How To Bet NFL On DraftKings (Beginner's Guide)
In Summary
Firing your first NFL bet on DraftKings 🎁 takes about two taps, which is exactly why a new bettor can lose money fast without ever understanding what went wrong. This guide covers the part that matters: the three core football markets (the point spread, the moneyline, and the total), how to read the prices attached to them, how to place a bet and stack a parlay or teaser, where touchdown-scorer props, live betting, and boosts fit, and which promos carry real value. Then comes the one habit that gives a beginner the best chance to protect a bankroll instead of slowly bleeding it: shopping the number. DraftKings shows you its price on a game. It rarely tells you whether a better one is sitting at another book, and closing that gap is what OddsShopper does for you.
Watch The Video
Prefer to watch the walkthrough first? Here is the full breakdown on the OddsShopper YouTube channel. Watch on YouTube.
The OddsShopper Parlay Builder.
Getting Set Up And Finding Your Way Around
Signing up and depositing takes a couple of minutes. DraftKings may offer eligible new accounts bonus bets after a qualifying deposit and first wager, but the specifics change often. A sign-up bonus can add real value, but confirm the current terms, eligibility, and state availability first, since these offers come with conditions like a minimum deposit and a window to use the bonus bets.
Once you are in, learn the layout before you bet a dime. A handful of tabs do almost all the work, and you will tap them every time you log in:
- Home is your hub for sports, the day's promos, and everything else.
- In-Game is where you bet a game that is already underway, live, whether it is the second quarter of a Monday night game or the closing minutes.
- My Bets is where every wager you have placed lives, active, upcoming, and settled.
- Rewards is the tab most beginners ignore, and it is worth your attention. DraftKings runs one of the best loyalty programs in the space. You earn Crowns automatically every time you place a bet, then redeem them for site credit, casino credit, and other rewards in the DraftKings store.
Check the promos every single day, too. DraftKings posts new ones constantly, from profit boosts to odds boosts, and some days there is genuinely good value sitting there that you would otherwise miss.
The Three Core NFL Markets: Spread, Moneyline, And Total
Open the NFL tab and you will find every game line for the upcoming week, and often the week after. Tap into a single game, say a Thursday night matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals, and you will see a wall of numbers. Almost all of them come down to three markets. Here is what each one means in plain terms.
| Market | What you are betting | How it works on an NFL game |
|---|
| Point Spread | A team to cover a margin | The favorite must win by more than the spread; the underdog can lose by less than it or win outright. |
| Moneyline | A team to win, straight up | Just pick the winner. The price sets the payout. |
| Total | The combined points, over or under | Bet whether both teams' points land over or under a posted number. |
The point spread exists because most matchups are not even on paper, so the book sets a margin to level them out and let you bet either side without picking the outright winner. Say the Ravens are -3.5 against the Bengals at +3.5. The minus sign marks the favorite: laying the Ravens at -3.5 means they have to win by 4 or more to cover. The plus sign marks the underdog: taking the Bengals at +3.5 means they cover by losing by 3 or fewer, or winning the game outright. It does not matter whether the Bengals win by 10 or lose by 3; the bet pays the same.
That half-point at the end of the number is called the hook, and it does something useful: it makes a tie impossible. A spread without one can push. Picture the Miami Dolphins at -12 against the Raiders. Win by 13 and you cash. Win by exactly 12 and the bet pushes, which means it is voided and your stake comes straight back to your account, because the margin landed right on the number.
The push and the hook: if a margin lands exactly on a whole-number spread, no one wins, the bet is void, and your stake is returned. A half-point hook (the .5) removes that possibility, so every bet is a clean win or loss.
The total is the most straightforward of the three. You are betting the combined score of both teams to go over or under a posted number, nothing more. With a Ravens-Bengals total of 46, the over wins on 47 points or more and the under wins on 45 or fewer. It does not matter how the points get there: a 35-26 final is 61 points, an over either way. If the combined score lands on exactly 46, the bet pushes and your stake is returned, the same as a spread.
The moneyline is just the winner, with no margin attached, but the price is where beginners trip. The minus number is the favorite, the more likely result; the plus number is the underdog, the less likely one.
A Worked Example: Reading The Ravens-Bengals Price
Numbers are easier with a real one in front of you. Say the Ravens are -185 on the moneyline and the Bengals are +154.
- Ravens -185. The minus sign marks the favorite. The number is what you stake to win $100, so a -185 line means betting $185 to win $100. Push a favorite to -400 and you would need $400 to win $100; the more negative the number, the more you risk for the same return.
- Bengals +154. The plus sign marks the underdog. The number is what a $100 stake wins you, so $100 returns $154 in profit if they pull the upset.
