This year’s Super Bowl is set, and plenty of action will be coming in at every sportsbook there is. Not only will Super Bowl LIII be the biggest NFL game of the year for fans, but it will also be the biggest game of the year for sports gamblers. No other sporting event brings in action the way the Super Bowl does. However, before placing your Super Bowl wagers, it’s important that you shop around. You need to find the best line, the best odds, and the best site. It takes time to get the best wager you can and here we will give you all the pointers you need to be sure your Super Bowl wagers are the smart ones. The Los Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots will both be ready come game time, so be sure you are too.
The Line Will Move
As with any game, the lines are set well in advance in order for them to move. With the Super Bowl, you get about two full weeks to place your bet as the lines for the big game are set almost immediately after the Conference Championship games end. Of course, over that time and as the wagers are being made, these original lines will move.
Line movement is a result of where the action of the game is headed. If one team is getting most of the bets, the sportsbooks will move the line to even it out. It is a little-understood fact that sportsbooks move lines in order to even out the money. For them, it’s about limiting their exposure. In a perfect world for sportsbooks, they’d have an even split on both sides of one wager. 50% of the money on the favorite, 50% on the underdog. This way the can keep the money from the loser and short-change the winner via the juice. This ensures a profit every time and is the reason gambling is always successful for sportsbooks. And you can use this to your advantage as well. You just need to be patient and wait for the line to move if you don’t see a point spread you like initially. Many wagers are going to come in over those two weeks so the lines will move, back and forth, up and down.
The Line Will Freeze
When the line moves in one direction, it may move back depending on how much money comes in on the other side of the wager. However, sometimes the money does not even out, and the wagers continue to come in on one side even after the lines have moved. This does not discourage the sportsbook, though, as they still have a way to even out the money. They do this by freezing the point spread and then changing the odds. If the point spread gets too low or too high and they can’t give any more points, they’ll simply change the payout.
For instance, the Patriots are three-point favorites, making the Rams plus three. Let’s say every gambler is taking the Pats minus the three points, so the sportsbooks move the line to minus four. But the gamblers still take the Pats. They move it again and then again. Finally, the spread gets to the point that the sportsbooks just can’t move it any more. When this happens, they’ll change the odds of the point spread bet to affect the payout. Now, the Pats are still giving 4.5, but now it will only pay out -115 or -120, instead of the standard -110. This not only allows them to even up the money but also their payout. Again, two weeks is a long time, and a lot can happen. Be sure to watch not only the way the line moves but how their odds do too.
Check the Sites
Alright, now that we know why the point spreads and lines move, let’s find the best wager we can. In order to do this it is important to gain access to as many legit sports gambling sites as you can. At least three or four. This way you can see where the money of the majority of gamblers is going. Not only that, you’ll be able to see the little differences between all of the sportsbooks. After all, individual sportsbooks change their lines and odds as it relates to their money and then to match other sportsbook. If you have access to multiple sites, you’ll be able to see this movement in real time and you can take advantage. If you like the Rams at plus 3.5 and find it on one site with -120 odds, the same wager may be available on another site at -110. This would save you 10% on your payout. It’s little differences like this that you need to look for and the reason why you must shop around.
