Top Football Sportsbooks 2022

During the fall, there's nothing better than kicking your feet up and settling in for a nice long weekend of football and placing some bets. Even better now that we no longer have to trust our money to offshore sportsbooks or shady neighborhood bookies.

It doesn’t matter if you’re settling in for a long day on the couch with some RedZone on Sunday or a Saturday with Big Ten, SEC, and late-night Pac-12 - if you’re like me, you want to get in on the action.

But what sportsbook do you use? Which football betting site is the best?

In our opinion, here are the best NFL & NCAA Football Sportsbooks on the market:

Top Football Sportsbooks

1. Caesars Sportsbook - Great odds bolstered by the most NFL odds boosts
   
2. PointsBet - Innovative PointsBetting system works phenomenally for football betting
3. DraftKings Sportsbook - Shared wallet with daily fantasy account plus free-to-play pools
4. FanDuel Sportsbook - Best app for creating Same Game Parlays
5. BetMGM - Great for parlays and live betting
6. Bet365 - Best live betting for NFL & NCAA
7. SI Sportsbook- Free to play Perfect 10 contest and other football promotions
8. Betfred Sports - Some of the best NFL betting lines on the market
9. Unibet - Promos and boosts for parlay and live bets
10. Barstool Sportsbook - Newly improved Same Game Parlay and Parlay Plus
11. Betway - Enhanced odds Betway Boosts bets for NFL
12. MaximBet - Really strong lines for NFL games
13. BetRivers - Solid live betting and single game parlays
14. WynnBET - SGP & parlay bonuses for NFL betting
15. Fubo Sportsbook - Live sync with FuboTV broadcasted NFL games
16. PlaySugarHouse - Solid suite of NFL futures

While having your basic betting elements covered is all well and good, a sportsbook that is Flacco-levels of elite will go a bit deeper to cater to the needs of bettors who want to get into all the nooks and crannies of the game.

Straight bets are nice. They're great. But, at the same time, aren't they a little vanilla? Sure, they're a nice entry point into betting, but any seasoned sharp will tell you that parlays are where the real action lies.

Parlays allow you to combine multiple outcomes into one bet. On the plus side, you get enhanced odds, so you stand to win more than you would if you had placed separate straight bets. On the downside, all of these bets have to hit in order for your parlay bet to be considered a win. So those enhanced odds come at a price.

While parlays are a bit of a riskier proposition than straight bets, you also stand to win more if you're feeling hot.

Many sportsbooks have their own twists on how they allow you to create parlays. PointsBet's mobile app features a quick parlay tab that allows you to easily combine multiple bets into one parlay. BetMGM features a parlay generator that randomly creates parlays for you based on the parameters you set. These kinds of innovations have made parlay betting even more popular in recent years.

Sportsbooks with Football Teasers

One type of parlay many bettors (including myself) love for football is the teaser. Like typical parlays, teasers allow you to combine multiple outcomes into one bet. The difference between the two is that teasers allow you to adjust spread and over/under point totals to mitigate your risk a bit more. All legs of the bet still need to hit, but it will be easier for that to happen, Unfortunately, this also means that the odds for your wager will be lower, which will adversely affect the payout.

Teasers are a nice middle-ground between parlays and straight bets.

Another sports betting innovation that has become increasingly popular over the past few years is the same game parlay. Also known as a single game parlay, one game parlay, or bet builder, same game parlays allow you to combine multiple outcomes from a single game into a single parlay wager.

So, if you think Josh Allen is going to throw over 300 yards as the Bills march to victory, you can combine these two bets into a single wager.

Not so long ago, you were limited to only same game multi-leg bets that the sportsbook had pre-determined for you - no longer! This bet type was innovated by FanDuel Sportsbook and has since been adopted by many of its competitors.

If you're more a big-picture prognosticator than a week-to-week winner, football futures may be more your cup of tea. Football futures allow you to make long-term bets on season-long results like championships and awards.

Maybe you think that Russell Wilson is due for his first NFL MVP Award, or that LSU will win the SEC. You can jump on these bets before the season begins, or let the odds adjust over the course of the year.

Some sites, like Caesars Sportsbook, allow you the chance to adjust the lines of an NFL team's win totals and bet on the alternate line.

A crucial aspect of all bets is the odds. Though they can seem a bit inscrutable, the difference between a -105 line and a -115 line can be absolutely massive, especially if you're making big bets.

It's very important that any prospective sportsbook you may consider joining provides you with odds that are at least competitive with the marketplace. In the US betting market, there usually aren't massive differences for big games, but non-Power 5 college football match-ups can often have significant differences in payouts from sportsbook to sportsbook depending on how the odds shake out.