That is the entire language of American odds. You never have to bet exactly $100; the price just expresses the rate. Spreads and totals carry a price too, usually sitting around -110 on each side. That extra dime is the book's cut, the vig, and it is the reason you have to win a little more than half your spread bets just to break even. Those prices also imply a break-even probability: a -185 favorite sits around 65% and a +154 underdog around 39%. Those two numbers add up to more than 100%, and that overage is the vig again, the book's built-in margin baked into both sides. If turning odds into probabilities still feels fuzzy, our how to read betting odds guide walks through the math step by step.
So why bet the Ravens -3.5 instead of just taking them on the moneyline? Because a chalky moneyline favorite forces you to risk a lot to win a little, while the spread offers a more even price in exchange for the team needing to win by a margin. Read the price, not just the side you like.
Beyond The Game Lines: Alt Lines, Props, And Touchdown Scorers
Tap the game itself and DraftKings opens a much larger menu. A few areas worth knowing:
- Game Lines And Alternate Numbers. You can move the spread or the total off the standard line. Want to require the Ravens to win by more than 7 instead of more than 3.5, or want a higher alternate total? Adjust it and the payout can grow, since a less likely outcome pays more, often flipping minus money to plus money. My advice as a beginner: leave the alternate lines alone for now. Get comfortable with the standard spread, total, and moneyline first, then explore once you know what a good price looks like.
- Touchdown Scorers. Football has its own signature market here: who finds the end zone. You can bet a player to score the first touchdown, the last touchdown, or anytime during the game. The anytime line is the friendliest place to start; first and last touchdown prices run much longer because they are far harder to hit.
- Player And Team Props. This is where DraftKings' NFL menu gets deep: passing yards and touchdowns, rushing and receiving lines, and defense and special-teams markets. Props behave like small totals, but the odds swing hard from bet to bet, so price discipline matters even more here than on the game lines.
Parlays, Teasers, And Same-Game Parlays
A parlay combines two or more bets into one wager for a bigger payout. Each pick inside it is a leg, and every leg has to hit for the parlay to pay. Miss one leg of a five-leg parlay and the whole thing loses, which is why the larger payout comes with much larger risk. Sportsbooks promote parlays hard for a reason, and the giant winning screenshots you see online hide how many losing tickets came before them. The math is not mysterious: a parlay multiplies the value of its legs together, so stacking bets that are each priced against you compounds the disadvantage. The way to use one well is to make sure every leg is a bet you would happily place on its own at a fair price, not to chain together longshots for the payout.
A teaser lets you shift the spread or total in your favor across each leg in exchange for a smaller payout. NFL teasers usually move the line 6, 6.5, or 7 points. Two rules keep you out of trouble: never tease through zero (taking a number from one side of even all the way to the other gives back most of the value), and always try to tease through key numbers. Football margins cluster heavily on 3 and 7, with 6, 10, and 17 close behind, because of how field goals and touchdowns stack up. A 7-point teaser that drops a -8.5 favorite to -1.5 crosses both 7 and 3, and one that pushes a +1.5 underdog to +8.5 clears 3 and 7 the same way, which is exactly the point.
| If You Tease... | The move that helps | Why it works |
|---|
| A Small Underdog | +1.5 up through +3 and +7 | Clears the two most common NFL margins |
| A Modest Favorite | -8.5 down through -7 and -3 | Buys back off the same key numbers |
| Anything Across Even | Avoid teasing through 0 | You surrender most of the points' value |
A same-game parlay (SGP) combines multiple bets from one game, say a team's moneyline with a quarterback's passing-yards prop, into a single wager at longer odds. DraftKings promotes it heavily, which should tell you something: the correlation between the legs is baked into the price in the book's favor, and the extra hold adds up. There is even a same-game parlay plus, which parlays multiple SGPs together, and that is murky water for a beginner. SGPs can be fun, but treat them as entertainment money, not the core of your slip. Our same-game parlay strategy guide covers when one is actually worth it, and for the structured way to combine bets so a single miss does not sink everything, see our how to bet round robins guide.
Start small. If you are new, skip the alternate lines, the long parlays, and the same-game parlays until the standard spread, total, and moneyline feel automatic. The fancy stuff is more fun to lose on than to learn on.
Live (In-Game) NFL Betting
The In-Game tab lets you bet a game already in progress, and football suits it well. Prices update constantly as the score, field position, and time remaining shift. Two natural spots: a favorite falls behind early and you think it bounces back, so you grab it live at a longer price than it opened, or a game is racing past its total in the first half and you doubt the pace holds, so you take the live under. The rule does not change in-game: a live price is only good if it beats the true odds of what is left to happen. Our live betting strategy guide goes deeper on timing those spots.
DraftKings Promos, Boosts, And Rewards
DraftKings runs a number of promotions, and some carry genuine value:
- Profit Boosts And Odds Boosts. A profit boost raises how much you win on a specific bet; an odds boost sweetens the price on a game, player, or sport. Both add value. But a boost does not automatically make a bet good, and it does not require the bet to already be good. The only question that matters is whether the boosted price beats the true odds. A big boost can flip a marginal play into a real one, and a small boost will not rescue a bad number. Run the math first. Our odds boosts strategy guide shows how to tell the difference.
