A moneyline bet is one in which you pick who will win the match. You don't need to predict other aspects of the game just choose the winner between team A and team B. Most beginners choose this type of bet because it seems the simplest.
American football spread
The most popular form of betting on American football is spread which is also called handicap betting. The best way to describe this form of betting is by example. So if you see the game between the New Orleans Saints and the Dallas Cowboys with a -3.5 points spread on New Orleans, what exactly does that mean?
This means that the Saints, in order to cover the spread, must win by a minimum of 4 points. On the other hand, if you're going to bet on the Cowboys, you win if they win or lose by a maximum of three points.
In essence, the bookmaker thereby estimated the margin that makes the game 50-50. In our example, the American football bookmaker has set the spread for New Orleans to -3.5 because he believes there is a 50% chance that Chicago will win by at least 4 points or a 50% chance that it won't.
Unfortunately, if we know that bookmakers do not offer "even money" odds of 2.00, and it is usually odds of 1.85 to 1.90 on spread betting, this means that you need to win at least 52.5% of your bets to break even. This is harder than it seems. Either way, to be successful long-term, the golden ratio would be 55.5%.