By: Daniel Gunn (@DanielGunn)
With the season kicking off on Monday, it’s time to start thinking about the sportsbook. This will be the first article in a weekly series focused on the CFSL Sportsbook. In this series, I plan on covering a variety of things within the sportsbook. It will include a breakdown of the previous week’s lines and bets, a running analysis of how teams perform against the spread, and most importantly, who has the most CFSL Sportsbook cash (requires no real money to participate). The sportsbook is a great way to flex your CFSL knowledge and earn free CFSL Store credits.
Getting Started
The easiest way to access the CFSL Sportsbook is to type “!sportsbook” anywhere in the discord. Once you are at the Sportsbook home page, in the top right corner you need to click register if you have never used Sportsbook before, or log in if you have.
The best way to register is to click the discord option under the “register faster using:” option. After you register/log in, that’s when the fun begins. Every gameday, roughly around noon (time could vary depending on the bookies’ schedules) lines for each of the day’s games will be posted. Click on the game you’d like to bet on, choose what line you want, and place your wager. Placing bets in the sportsbook gives you even more of a reason to tune in and watch all of the CFSL action.
You will start the season off with $5,000 CFSL Sportsbook dollars. This will be what you use to start making your wagers and building up your bank account. Don’t worry if you blow your early bets and lose your entire bank account (I’m looking at you, Drake). If you lose all of your money, you will automatically be credited $3,500 in sportsbook cash to continue your betting. This payment happens every time you run out of money.
What to Expect
As stated above, there will be a variety of betting options for every game in the CFSL. Different bets include; point spreads, money lines, over/under, parlays, and prop bets. Let’s break these down.
Point Spreads
The point spread is a number set by the bookies to level the playing field between two teams and drive betting action on both sides. The spread relates directly to the margin of victory in any given game, as the favorite must win by that amount to “cover the spread” or the underdog must not lose by that amount to “cover the spread.”
Example: Kentucky (-7.5) vs North Carolina. If Kentucky wins by 8 or more, everyone who chose Kentucky -7.5 wins their bet. If Kentucky wins by 7 or less or loses the game, everyone who chose Kentucky -7.5 loses their bet.
Money Line
Money line bets are wagers placed on a game’s outcome. They are bets on which team will win any given match. The term “money line” represents the payouts for winning the bet. The favorite will have a negative moneyline with a smaller payout, versus the underdog who will have a positive moneyline with a larger payout.
Example: Kentucky Wins -360 ML vs North Carolina or North Carolina Wins +280 ML vs Kentucky. If Kentucky wins the game outright, everyone who chose Kentucky’s money line wins their bet. If North Carolina wins the game outright, everyone who chose North Carolina’s money line wins their bet.
The odds work based on $100. A negative number is how much you would have to bet to win $100. In the example above, you would need to bet $360 on Kentucky to get $100 in return (should they win).
A positive number shows how much you’ll win if you bet $100. So, if you bet $100 on North Carolina, and they won, you would win $280.
Over/Under
An over/under (O/U) is a wager in which a bookie will predict the total points scored for both teams combined in the game. Bettors wager that the actual total points scored will be either higher or lower than the number set by the bookies.
Example: Kentucky/North Carolina Over/Under 73.5. If 74 or more total points are scored in the game, everyone who took the over wins their bet. If 73 or fewer total points are scored in the game, everyone who took the under wins their bet.
Parlays
A parlay bet is when a bettor makes two or more bets and combines them into one wager. The bettor must win every part of the parlay to win the bet, and losing just one of the parts loses the entire parlay.
Example: Kentucky -7.5 & UK/UNC over 73.5 | +265. If Kentucky wins by 8 points or more AND the total points scored in the game is 74 or more, the bettor wins the parlay. If either/both of the sections do not hit, the bettor loses the parlay.
Prop Bets
Prop bets are wagers placed on specific events or outcomes within a CFSL game that are not directly related to the final score or result of the game. The prop bets will vary each game and can include things such as a specific player’s yardage totals, a specific player’s touchdown totals, team yardage totals, etc.
Now that we have the basics covered, you are ready to wager some channel points. You can find the Sportsbook (and the Pick Em) here. Wagers will go up on Game Day. Happy betting!