- Crowns And Rewards. You earn Crowns automatically on every wager, then redeem them for site credit, casino credit, and other rewards in the store. They accrue as you play, so claim them.
Worth remembering: a promo or boost is added value, not a sure thing. Bonus bets tend to stretch furthest on longer-priced or +EV plays, rather than burned on a heavy favorite.
Shop The Number Before You Bet
Here is one of the simplest habits for improving the price you take all season long. Every NFL bet on DraftKings has a true price, the fair number a sharp market would set. DraftKings sets its own line around that, and so does every other book. When DraftKings is offering a worse price than the rest of the market, you are handing back money on a bet you would make anyway.
Picture that Bengals moneyline at +154 on DraftKings while another regulated book lists the identical bet at +168. Same wager, better payout: $100 wins $168 in profit instead of $154. Take the worse one and you have donated the difference for nothing. Across a full NFL season, with a slate every week, that quietly compounds into real money left on the table. The bettor who wins the same game on the worse number is the bettor you never want to be.
This is exactly what OddsShopper does for you. Its line shopping feed scans 100-plus regulated sportsbooks and, for any NFL bet, shows which book has the best number and how that price stacks up against the true, market-implied odds. The Portfolio EV view estimates whether a bet is +EV, priced in your favor, by comparing the price you would get against OddsShopper's market-implied fair number, before you ever place it, and the Odds Boost Evaluator helps you judge whether a DraftKings boost actually clears +EV or just looks like it does. Pull up the NFL live odds screen and you can see the spread, moneyline, and total for every game lined up book by book.
New to OddsShopper? It scans 100-plus sportsbooks in seconds and flags the NFL bets priced in your favor, so you can confirm DraftKings is giving you a fair number before you bet (and find a better one when it is not). Try it free for 7 days, and code SMARTBET20 takes 20% off OS Pro or OS Core if you subscribe: Start your free trial.
The One Thing To Remember
DraftKings is easy to bet the NFL on and easy to lose on, and the gap between the two is mostly about which prices you take. Read the spread and the total, not just the moneyline. Mind the price on every prop and touchdown-scorer line. Claim the promos and Crowns that carry real value, treat pre-made boosts, parlays, and SGPs with a clear head, and size your bets to your bankroll rather than your confidence (start with our bankroll management guide if that part is new). Above all, shop every number against the market so you can tell whether a bet is +EV before you place it, instead of betting blind. For the full app walkthrough across every sport, see our how to bet on DraftKings guide. It is 21+ and legal only where regulated, so bet responsibly; if gambling stops being fun, call or text 1-800-GAMBLER.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I bet NFL on DraftKings as a beginner?
Open the app, tap an NFL game, and read the three core markets: the point spread (the favorite must win by more than the number, the underdog covers by losing by less or winning), the moneyline (just pick the winner, the price sets the payout), and the total (over or under the combined points). Add a side to your bet slip, enter your stake, check the price, and place it. Mind the odds on every bet and shop the number before you confirm.
What does the point spread mean in NFL betting?
The spread is a margin the book sets to even out a mismatch. If a team is -3.5, they have to win by 4 or more to cover; their opponent at +3.5 covers by losing by 3 or fewer or winning outright. On a whole-number spread, if the favorite wins by exactly that number it is a push and your stake is returned. You win the same amount no matter how big the covered margin is.
How do I read DraftKings NFL odds?
A minus number is what you stake to win $100 (a -185 favorite means $185 to win $100). A plus number is what a $100 stake wins you (a +154 underdog means $100 wins $154). Totals and spreads use the same scale, while props swing more, so always check the price, not just the side.
What are the key numbers in NFL teasers?
Football margins cluster on 3 and 7, with 6, 10, and 17 close behind, because games are decided by field goals and touchdowns. A good teaser moves your line through those numbers (for example, a +1.5 underdog up to +7.5, clearing both 3 and 7), and you should never tease through zero, which gives back most of the value.
Are DraftKings odds boosts worth it for the NFL?
Sometimes. A boost adds value, but it does not automatically make a bet good, and the bet does not have to be good already. What matters is whether the boosted price beats the true odds. A large boost can turn a marginal bet into a play, while a small one will not save a bad number. Run any boost through an odds boost evaluator before you take it.
Betting the NFL well comes down to the prices you take, and that is the easy part to outsource. OddsShopper compares the major regulated books, surfaces the best number on any football bet, and rates whether it grades as +EV against an estimated fair price, with an Odds Boost Evaluator to judge whether a pre-made boost is worth taking. Try it free for 7 days; code SMARTBET20 is 20% off OS Pro or OS Core after that: Start your free trial.
