NFL odds explained: moneyline, spread and over/under
A beginner's glossary of NFL betting odds. What the moneyline, point spread and over/under mean, plus how to read decimal, fractional and American odds.
You don’t need to bet a cent to get value out of understanding NFL odds. They’re the clearest read anyone publishes on who’s likely to win and by how much, and if you play pick’em, they directly shape your picks. Here’s a plain-English glossary of the three you’ll see everywhere: the moneyline, the spread, and the over/under.
The three main NFL odds, in one line each
- Moneyline — who wins the game, straight up.
- Point spread — the margin the favorite is expected to win by.
- Over/under (total) — how many combined points both teams will score.
Everything else is a variation on those three. Let’s take them one at a time.
Moneyline: who wins
The moneyline is just the odds on a team to win the game outright, margin doesn’t matter. The favorite has short odds (a small number in decimal), the underdog has longer odds (a bigger number). The bigger the gap, the more one-sided the matchup.
This is the number PickemSZN uses to score its original game: pick a moneyline winner, and if they win you score their odds as points. That’s why an underdog is worth more, longer odds, more points. I go deeper on that in How pick’em scoring with betting odds works.
Point spread: the margin
The spread levels the field by giving the favorite a handicap. A -6.5 favorite has to win by 7+ to “cover”; the +6.5 underdog covers by losing by 6 or fewer, or winning. It’s the market’s estimate of how big the gap between two teams really is.
The spread is the whole basis of PickemSZN’s Spread game mode. If you want the full walk-through including what a “push” is, read Against the spread explained.
Over/under: the total points
The over/under (or “total”) is the bookmakers’ line for the combined final score of both teams. If the total is 47.5, betting the “over” means you think the teams will combine for 48+, the “under” means 47 or fewer. It’s a read on pace and style: shootout or slugfest.
Reading odds: decimal, fractional and American
The same odds get written three ways depending on where you are. Here’s the same favorite in all three:
- Decimal (common in Europe, and what PickemSZN uses): 1.50. Your total return per unit staked. Lower = bigger favorite.
- Fractional (traditional UK): 1/2. Profit relative to stake.
- American (common in the US): -200. A minus number is the favorite (how much you’d stake to win 100); a plus number is the underdog (how much you’d win on 100).
Why this matters for pick’em
Odds are a free, constantly-updated expert opinion. Even if you never bet, they tell you which games are close (worth thinking hard about), which are lopsided (safe but low-value in an odds pool), and where an upset might be brewing. On PickemSZN they’re baked right into scoring, so learning to read them is learning to play the game well.
Ready to put it to use? Make your picks free at pickemszn.com, or read the full scoring rules on the how to play page.