Teaser Bets

Teaser bets are slightly more advanced than your typical money line or spread bet, but they are still quite popular among football and basketball bettors.  Teaser bets are generally made by advanced bettors, but they are still pretty easy to understand and after reading this article you can add them to your sports betting repertoire.

What Is A Teaser Bet?

A teaser bet involves wagering on 2 or more games as one large wager.  In that sense teasers are similar to parlay bets, but there is one crucial difference.  With teasers the spread is moved in your favor by a certain number of points on each game that you select and the payout is a set amount depending on the amount of points you are given on each play and the number of outcomes you select.

In football you can generally find 6, 6.5, 7 or 7.5 point teasers, while in basketball the typical teasers are 4.5, 5, 5.5 or 6 point teasers.

In a 5 point NBA teaser the spread for every outcome would be shifted by 5 points in your favor.  For example, if the Detroit Pistons were +5 point underdogs then you would take them at +10 on a 5 point NBA teaser (spread shifted from 5 points to 10 points).  An example of a 7 point NFL teaser would be taking the Chiefs at -6.5 when in reality they are -13.5 favorites.

Teaser Bet Payouts

As mentioned earlier the payouts for teaser bets are preset depending on the number of outcomes you choose and the amount of points you are given in the teaser.  The teaser payouts also vary from sportsbook to sportsbook, so it’s important to do your own research to find which betting sites have the best return on teasers of various point amounts and number of teams.

Here are the teaser payouts at BetOnline.ag:

Teaser Payouts

6 point football or 4.5 point basketball teasers

  • 2 plays (-110)
  • 3 plays (+160)
  • 4 plays (+260)
  • 5 plays (+420)

6.5 point football or 5 point basketball teasers

  • 2 plays (-120)
  • 3 plays (+150)
  • 4 plays (+240)
  • 5 plays (+375)

7 point football or 5.5 point basketball teasers

  • 2 plays (-130)
  • 3 plays (+135)
  • 4 plays (+200)
  • 5 plays (+350)

The above payouts are above average in the industry compared to most betting sites. That said, there are some sportsbooks that offer great payouts on specific teasers. Here are some of the teasers I target at specific betting sites because they have the best payouts I have found online:

Teaser Example

Here is a teaser example from BetOnline.ag for a 6.5 point teaser of 3 NFL games.

Your selections: Pittsburgh Steelers +6.5, Tampa Bay Buccaneers -9 and Miami Dolphins +2.5.

With a 6.5 point NFL teaser these selections would change to: Steelers +13, Buccaneers -2.5, Dolphins +9.

If each of these outcomes is correct then you can expect a +160 return on whatever amount you risk.

Generally if one of the outcome pushes the teaser will drop that selection and a three team teaser will turn into a two team teaser with the remaining outcomes. That said, it is important to check the teaser rules at the sportsbook you’re betting with.  If a push does count as a loss at your sportsbook then it would be advantageous to try to keep you spreads at .5 points because the payout would remain the same, but the chance of a push is eliminated.

Teaser Betting Basic Strategy

These are a few basic teaser strategy rules I follow when placing teaser bets:

  • Only Place NFL Teaser Bets – It’s possible to find +EV NFL teasers (more on this in following rules). I don’t believe the same is true for NBA teasers (but others may dispute this).
  • Tease Across Important NFL Numbers – You should be focusing on teasing across 3’s and 7’s because these are margin of victories that often happen in NFL games:
    • Key Margin of Victories (% probabilities):
      • 3 points – 14.50%
      • 7 points – 9.20%
      • 6 points – 6.20%
      • 10 points – 5.60%
      • 4 points – 5.20%
      • 14 points – 4.80%
    • Tease Across 3, 4, 6, and 7.
      • Tease Home Underdogs of +1.5 to +2.5.
      • Tease Road Favorites of -7.5 to -8.5.
    • It’s Not Advantageous to Tease Across 0.

If you can find teasers that follow the above rules teasing across important numbers, and find the betting sites with the best payout for the number of teams and points for the teasers you want to wager, you will be able to find +EV teaser bets throughout the NFL season.