I don't know, but I do know that if you ask this to a room full of academic book editors like I just did, they will all have funny confused faces.

The Spread is something like "Cardinals by ten." If you take the Cardinals and the spread, and the cardinals win, but by less than ten, you loose. So if you think the Cards will win but not by as much as the spread (I think this is the same as the line - "Cards by ten" - but I could be wrong), you can take the other team plus the points.

The other thing is the "over-under" which is expressed in a number - say 36. If you think the total points scored by both teams combined in the game is over 36, you bet over. If you think less than that many points, you can bet under.

Good luck, momma needs shoes.

So if you think the Cards will win but not by as much as the spread (I think this is the same as the line - "Cards by ten" - but I could be wrong), you can take the other team plus the points.

This is where I lost you.

So you can bet on a team, but decline the spread? Say I think Arizona will win. I can

a) take the Cardinals and the spread, which means that I am betting that they'll win by 10 or more points

-or-

b) take the Cardinals but not the spread, which means that I think they'll win by 10 or fewer points; and, presumably, the payout is less here?

BUT, the Cardinals are the 10-point underdogs. So do they have to beat the spread in order for me to win if I bet on them?

The spread is what rainbaby said, but the other thing is "lines" or "moneylines". That's when you see something like "Steelers -240 / Cardinals +200."

Explanation here.

Basically, the negative number is the favorite and the number tells you how much you have to put at risk to win $100 if that team wins (so, in this case, you have to bet $240 on Steelers to win $100). The positive number goes to the underdog and the number tells you how much profit you'll get for every $100 you bet (so, if you bet $100 on the Cardinals and they win, you get $200 profit).

When you bet on the "moneylines", you are betting straight-up (no spread). That's why the payouts are different for each team.

Thanks, mullacc. That helps a lot.

Stupid question: I don't have to bet $100, right? That's just the baseline for figuring out the payout?

I don't believe you have to bet $100. Maybe it depends on the casino though.

My favourite american football super bowl betting tradition is the betting squares pool.

GO STEELERS!

Muds, I don't think you can take the team without the spread in a casion - a straight win bet. I could be wrong, again, but I think your option is A, in the above example.

I thought the Cardinals were in St. Louis. When did they move to AZ?

1988