Win at Sports Betting with the Teaser Bet
A sports betting teaser bet is very similar to a parlay bet. As is the case in parlays, all games must win for the game to be profitable. The difference in a teaser bet and a parlay is the odds and the point spread. In a teaser bet, the player gets extra points on each game, and likewise gets a payout smaller than a typical parlay.
Teasers are available only on football and basketball games, and most teasers allow betting on the total and on the point spread. How it works in football is teasers are available standard in the 6, 6.5 and 7 point variety. To give an example, let’s say the following betting lines currently exist:
Using the above betting lines, a player could do a 6 point teaser and get the Patriots -0.5 or the Jets +12.5, the over 42 or under 54 on the same game. We’re simply moving the line six points on each spread. Now on a teaser ticket, we’ll need at least two teams. Most sport books allow 2-6 team teasers, and some allow as high as up to 15 teams on the same ticket.
Teaser Odds
Teaser odds vary greatly between bookies, as some offer two team 6 point football teasers at -110, where others offer the same at -120 or -130 pricing. One of the best sites for teaser odds is Bodog.com. Below is a chart showing their football teaser odds. At Bodog basketball teasers have the same pricing as football teasers; the difference is a basketball teaser gives players 2 less points than a football teaser. For example: a two team 6 point football teaser has the same betting odds as a two team 4 point basketball teaser.
Are Teaser Bets Sucker Bets?
The general answer to this question is yes. Random bet teasers have the largest house edge of any type of sports bet. With that said, in some cases teaser bets are the most profitable betting option in a given NFL game. For a two team 6 point -110 teaser to be profitable, each leg needs to win 72.38% of the time. This is because even a novice sports bettor knows that to beat sports betting at -110, you need to win greater than 53% to make a profit, and anything below is a loss. In teaser the odds are the same, except now we’ll need to go 2 for 2 (with the extra points) 53% of the time to break even. (The math: 0.7238×0.7238 = 0.5304 which is equivalent to 53.04%).
Now to state this simply, in order to find profitable teaser bets, you need to find two games that have under a 53% chance of covering the spread as is, that will have a greater than a 72.38% chance to cover the spread adjusted by six points in our favor. Situations like this are rare, however there are a couple: these are what we call basic strategy teasers.
We won’t go into this at great length, but in NFL betting, when you do two team 6 point teasers at -110 pricing or better on all available underdogs getting 1.5 to 2.5 points and all home favorites laying 7.5 to 8.5 points, you have an example that, based on historical data of all NFL games since 1983, meets the criteria in the above paragraph.
We will tell you there are a few other rare exceptions where teasers made sense beyond the NFL examples we gave, but to our knowledge no +EV teasers exist in college sports of any kind, totals betting of any kind, nor do they exist in NBA basketball.
For more on NFL teasers, we strongly recommend the book Sharp Sports Betting by Stanford Wong, which can be purchased at most major bookstores as well as online at Amazon.com.
Other Teaser Options
Bodog.com has the best odds on all forms of teasers we know of. A couple of their other options are 3 team 10 point football teasers at -110, and 4 team 13 point teasers also at -120. Most other online sportsbooks charge -130 to -150 for these same types of teasers, generally called “monster teaser” or sweetheart teasers.
To learn more about Bodog visit our Bodog Sportsbook Review.
