So, if you bet $50 on five favorites against the moneyline, your record might be 5-0 but if they were big favorites you might only be up 2 units. Let’s suppose here, for the sake of using round numbers, that your standard betting unit is generally $50 per bet. That number varies, of course, for every person. What is a unit? A unit is the amount of money you are generally comfortable placing on one bet. But more relevant here, the only thing that matters is units won. First of all, never believe anyone’s betting record unless you are tracking it yourself. Wins and losses don’t matter, units do: If you follow betting experts on social media, you will often see them tout that their betting record is 56% or 59%.Either way, by betting early you have accidentally painted yourself into a betting corner. Or alternatively, you feel you never would have placed this bet had you known your team’s QB would miss the game because you have no faith in his backup. Perhaps, since you liked this team at +7.5, you would love them at 10. Now, you are stuck with a bad line on a team you possibly no longer want to bet. Immediately, the line moves from +7.5 to +10. The day before the game the underdog’s QB is found to have an injury more serious than previously feared, and the QB is declared out for Sunday’s game. In uncertain times, sometimes waiting until the last second to bet, is your best bet: Picture this: You place a bet on Thursday for a Sunday NFL game.Teams like the Patriots, Packers, and Bills are known to play well in cold weather, but what if the Miami Dolphins are traveling to Buffalo in December? The weather may shift the spread giving the Bills more points. Weather: Weather is an important factor in football where many games are still played outside.Amount of money bet: If a ton of money is already bet on one side, oddsmakers can move the line to even things out for that reason alone.

If the Chiefs are 10 point favorites going into a week, and then we learn that Patrick Mahomes injured himself in practice and is now questionable, you’ll see that spread drop significantly.

Injuries: Games, specifically basketball or football games can be significantly changed due to key injuries.

How popular the team is: Nationally popular teams like Duke Basketball, The Dallas Cowboys, the LA Lakers, the New York Yankees, or Alabama Football receive a lot of betting interest, so oddsmakers may move the spread against them to ensure enough people are betting on both sides.

What is a push gambling