Bet on NFL Halftimes

NFL Halftime betting continues to gain popularity as many bettors around the world are becoming more Internet capable, and more sportsbooks are putting up lines. When you bet on NFL halftime lines, betting lines for 2nd halves of NFL games are usually pretty easy to estimate. For the most part the oddsmakers just divide the original line for the game in half and adjust a little bit depending upon the score. The problem for oddsmakers in doing it so simply is that they did not spend enough time making the line. In their defense, there is not a lot of time to make 2nd half lines for those that want to bet on NFL halftimes. Halftimes are only about 15 minutes long but the oddsmakers only have the first couple of minutes of that time to make their line. Usually when you have to post a number with so little time to assess everything, there is substantial room for error. That gives sharp players a possible advantage over the books when they look to bet on NFL halftimes, and makes playing halftimes very attractive.

What can we look for in past statistics to give us an idea of how teams do in certain situations? We first will base the statistics on the oddsmaker dividing the bet on NFL game line in half to make the 2nd half line. And remember that is usually what happens; give a point or so, regardless of the score. How often does the team that has the lead cover the spread in the 2nd half? Not as often as you might think.

Overall the team with the lead has only covered the 2nd half line about 43% of the time. Favorites in this situation are the real problem as they are just above 40%. Even underdogs that are leading at the half don’t have a winning ATS record either. They are just under 50%. The bigger the lead a team enjoys at the half the worse they perform. That makes total sense when it comes to the NFL. Favorites don’t cover as well as dogs, and it translates into 2nd half betting as well. We do have to remember that the oddsmaker is going to adjust a little bit in the 2nd half based on a team having a big lead, but the adjustment is not as much as you might think. Oddsmakers still rely mainly on the full line for the game, not what happened in the first half. That is why you often see a lot of line movement when big bettors see a weakness in a bet on NFL halftime line. That does not mean they always win, but it does mean that more often than not they have better information than the person who made the line. You have to remember how hard it is for a bookmaker to set an NFL line in just a few minutes time, especially if multiple games are ending at the same time. Mistakes are going to be made and when they are, bettors are ready to strike.

NFL halftime betting will continue to gain popularity as Internet gambling continues to grow. The biggest tip we can remember when betting NFL halftimes is very similar to the biggest overall NFL tip, and that is to take the underdog.