If you think the Chicago Cubs will beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, you will bet on them, and vice versa. You are betting on who will win the game outright. This is because teams don't score half points, so you will either win or lose.

In the same example, if the Packers beat the Bears by exactly 5 points, no one wins or loses. If teams wind up meeting the spread (not under or over) than you neither win or lose money.If the Packers win by less than 5 points, you will win money. In the same example, if you think the Packers will win but won't cover the spread, put money down on them to do so. The basic premise is that you need your betting team to either cover the spread, or underperform.If the Packers beat the Bears by 5 points or less, people who bet on the Packers to cover the spread will lose money. In this example, the Packers will have to beat the Bears by at least 6 points for people who bet on them to win.The Bears are less likely to win, so 5 points are added to their final score.

Take, for example, the Chicago Bears (+5) and the Green Bay Packers (-5) are playing each other this Sunday. This is how many points are added or subtracted from a team's final score. When people bet on point spreads, they usually talk about (+3.5), (-7.5), (+4), etc. Point spreads help to balance out the odds of each team winning.