How to Make Your Own Football Betting Card

While thousands watch football for fun, many like to spice it up by wagering with family and friends. But it's important to draw up a betting card so each participant knows the terms of the bet---so in no time you can lay some action on your favorite team or most hated rivals.

Instructions

    • 1

      Select a game to bet on. The first thing a betting slip needs is a game for which action (money) will be wagered. Write the name of each team on the betting slip on opposite edges of the paper.

    • 2

      Decide how much one team is favored over the other. If the NY Giants have a record of 12-2 and are playing the Washington Redskins that have a record of 2-12, then the Giants will be heavily favored. If the Redskins are also 12-2, then the game is expected to be a much closer match.

    • 3

      Decide by how many points the favored team is likely to win. This is how the bet is equalized on the betting slip. In the preceding example, in which the Giants were heavy favorites, you might say they'll win by seven points. This means the Giants are seven-point favorites and therefore the "betting line" is Giants -7. (Or Redskins +7.) This means that if Player A bets on the Giants, they must win by 7 points or more in order for that person to win the bet. In this way the bet has been equalized. Once the betting line is determined, write it in the middle of your betting slip between the two teams.

    • 4

      Create the money line. One popular bet is called a money line bet, for which you are betting on a team to win or lose no matter what (that is, without using points as described above). To make it a fair bet, a betting slip will charge more to bet on the favorite to win a smaller amount. The betting slip will also charge less on the underdog to win a higher amount. So in the example in which the Giants are heavily favored over the Redskins, Player A may have to wager $100 to win $50 because they are so heavily favored. On the other hand, Player B need only wager $50 to win $100 because the Redskins are such heavy underdogs.

      Decide on a money line and write it next to the points on the betting slip. Money lines are written starting at 100 with negative numbers used for the favorites and positive numbers for the underdogs. Every factor of 10 represents 10 percent. So the money line in the Giants example would be written as -150 for the Giants or +150 for the Redskins.

    • 5

      Add the over/under line on the betting card. The final popular bet for a football betting slip is called the over or under line. This is a bet placed on the total points that a team will score or the total points that will be scored in the entire game. Use previous game history to set the over/under line. If the Giants average 34 points per game and the Redskins 27, then the over for the Giants would be about 34 and for the Redskins 27. Add those two totals together and the over/under for the game would be 61. Create a column for these amounts. (Note that game factors such as injuries and bad weather can affect the over/under.)

    • 6

      Determine the amount to be wagered and set the bet. Now that you have created a fair betting slip with the normal football wagers, all you need to write down is the amount of money to be wagered. Create a column for the wager amount and then make the bet. Exchange money after the game score has been determined!