nfl betting question

[megler]

I know this is REALLY noob, but how do you bet against the spread in football?

for instance, todays game of San Francisco v Indy, the spread was:

San Fran -3

Indy + 3

I THOUGHT if I bet Indy and they lost by more than 3 or won by 4 or more, I'd still win the bet. However, Indy lost pretty big and I lost the bet. How should I have bet this? I'm more familiar with baseball and runline bets, so I think I just bet this wrong.

There's a similar setup for Miami v Buffalo on Matchbook coming up on Sept 12 to illustrate what I'm talking about in real time.

thanks!

[RollPlayer]

You sort of have the idea. It means that Indy must lose by 3 or LESS. 3 will be a push and all money will be refunded. If you bet San Fran then they must win by more than 3 for the bet to cash.

[DukeJohn]

I know this is REALLY noob, but how do you bet against the spread in football?

for instance, todays game of San Francisco v Indy, the spread was:

San Fran -3

Indy + 3

I THOUGHT if I bet Indy and they lost by more than 3 or won by 4 or more, I'd still win the bet. However, Indy lost pretty big and I lost the bet. How should I have bet this? I'm more familiar with baseball and runline bets, so I think I just bet this wrong.

There's a similar setup for Miami v Buffalo on Matchbook coming up on Sept 12 to illustrate what I'm talking about in real time.

thanks!

Final score of the game was:

San Fran 37
Indy 17

The spread you bet was +3 for Indy so you would add 3 points to the final score, which would have been:

SF: 37
Indy: 20

Which of course means Indy still lost. Now if the final score would have been:
SF:37
Indy: 35

You would have won. Indy 35 + 3 = 38