Legal Football Betting Tips the Pros Use

Looking for a few football betting tips to help improve your bottom line? In the end, everyone betting on football has their own system or approach. So not all football betting tips will apply to every NCAA or NFL bettor. However, using some common sense and following the wisdom of professional sports gamblers that make a living betting football is probably not a bad strategy. Let's take a look at some "back to basics" standard football betting tips you can employee immediately that, when used properly, give you an improved chance at placing a winning wager. Most of these tips will apply to both NFL football betting lines and college football betting lines.

Don't Bet On Your Favorite Team, Never Bet With Your Heart, Never Bet Drunk - We lump all of these together as one football betting tip, because they are all based on common sense. Your mind is slanted either negatively or positively regarding your favorite NFL or NCAA football team. You simply can't make wise and rational legal football betting decisions if you love the Georgia Bulldogs and you want to place a wager on them against their hated rival Florida. Betting with your heart also applies to wagering against teams that you despise. Just because you cannot stand the sight of a Dallas Cowboys uniform or player does not mean that their opponent is the best bet. And alcohol has caused many a bad decision. Make a drunken bet or two, and you may wake up the next morning not recalling where all your money went.

Bet Against The Public - The public is the public for a reason. And the point spread which accompanies a particular football contest many times has very little to do with the difference in talent between the two teams. All a bookmaker wants is to have exactly the same amount of wagers placed on each side. He then takes the money from the losers plus the 10% vigorish, he pays the winners, and is left with that 10% profit margin. That is why point spreads are created to intentionally move after they are first released. And they are also developed with the full knowledge that the public loves betting on certain teams and particular situations.

Take a lesson from the wonderful horse racing betting movie "Let it Ride". In that film, Richard Dreyfuss is a losing horse bettor who one day decides to gather the opinion from "regular Joes" at the track. Dreyfuss' character doesn't bet on any pony that a Joe public bettor likes. Using this strategy, he collects hundreds of thousands of dollars. And the professional football bettors do the same thing. Betting against public opinion, also known as fading the public, is a tried, tested and proven winning football betting strategy most of the time.

Steer Clear of football Betting Touts and Services - Surely you have seen them. Professional handicapping services which claim a 70% or better winning percentage. In 99.9 cases out of 100, you should get nowhere near the shysters and salesmen that offer to sell you football picks. Run quickly in the opposite direction when you encounter these pick selling services. And if they happen to "guarantee their picks", then run even faster. Professional sports handicappers like the legendary Lem Banker made a very healthy living betting on football and other sports. And they rarely win more than 55% to 57% of their bets on a regular basis. Think about this for a second, why would someone offer to sell their betting information? If they were really as good as they claimed, they would be a virtual lock at the betting window every week and would certainly not need to sell their pick selection service.

Grab the Best Welcome Bonus, But Understand Your Rollover Requirements First - You probably know that the top rated sportsbooks will actually give you money when you open up an account with them. This is because the Internet football betting business is very competitive. But if you are comparing two sites, do not look simply at the size of the bonus offered. You should also definitely understand what is required of you to actually obtain that free bonus money. For instance, Bovada offers a generous 50% free bet bonus for football bettors worth up to $250. A closer inspection shows that you need only wager three times your initial deposit plus that free bet amount before you can cash that bonus money. A 3X bonus rollover requirement with 50% free bet compensation is very generous. That is one of the reasons we recommend Bovada as a top football betting site. Just remember to look closely at any welcome bonus a sportsbook offers, and don't simply judge by the percentage amount or cash value alone.