Week 3 of the NFL season proved that no lead is safe and that no favourite can be considered too much of a lock if you are gambling on NFL games. It was one of the most heart-stopping weeks in recent memory, as many games went down to the wire with teams pulling off big comebacks. In some cases, favourites had to rally in order to avoid crashing to the ground; but in the case of the Buffalo Bills, it was a case of a big underdog pulling off a huge upset and making a case for being one of the best teams in the league.

Even though they had started the season 2-0, few people believed that the Bills had much of a chance to take down the New England Patriots. After all, the Patriots had steamrolled their first two opponents, including an impressive victory the previous week over a talented San Diego Chargers squad. Still, if you bet on NFL games, it was hard to turn down a big underdog at home, and most of the money went toward the Bills. But even with the money line moving because of a heavy pro-Buffalo bets from people gambling on sports, the Patriots were still -7 favourites.

In the early part of the game, it looked like the line was more than accurate. The Patriots jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the second quarter, and it appeared that the Bills would be lucky to keep it close. But an interception return for a touchdown helped to give Buffalo new life and close the gap to 21-10 at halftime, and the Bills kept coming in the second half. They forced New England’s Tom Brady to throw four interceptions and were able to convert enough of those into points to complete a stunning comeback. The end result was a 34-31 victory that made Buffalo fans – and lots of bettors – very happy.

This week, Buffalo has to bounce back after their emotional victory with a trip to Cincinnati. The Bills are -3 favourites against a Bengals team that looked flat on Sunday in a 13-8 loss at home to San Francisco. Keeping in mind that Cincinnati has failed to cover in its last six contests against the AFC East and has only covered once in its last 10 games against Buffalo, the Bills might be a very smart play this week for people gambling on NFL games.

Buffalo wasn’t the only team to stage a spirited comeback on Sunday to keep their record perfect through the early part of the season. Detroit came into their road game against Minnesota as -3 favourites but fell behind 20-0 at halftime. Much like Buffalo, the Lions stormed back in the second half, taking the game to overtime before winning 26-23. It was the first victory over the Vikings for Detroit since 1997 and moved them to 3-0 for the first time in ages. For Minnesota, it was another crushing second half collapse – the third time they’ve lost a double-digit, second-half lead in three games this season.

Minnesota could be a good value play this week when going on the road to face Kansas City. Both teams are 0-3 and in desperate need of a win; however, Minnesota has at least shown the ability to play good football, although they’ve lacked the consistency, while Kansas City has been just plain bad. The Chiefs have only covered in one of their last five games and they’ll need Matt Cassel to play better if they have a chance to win. Keep a close eye out on the under in this game: Minnesota’s last five road games have been under the number, while the score has been under the line in five of Kansas City’s last seven home games. With both teams struggling to move the ball with any regularity, this could be a grind-it-out game.

There are several injuries to key players that will impact gambling on sports this weekend. One of the most high-profile is the broken hand suffered by Michael Vick during Philadelphia’s loss to the Giants on Sunday. The injury is on his non-throwing hand, but Vick isn’t sure if he can play this week against San Francisco. That means that there’s a decent chance that Mike Kafka will get his first career start against the 49ers. San Francisco made rookie Andy Dalton look very confused last week, and expect Jim Harbaugh’s team to be fired up if they get a chance to play against Kafka.

One of the most intriguing games of the week is in Houston, where the Texans will take on Pittsburgh in a battle of two teams with thoughts of making deep playoff runs this year. Pittsburgh is coming off a Sunday night victory over Indianapolis that pushed them to 2-1 on the season, while Houston will be trying to rally after losing an early lead and falling to the Saints. This is a game where the over/under line might be more enticing than the spread, especially if you think lots of points are there to be scored. The total has gone over in six of Pittsburgh’s last seven games overall and in eight of Houston’s last 12 (including four of their last six home games). If you bet on NFL games and like points, this could be the game for you.

Tonight/today sees the one of the biggest games of the weekend with Monday night football as the Washington Redskins take on the Dallas Cowboys at home. Those who have FOXTEL can find the game being shown on ESPN starting from 10:30am.

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When it comes to sports, nothing is better than your team winning. That is of course unless you had a bet on your team when they won! That of course is as good as it gets.

Wether you are looking to place a bet on your favourite team or you have a gut feeling on a particular event, the Miller's Guide to Online Sportsbetting is the best place to start your journey of creating an Online Sportsbetting account.

Over the past few years online gambling has experienced incredible growth. The main areas of growth have come from online casino's and online poker rooms, however online sportsbetting is one area that has also boomed due to the licensing and regulation of the industry in several jurisdictions.

If you are looking to become involved with online sportsbetting, it is wise to learn as much about the industry as possible before placing your first bet.

There are many terms used by online sports betting companies, and below is a simple Guide To Online Sportsbetting.

