Point Spread betting Arizona

The spread is considered the “great equalizer” in the sports betting universe.

Point spreads were created to find a way to create as even a field as possible for both teams involved in a competition. All this was done to give bettors an opportunity to put their money on one side of the line or the other.

Like moneyline action, the point spread has both favorites and underdogs. The public loves betting on favorites, but that might not be where you want to put your money. Underdogs also pay out more than favorites, but there’s always a little more risk that players take on going down that road.

Reading point spread betting odds in Arizona is pretty easy to pull off as well, especially if you are already familiar with moneyline wagers.

You’re going to see the same kind of (+) and (-) breakdown for underdogs and favorites, respectively. You’ll also get betting odds attached to both of those numbers regarding how much your wager is potentially going to pay off.

The point spread also helps you understand the margin of victory a bookie thinks will separate the winning score from the losing score.

Example of a point spread

For example, let’s say that one of the most popular Arizona sports betting sites around has a good feeling about the Cardinals game. They think they are going to come out on top of the Seattle Seahawks by a single touchdown.

The point spread would look something like this:

• Arizona Cardinals -6.5
• Seattle Seahawks +6.5

This means that the sportsbook would “give” Seattle 6.5 points while “taking” 6.5 points from the Cardinals.

As long as the Cardinals win by a touchdown or more, they would “cover the spread”. Bettors that picked the Cardinals would go home with their winnings. Bettors that picked Seattle to cover would need the team to lose by no more than 6.5 points. Or to win the game outright.

Understanding the vig (or the juice) – Arizona

To understand point spreads in Arizona, it’s important to understand what the “vig” is, too.

Sportsbooks aren’t in the business of losing money. They are always looking to generate a bit of an edge to stack the odds in their favor. They are always on the hunt for anything that helps them to come out on top of every single wager that they offer.

The vig is basically what a bookmaker “charges” for taking that wager in the first place.

The industry standard for point spreads in Arizona is set at -110 on both sides of the bet. This basically amounts to $0.20 – $0.10 for every dollar on the favorite. It also means the bookie takes $0.10 for every dollar bet on the underdog.

It’s not impossible for the vig to be a little more expensive than that. Especially when bookies are uncertain about the odds that they are pushing out. Most of the time, you’re going to see the standard -110 action available across the board, though.

There are three possible outcomes for every single game when betting the spread.

You can have:

• A favorite that covers
• An underdog that covers or
• A push

A “push” result basically means a spread that has tied what the bookie has established. No one wins, no one loses, and wagers are refunded. It’s like the wager never happened.

Favorite covers

For a favorite to cover, the team would need to win by more than the spread set out by the bookie. In our example above, the bookie would set the Arizona Cardinals point spread at 6.5. Basically, a touchdown separating the two teams.

If the Cardinals win by three touchdowns, they are going to cover the spread easily. But if they win by a field goal or an extra point, they wouldn’t cover the spread at all even though they won the game.

That means that players need to cover the spread to get paid. So a victory without covering the spread is really a loss!

Underdog covers

There’s a little more freedom when it comes to the underdog covering point spreads in Arizona action, too.

Bettors that put their money down on the underdog can cash out two different ways. First, if the underdog loses by a point margin less than the spread, bettors go home a winner. Second, if the underdog wins the game outright by any amount of points whatsoever, they go home a winner, as well.

Using our example earlier, the Seattle Seahawks would have been the underdog by 6.5 points. If they lost by three points (a field goal), they would cover the spread. Just like they would if they won the game by a single point or a dozen touchdowns.

Push

A push pops up whenever the favorite wins by a margin that is identical to the point spread.

This doesn’t happen all that much with today’s modern books. Mostly because bookies usually establish a spread that cannot be matched by a score. That is why they use the .5 points in games that score with full points.

Sometimes, though, you can come across books that keep very tight action in games that are closely matched. For example, maybe the Arizona Cardinals versus the Los Angeles Rams could have a spread of one point. Then, if a push happens because of a single-point cover (in this example), everybody gets their money back.

Choosing the right Arizona sportsbooks to play point spreads is a major piece of the puzzle. This isn’t something that you can afford to get wrong.

Different sportsbooks offer different odds, and some do a better job with point spread function breakdowns. Some of them even do a better job with point spread definitions so that bettors know exactly what they are getting into before they put a wager down.

Other than that, though, it’s important to choose sportsbooks that:

• Have a wide range of betting options and wagers to pick and choose from.
• With accurate and up-to-date odds for all the games that they are carrying.
• Have a reputation for quickly updating odds that change and move while respecting wagers that get locked in before they adjust.
• Really easy to use interface and digital betting slip that makes it easy to understand how wagers are paying out.

… And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

To help Arizona point spreads players find the right sportsbook, we put together a quick breakdown of some of our favorite options below.

You really can’t go wrong with any of these top-tier choices:

• BetMGM
• DraftKings
• FanDuel AZ
• Caesars Sports AZ
• Bally Bet AZ
• WynnBET Sportsbook AZ
• Barstool sportsbook Arizona