If liga123 is busy with action, it should be football season. Be it the NFL or NCAA, football betting action is fast and furious through the season. For the newbie sports bettor, it could seem a little confusing, but football bets really drop to two types-straight bets and parlay bets.

Football Betting – Straight Bets

Here’s the workhorse for any winning football bettor. A straight bet simply means you’re betting on one football game. If you bet on several game on the same ticket, it’s a parlay, and we’ll talk about that in a minute.

When you make a straight football bet, you could be betting on a side or total. To put it simply, when you bet a side, you “select a side” in the game. For example, let’s say the New England Patriots are playing the Seattle Seahawks. If you’re going to bet a side, you’d bet on either the Patriots or the Seahawks.

Every game has a point total (except NCAA football, that is most games). This is the level of points scored between both teams. When you bet a complete, you’re betting under or over that total. For instance, let’s say the total is 47 and you also take the over. To win, both teams must combine for 48 or more points (47 will be a push, therefore you get your bet back).

Football Betting – Parlays

Okay, so you know about straight bets, that is where you bet on just one single thing per ticket. When you want to bet on several thing, it’s a parlay. It is possible to bet on 2 – 20 things (depends on the sportsbook).

For instance, let’s say without a doubt on the Seahawks and over the total on your ticket. That would be a 2-team parlay (even though technically there’s only 1 team on it).

The more items you put on the ticket, the more money you’ll win if they all hit. Naturally, the more items on the ticket, the harder it is to win.

With parlay bets it’s an all or nothing thing. If one pick fails, the ticket is dead. Some sportsbooks will run specials so you can get close, but that’s very rare.

If you enter making football bets via parlay tickets, you might check out “teasers,” which are parlay tickets with added points for you. For instance, rather than taking the Packers -10, you can find them at -3. Of course, the payouts certainly are a less because the risk is minimized.

Football betting is really a blast and there’s nothing much better than hitting the sportsbook with a large winning ticket. I hit straight football bets and parlays all season long. I look forward to the NFL and NCAA football seasons.