SIMPLE ONLINE SPORTSBETTING TERMINOLOGY

POINT SPREAD

With sports that feature high scores such as AFL or basketball, online sportsbetting companies will create what is known as a "point spread".  The way the point spread works is that the sportsbetting company will allocate a point amount for each team, either positive for the underdog or negative for the favourite. For example, if the Collingwood Magpies are scheduled to play the Gold Coast Suns, the online bookmakers may set a points spread of 30 points in favour of Collingwood.  This will mean that if you bet on Collingwood using the points spread, they would need to win by a margin of greater than 30 points in order for you to win that particular bet. If you bet on the Gold Coast Suns using the point spread, then they would not have to win the match, but rather not lose by more than 30 points in order for you to win that particular wager.

OVER/UNDER - TOTAL

The point spread is used by online sportsbetting companies to indicate the difference between each of the teams, but the 'Over/Under Total' is an indication of how many points total the teams will score. An example is that an online sportsbetting site may state that for a NRL game between the Roosters vs Dragons the total will be 30 points, this indicates that the total score between both teams will be set for 30. You may then bet either Over or Under if you think that the total will be either more than 30 or less than 30. Over/under Total bets are commonplace in all sports where there is prolific scoring such as the AFL and basketball, but they are also popular in other sports such as Soccer and Rugby.

TEASER

A Teaser bet is a bet where the points spread is reduced or increased along with the payout for the particular bet. This type of bet is not that popular as most punters prefer to take the simple Over/under bet or to bet on the points spread.

MONEY LINE

The 'Money Line' bet has become one of the most popular bets with online sportsbetting companies and is a popular bet for all types of sports, both individual and team sports. The 'Money Line' bet is a straight bet that does not involve the use of a a point spread or over/under total bets. With a Money Line bet, the closer each number is to the other will represent how close the online sportsbetting company believes the match up will be. One of the key reasons the money line has increased in popularity with both sportsbetting
companies as well as punters is that can be used for all types of sports. The Money line can be used for sports such as boxing, MMA, tennis, MotoGP, Soccer or Baseball. The reason it is popular in sports such as these is because it is generally very difficult to create a point spread for every game as, and with sports such as MotoGP or MMA a point spread is impossible as there is only winners and losers.

Generally speaking the money line for the favourite will be represented by a minus symbol, where on the flip side, the underdog will have a plus symbol before their number.

A sample money line would be represented as follows.

Collingwood              -150

Gold Coast Suns +140

With this example, Collingwood is the favoured team which is signified by the - (minus) symbol in front of the 150. Meanwhile, the Gold Coast Suns would be the underdogs which is represented by the + (plus) sign in front of the 140.

In the above example, if you wish to bet on the favourite Collingwood, you would need to bet $150 to win $100. While if you wanted to bet on the underdog Gold Coast Suns then you would need to bet $100 to win 140.

A very important factor to remember is that while the money line is expressed in units of $100, you do not need to actually bet that much money. You can quite easily bet $10 or $50 on the money line as well, it is simply always expressed in this fashion.

FUTURES

Futures are bets that are made based on the future outcome of a whole season or championship league. Odds will represent each teams chance of winning their prospective league or season. For sports such as the AFL, teams are ranked according to their past and current form. For the 2011 AFL season, a team such as Collingwood (reigning premiers) will carry very short odds whereas a team such as the Gold Coast Suns will feature very strong odds as they are a new team with no record and the expectation for them to win the premiership is very low.

PARLAY

A Parlay is a method of betting a small amount for a chance at a big payoff. One way of thinking about a parlay bet is to think of it as an accumulating wager. A parlay is a bet on multiple outcomes and results. Basically if you make a Parlay wager and win, you will much more than if you bet each game or outcome individually. The rewards are very big for small outlays, however the house advantage on these types of bets is generally very high and can range from anywhere between 15 to 50 percent for five or six team parlays.

JUICE

Online sportsbetting companies are in the business for a reason, and that reason is the juice. While it is true that sometimes an online sportsbetting company will lose money due to the result of a sporting event, the majority of the time online sportsbetting companies will always make money due to the Juice.  The juice is defined as a commission placed on each bet and it is normally around 10 percent of the amount of the bet. The juice is also known as the vigorish or vig, and this amount is used to help cover the online sportsbetting companies expenses as well as to offset and losses they may experience when a large winning bet is made on a large underdog.

SUMMARY

In summary, online sportsbetting is a great way to get involved with the sports that you love. Simple casino games such as blackjack or slots are boring in comparison especially given that an educated sportsbetter has a much greater chance of making money. Combine this with the fact that watching the game is always better when you have a bet on the outcome of the game.

If you are ready to bet online, take a detailed look a the Miller's Guide Online Sportsbetting Reviews page for a more detailed analysis of each operator.