We think the following sportsbooks provide the best odds to users, so you can maximize your winnings.

Of course, you want to make sure you’re getting good value when choosing your football sportsbook, right?

The best way to do this is to pick one of the sportsbooks with generous sign up bonuses that are currently available in the US.

Sportsbooks will often have special bonuses for football bettors

Specifically, for football betting, you can look to sites that have regular odds boosts and promotions. During football season they will often be specialized for big primetime games and major events. You stand to be eligible for special offers, such as same game parlay insurance, live bet insurance, odds boosts, and more!

Make sure you choose a sportsbook that offers you bonuses that match your needs!

Once a sportsbook has offered you a generous sign up bonus for signing on, they need you to keep coming back. Like any other business, repeat customers are crucial for online sportsbooks.

In order to do this, betting sites often offer existing customer sportsbook promotions to users based around America's favorite sport.

Frequent football sportsbook existing customer promotions include:

• Odds Boosts
• Free Bets
• Parlay Insurance

Put simply, odds boosts make odds more favorable in the bettor's direction. At no penalty to the player, they make the odds on specific outcomes to maximize the potential payout for the user.

Odds boosts are frequently offered around games featuring teams and leagues that sportsbooks have a partnership with or major events like primetime games or the Super Bowl.

Sites like PointsBet, DraftKings Sportsbook, and FanDuel Sportsbook frequently offer this type of bonus.

Free bets are fairly self-explanatory: you get to place a wager without putting down any of your own money. Sometimes you get winnings in real cash, while other times you'll get on-site bet credits that you can use to place other wagers.

While they are often offered around major games like the College Football Playoffs or Super Bowl, you can often find NFL free bets all season long. Free bet promotions frequently require the player to complete a certain action before they are unlocked.

For example, BetMGM gives users a $10 free bet every Monday as long as they had wagered $50 in really money the preceding week as part of their Money Monday Club.

Free NFL Pick'Em Games

A few sportsbooks offer games that allow you to predict games against the spread and win cash prizes, with no money down. Games like the free-to-play DraftKings NFL Pick'Em and SI Sportsbook Perfect 10 are really fun and don't even require users to have any money in their accounts to play.

It's a really nice way to get in on the action without taking on any risk.

Early on we discussed how both traditional and same game parlays have become more and more common in today's betting landscape. Due to their high-risk nature, sportsbooks now encourage users to bet this way. One incentive they throw at you is parlay insurance.

Parlay insurance guarantees you a win if only one of your multi-leg wagers loses. Depending on the sportsbook, these assurances can be attained for traditional parlays, same game parlays, or both.

There are different requirements from site to site on how to unlock parlay insurance, including the minimum amount of legs that must be included in your bet and how much you must stake.

PointsBet offers users up to $25 back if only one leg of a 4+ leg same game parlay fails, while FanDuel Sportsbook offers multi-sport parlay insurance up to $25 if one of a 5+ leg multi-sport parlay wager loses.

For a long time, the NFL was resistant to the idea of widespread sports betting. They opposed ending the nationwide prohibition and were even hesitant to embrace sports betting long after other leagues, like the NBA.

That changed after a few years. It turns out the public didn’t think of gambling as a sinful activity anymore - in fact, it was embraced.

Eventually, the NFL finally came around and realized how much revenue they were leaving on the table. Now, the league has three official online betting partners: FanDuel Sportsbook, DraftKings Sportsbook, and Caesar’s Entertainment.

Sports betting has now become a fundamental part of the football fandom experience (unfortunately for Calvin Ridley fantasy owners)

It’s been a rocky road, but it’s nice to see the NFL finally embracing online sports betting.

Maybe more than any other sport, football’s very nature perfectly lends itself to live betting.

The pause in the action between plays is the perfect amount of time for sportsbooks to update their live odds and for players to make decisions about which direction they should take their live bets.

Of course, in many parts of the country, the college game is king. A lot of people would rather build their fall weekends around SEC, Big 10, or Pac-12 match-ups.

College football can be even more exciting for bettors than the NFL

Personally, I remember living in Alabama for a year after college - just about every car on the road had an Alabama or Auburn license plate!

Of course, it's not just the deep south that loves college football - everywhere across the country you'll find NCAA fanatics. Upwards of 25 million people will watch the National Championship game each year, making it one of America's most-watched sporting events.

With eyes, come dollars and the intense viewership and passionate fandom have helped lead to a vibrant sports betting community.

