The Truth About Betting The NFL Preseason

 If you’re a diehard NFL sports bettor, you either love or loathe NFL preseason games. There’s always been big debate on whether pre-season NFL games matter in terms of predicting win-rates for the upcoming regular season. And we’ve covered this debate in a recent article from an NFL betting angle.

As most online sports betting enthusiasts already know, those who bet on NFL games during the regular season look at the pre-season as an early indicator. Others choose to completely ignore the pre-season, arguing that those games have absolutely no bearing on how the season will play out.

For those in the latter NFL sports betting camp, you might as well be watching little league football.

Preseason games were first added to the schedule in 1978. They’re usually seen as a way for coaches to practice plays. It’s also a great way for the NFL to make money, but that’s neither here nor there.

But a recent study in the current Journal of Sports Economics asks whether preseason NFL games offer fans any insight into their team’s Super Bowl chances.

After looking at preseason successes between 1970 and 1991, and then comparing them with games between 2002 and 2010, the study didn’t see any statistical evidence that the preseason winning percentage offers a preview of NFL team performance.

So is the pre-season totally useless to those who love to bet on sports? Not necessarily. There’s still money to be made, but we recommend looking at those games as one-offs as opposed to regular season indicators.

But not all hope’s lost if you can’t wait to tune into NFL point spreads. It turns out that, according to another study, betting against offenses in the first week of NFL might be a smart move when it comes to making money from NFL game odds.

Want a good online sportsbook? The lines for preseason and regular season games are now live at SportsBettingOnline.ag. Every bet you make, no matter which part of the season it falls on, qualifies for 10% cash back, every week, win or lose.