A teaser is a group of NFL wagers made of between two and fifteen bets. This type of betting is called a teaser as you are allowed to adjust the totals and/or the point spreads in your favor. This upper hand comes with a lower payout than traditional betting. When your teaser has a point spread, you are allowed to increase or decrease the spread for the favorite, as well as for the underdog. On the other hand, if your teaser includes a total, then you can reduce or increase the over. This type of betting is similar to a parlay in that winning the overall bet depends on all the bets winning.
A Look at Teaser Bets
Teaser betting is a little more complicated than a standard spread bet or money line bet. However, teaser betting is quite popular at various sportsbooks during the NFL season. In fact, teaser bets make up more than 15 percent of wagers made at sportsbooks for NFL games. Betting on NFL teasers is more prevalent with advanced or intermediate bettors. Nevertheless, if you want to try this type of betting yourself as a novice bettor, it is not too difficult to get the hang of it. Many bettors prefer this method of wagering for the increase in control over the outcome of their bet.
Teaser Bets Explained
Teasers are a type of multi-leg betting that lets you move or modify the point spread. For you to win the teaser, all of the bet’s legs must win. If one leg loses the bet than the teaser is a loss. You must pick at least two teams in your teaser. However, you can go as high as 15 teams in many sportsbooks. Additionally, you may choose to use totals or sides as a leg for your teaser bet. There is also such a thing as a sweetheart teaser, which is very similar to a typical teaser, except it gives you the chance to shift by even more points. Though, sweetheart teasers can only include between three and four games.
How Teasers Work
For example, you are playing on a six-point, two-team teaser. Let’s say you are playing a teaser with the New England Patriots -6.5, Buffalo Bills +6.5, Seattle Seahawks -3, and San Francisco 49ers, 3. This indicates that you can move your line by up to six points in your favor on either bet. If you want to bet on the Seattle and New England game, then you will bet on the Pats at a -0.5 spread, instead of -6.5 spread and the Seahawks by +3 instead of -3. This drastically improves your winning chances. You could also take the 49ers for a +9 spread of the Bills for a +12.5 spread. However, just like a parlay both bets must win for you to gain a payout.
Placing Teasers on the Total
On top of placing teaser bets on the point spread, you can also do so for the total under or over of an NFL game. For example, let’s say the total for the Chargers and Steelers game is at 45, and the line for the Titans and the Bengals is 52. You’d like to bet on the under in the Charger/Steeler game and over in the Titans/Bengals game. For a teaser bet, the line always shifts in your favor. This means that a 9-point teaser would push the Charger/Steeler game from 45 to 54 and the Titans/Bengals from 52 to 43. To win this bet, the Chargers and Steelers must score less than 54 points together, and the Titans and Bengals have to score more than 43 points combined.