There are many factors that have also led to college football betting becoming so popular in recent years:

• Scheduling - As opposed to the NFL, college football owns Saturdays. This means they also own Saturday Nights. East coast players have no trouble staying up late, throwing back a few beers, and placing some bets on Pac-12 action.
• Number of games - Due to the sheer amount of college football programs across the country, there are dozens (and dozens) of games every weekend. This has led to niche betting communities to spring up within college football betting circles. The idea of placing wild, ill-informed bets on mid-level college teams less to the rise of the popular sports Twitter movement #MACtion and meme-ified college football betting.
• Play styles - While it's the same game, college football can be played very differently than the NFL. The extreme variance in talent level along with more creative coaching has led to many exciting shootouts and upsets over the years. If the NFL is more regulated and easy to predict, college football is the wild west. Who doesn't want to be a cowboy?

So what are the best sportsbooks for college football betting?

The NCAA has not yet embraced sports betting the way pro leagues have. Given the fact that college athletes do not get paid, there are competitive integrity concerns with the widespread use of sports betting.

With the recent Supreme Court decision allowing NCAA Athletes to profit off their own likenesses, players can now profit off their likeness. And who knows what that could lead to - maybe even athletes getting paid directly at some point.

This evolution will certainly necessitate Power 5 Conference schools needing to open up and think more business-minded.

The University of Colorado was the first Power 5 school to officially partner with a sportsbook in 2020. Their partnership with PointsBet could be the start of a new trend among major NCAA powerhouses.

While Colorado is the first, they certainly won't be the last. With NIL now back in the hands of the players and the possibility of players being paid always up for debate, NCAA football programs could be looking for more revenue streams in the future.

This could create even more exciting opportunities for college football bettors.

To take your bets with you on the go, it’s important to make sure you’re choosing a sportsbook that has a great sports betting app.

The vast majority of bets placed on sports are made via a mobile device and it’s obvious to see why - having the action at the tip of your fingers (literally) is super exciting and incredibly convenient.

Some important elements of a great football betting app must be nailed in order for the product to really shine:

• App design - The app shouldn’t be an eyesore - any eye-catching design can make a sportsbook stand out
• Functionality - You should be able to easily access key features within one or two clicks and there should be little-to-no lag that could hinder your live betting experience
• Mobile features - Many sportsbooks are beginning to add features exclusive to the mobile experience. Since most bets are placed from mobile devices, this makes sense as it incentivizes users to download the sportsbook’s app.

There are other crucial elements to keep an eye on, of course. There are tons of incredibly feature-rich sports betting apps out there, so make sure to do your research before picking!

One of the major precursors to the mainstream acceptance of sports betting in the past decade was the rise of daily fantasy sports. It’s no coincidence that the NFL has made both DraftKings & FanDuel official sports betting partners of the league.

Daily fantasy allows users to draft new fantasy teams on a nightly (or weekly in football’s case) basis and pay to enter pools or competitions with their temporary squad for glory and cash prizes.

Its rise in the early 2010s certainly contributed to bringing sports betting from behind closed doors and out into the open. So much so that DraftKings and FanDuel - the two biggest daily fantasy sports brands in the country - were the first two sportsbooks to launch their very own online sports betting platform when New Jersey legalized online sports betting in 2018.

They still sit atop the charts as the most popular online sportsbooks in the country, in no small part due to their established brands and the freedom they allow users to play daily fantasy and wager all from one account.

If you’re interested in combining daily fantasy with your sports betting, these two sportsbooks are worth a look.

We covered a ton of ground on this page, so let's just recap some of the main points:

• Check Out the Features - Make sure a bookmaker supports the way you want to play. If you want to make parlays, go for a sportsbook with a great parlay betting experience. If you want futures, make sure to find a betting app with a lot of futures markets. Do the research or you'll regret it!
• Set Yourself up for Success with a Sign Up Bonus - Most online sportsbooks these days are desperate for customers, so they'll throw money at you to get you in the door. Don't pass up on the opportunity to bank some free bets!
• Some Bookies are Better for NFL or College Football Betting - There are some different features that may be more relevant depending on whether you want to bet on the NFL or NCAA primarily. Make sure your new betting home lines up with what you need.
• Use a Licensed and Legal Online Sportsbook - Last, but definitely not least, only sign up and bet with legal and licensed online sportsbooks! In this day and age, there are plenty of options, so there's no reason to use a shady offshore book. All of the sportsbooks listed on this page are legal, so signing up with one of them should suit you well.