If you are new to sports betting, there is no better sport to bet on then the NFL. Experienced betting enthusiasts will tell you that the point spread betting technique is the best to use if you are looking for easy earnings. Sports wagering is made up of numerical odds, which are conveyed to patrons of sportsbooks via three common techniques, point spread, moneyline, and totals. Of the three, the point spread is the most frequently used technique in both football and basketball. But how does point spread betting work? Today we will be explaining how the point spread is used so that gamblers both new and experienced can find success.

The point spread is the number determined by a bookie as to how much a team known as the favorite, is expected to defeat a team known as the underdog. In essence, the favorite is the team the house expects will win and the underdog is the team expected to lose. Your job as the bettor is to determine whether the favorite will win by the suggested amount or the underdog will lose by the suggested amount or move closer to the amount. Here is an example of a point spread bet

Steelers - 7
Lions + 7

Basically, the Steelers are favored to win the game by seven and as the favorite are represented by a minus line. Conversely the Lions are a seven point underdog represented by a plus sign. Here are examples of a favorite winning and an underdog winning

Steelers 21 Lions 14
Steelers 20 Lions 14

In the first score, the Steelers a seven point favorite were able to cover the spread of seven points, making the fans who bet on the Steelers to cover the spread, victors. On the contrary however, in the second score, the Steelers only won by six points, although the spread was seven points. As a result, the fans betting the underdog won because the favorite failed to cover the spread.

A few days after Big 12 powerhouse Texas decided to remain where they are instead of leave for the Pac 10, many fans and experts alike now ponder what this means for the Pac 10. Essentially if Texas had join the Pac 10 with former Big 12 team Colorado, the new super-conference, not only could form divisions and have a playoff before bowl games, but they could have also made a strong push for a national television deal.

Fans betting on the Pac 10 should be none to worried, as the conference still has powerhouses such as USC, Stanford and Oregon to carry the load. Nevertheless, Texas joining the division would have legitimized it, after powerhouse USC was punished by the NCAA by being banned from national title games.

By Texas staying in the Big 12, fans betting on a domino effect occurring, should know that with the possibility of expansion looming within the NCAA, it is only a matter of time before the conference crumbles. For all intents and purposes, Texas is the big cheese in the Big 12, as not only does it have the most rights to the Big 12 television deal, but it also holds strong influence on the other schools in Big 12's South division. Had Texas jumped to the Pac 10 and formed the super-conference, the other schools in its division would have tagged along.

Also by Texas turning down the Pac 10 offer, it fundamentally, staves off the rest of the NCAA having to form super-conferences just to compete with what would have been known as the Pac -16. Furthermore, although the divisions are set up this way in football, the super-conference's that could have resulted, would have also had an effect on the new format to the March Madness basketball tournament. In April, the NCAA approved altering the format from 64 to 68 teams. Once the super-conference format ends up happening, because it inevitably will, it will be trickier to determine which teams qualify and which ones miss the March Madness tournament.