The CFL has long offered hardcore football fans and sports bettors a summertime alternative north of the border, well before the days of the AAF and XFL. Below, we’ll look at the best ways to bet on the CFL, along with definitions of key betting terms and a breakdown of the betting odds.
CFL betting: Ways to bet
Access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list of today’s sports betting odds and lines.
- Single-game betting: Get action on a game you’re attending or watching from home, or any other game on the weekly CFL schedule. Back an outright winner on the moneyline or against the spread, or bet on the point total. All three are almost always two-way bets with two possible outcomes.
- Futures betting: Prior to the start of the CFL season or any point between Week 1 and the Grey Cup, bet on who will win the championship game or finish the regular season atop either the East or West Divisions. All nine teams are assigned odds based on their perceived chances of winning the Grey Cup. Odds generally range from +300 (3-to-1) to +1500 (15-to-1) before the season.
- Props: While they aren’t offered in the same abundance as in the NFL or other major sports, CFL props exist for things ranging from team win totals to player statistics, either for the season as a whole or for individual games.
- Live betting: The CFL is prone to some of the biggest swings in pro sports with few leads ever being declared insurmountable. Back a pre-game favorite to pull off a second-half comeback at vastly inflated odds if they go down a few scores early.
CFL betting: Key betting terms to know
- Favorite: Any team with negative odds for an outright or against-the-spread victory. Things like season record, home-field advantage and injuries factor into these odds.
- Underdog: Any team offering plus money to win the game or cover the spread. Odds can rise to as high as around +500 for a regular-season game, with big underdogs almost always being worthy of at least a small wager in the CFL.
- Moneyline: The odds for either team to win a game outright (or straight up). As noted above, odds can range from around -500 to +500 with rare lopsided matchups extending those lines in either direction. The moneyline will typically include overtime, but some alternate lines will limit the wager to regulation.
- Spread: The spread is a much better way to get action on lopsided matchups which don’t offer adequate value on the moneyline. Favorites can lay between -1.5 to -20.5 (or more) points, meaning they’d need to win by at least 2 or at least 21 points, respectively, for those bets to cash. If the underdog stays within 1 or 20 points in a loss or wins outright each scenario, the bet would cash.
- Total or Over/Under: How many points will the two teams combine to score? Lines can also be released for each quarter or half. Similarly to the spread, lines are almost always set with a half-point, rather than a whole number, to set up a two-way bet with one winner and one loser.
- Push: Occasionally, betting action by the public will be so evenly split the books set a spread or Over/Under at an integer number. This leaves open the possibility of the winning margin or point total landing on the exact line. All bets will then be refunded in full in that case.
- Chalk: A term for a significant favorite with the risk of the bet not being worth the small reward. A team favored by -500 odds would be a chalk play, with a $10 bet returning a profit of just $2.
- Parlay: Combine two bet types from the same game or two or more bets from any game on a given week’s schedule. It’s a good way to combine all the favorites at more profitable odds, but the more bets included in the parlay, the higher the risk, as all bets need to be right for the ticket to cash.
CFL betting: How do odds work?
As noted above, a -500 moneyline favorite would return a profit of just $2 on a $10 bet, while a +500 underdog would fetch a profit of $50.
In-game odds for live bets can swing rapidly depending on things such as the score of the game, how much time remains in the game, which team has the ball or a notable injury. It’s important to be following along with the game when looking to place a live bet.
Get some sports betting action by placing a bet with BetMGM today. For more sports betting picks and tips, visit SportsbookWire.com.
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