If you bet on sports, there's a good chance that you bet on football. Football betting accounts for about 40% (estimated) of all sports betting annually. A good portion of that goes into the NFL. Every season people rush to their favorite sports book off or online to make a wager. One of the most common wagers in NFL football is the parlay bet. People love winning big and the parlays give you the opportunity to win many times your original wager. However, many NFL football bettors walk away with losing tickets.

Can you make money betting on the NFL? Any professional sports bettor will sound off with a resounding yes answer. It's been widely estimated and quoted that only 1% of sports bettors win on a consistent basis. If this is accurate, why is it so? One reason could be a lack of understanding of the game of NFL football. Another reason could be the lack of understanding of what a line really is.

If you are finding yourself constantly picking the losing team or just coming up short for a nice parlay win, give point totals a try. Many feel that betting on totals is a much easier game than picking sides. When you bet a totals line, you are betting on the total number of points scored between both teams during the game (regular time and over time). For instance, if the line was 38.5, you could wager on the under or over. Bet on the over and you want both teams to score 39 points or more'so you win. Bet on the under and you want both teams to score 38 points or less.

There are sports bettors out there who make a living off of totals lines. Some feel that there is less handicapping time involved as well. This means you can handicap more game, look for sweet lines and spend your time doing other things. It's also possible to bet totals lines for just the quarters or the halves. For example, if a totals line is 40, the under/over for the first half might be 20. Furthermore, the line for the first quarter might be 8 or so. Typically the second and fourth quarter lines are larger than the first and third quarter lines.

The next time you sit down to make a wager on NFL football, give some thought to the totals line. It just might swing you into the winning column. If you are already a winning NFL sports bettor who's not playing totals much, check them out. You should be able to add to your profits. There's a reason why football betting is so big. It's fun and profitable.