre-match bet, remember that 10bet also has live betting (in-play betting) services, meaning you can bet during the Super Bowl as the action unfolds.