Spooky Express

In NFL point spread betting, the final margin of victory in a game is often very close to the point spread amount listed before the game. Because of that, buying points in NFL betting is something that a lot of bettors do. In this breakdown of buying points, we look at the positives and negatives of point buying and some things football bettors should keep in mind before doing so.

When it comes to buying points, the biggest benefit to doing so is that it can sometimes help bettors avoid a loss that they would have taken if they didn’t do it. The margins in the NFL can be razor-thin in relation to the point spread, especially with late-game lateral plays resulting in safeties and defensive touchdowns to ruin covers on occasion. It is rare, but buying points can turn a loss into a push or a win sometimes.

Most often, this happens when bettors buy themselves onto key numbers. Three and seven are the key numbers in NFL betting, as games most often end with a field goal or touchdown margin between the two teams. While buying points is not always a good plan, buying onto those numbers specifically can be beneficial in a small percentage of cases.

The negatives of buying points in the NFL may outweigh the positives. Most notably, bettors have to lay extra juice in order to buy points, with buying any more than a half-point to a point becoming very expensive for bettors. Buying points by no means guarantees a winning bet, yet bettors can lose enough in added vig to make it hard for them to be profitable over the long run.

Also, a negative is the fact that bettors often buy points in spots that do not warrant it. The difference between a four-point spread and a five-point spread is negligible in terms of how often a team covers those numbers. But bettors who buy a point spread from five points to four points are paying more in juice for that one point, in a case where the juice is absolutely not worth the minuscule increase in win probability.

There are a couple of key reminders bettors should take to heart when considering buying points in NFL games. The first of those reminders is that bettors must ask themselves if a bet is worth making if they have to buy points to justify it. If a game is such a borderline selection that a bettor needs to lay extra juice to make it more attractive to them, chances are that the bet isn’t worth taking a chance on to begin with.

Also, bettors have to remember that the NFL season is a marathon and not a sprint. There are plenty of additional chances throughout the season to place bets on games that might not require the purchasing of points. Sometimes, the best bets are the ones we don’t make, and that certainly applies to games where bettors are buying points in the NFL.