How Do You Buy Points?

You can buy points on NCAA Football, NFL, and any basketball point spreads or totals straight from your Bet Slip. 

Buying points when betting, moves the point spread or total to either:

• Give away less points with the favorite.
• Get more points with the underdog.

For NFL and NCAA Football, the cost of buying half a point depends on the point you are buying onto (i.e., 3, 7 or other) and whether the odds are standard (-110) or off-standard (e.g., -120). There is no such premium in Basketball. 

In NFL and NCAA Football: 

You can buy up to one and a half points (1/2, 1, 1 ½) from any whole or half number (e.g., from +4.5 up to +6 or from -5 down to -3.5).

In Basketball: 

You can buy up to one and a half points (1/2, 1, 1 ½) from any whole or half number (e.g., from +4.5 up to +6 or from -5 down to -3.5).

How to Buy Points 

1. On the Bet Slip, under the details of your bet, click the drop-down arrow in the ‘Buy Points!’ box to select how many points you’d like to buy. 

2. Select the number of points you wish to buy from the menu. 

3. Enter your risk amount in the field provided. The point spread and odds for each bet are automatically recalculated for you, and your total Risk and Win amounts are updated at the bottom of the Bet Slip. 

Rules for Buying Points

1. Wagers must be placed on the outcome of a single event or game, and all standard rules apply.

2. If the team you bet on is the favorite, they must cover the updated point spread; conversely, if you’ve taken the dog – they must lose by no more than the current spread or win outright. 

3. The maximum number of points you can buy is 1½ points on Football or Basketball.

Calculating The Cost of Buying Points

Standard odds:

With standard odds, the cost of buying each half a point is an additional $0.10, added to the juice or price.  For example, if you buy ½ point on an NFL line that is originally -110, the new price will be -120. However, there are certain exceptions when buying points for NFL and NCAA Football:

• If you buy half a point onto or off a spread of 3 (from +2.5 to +3 or from -3.0 to -2.5); it will cost an additional $0.25 (added to the juice or price) for NFL point spreads and an additional $0.15 for NCAA Football point spreads. 
• If you buy half a point onto or off of a spread of 7 (from +6.5 to +7 or from -7.5 to -7); it will cost an additional $0.15 (added to the juice or price), for NFL point spreads. The additional cost remains at $0.10 for NCAA Football. 

Let’s look at a couple of examples:

• Suppose the New York Jets are 5.5 point underdogs (+5.5). To move the spread to +6 points, you need to buy half a point. The  cost of doing so is an additional $0.10 -, which means that you must now bet $120 instead of $110 to generate a profit of $100.
• This time, let’s suppose the New York Jets are 2.5 point underdogs (+2.5). To move the spread to +3 points, you need to buy half a point again. Now, because it’s an NFL game, the cost of doing so is an additional $0.25. You must now bet $135 to make a profit of $100.
• Similarly, if the Wisconsin Badgers are 3.5 point favourites (-3.5), you can buy half a point to move the point spread to -3 points. This time, because it’s an NCAA Football game, the cost of doing so is an additional $0.15. You must now bet $125 to make a profit of $100. 

Off-Standard odds:

With off-standard odds, the cost of buying each half a point depends on whether the odds are greater than or less than -110 (standard odds). The same exceptions for the NFL and NCAA Football outlined above apply. For example:

• If the odds are positive or greater than -110 (e.g., -105; even; +145), a charge is applied to bring the odds to -110 before the $0.10 is applied* 
• If the odds are less than -110 (e.g., -115 or -165), the charge of $0.10 is applied directly* 

*Reminder: 

• Buying on or off of 3 and 7 in the NFL will cost $0.25 and $0.15 respectively 
• For NCAA, buying on or off of 3 will cost $0.15 (there is no additional premium for buying on or off 7 for NCAA)

Example costs are tabled below:

RELATED TOPICS: 

• What is a Parlay?
• What is a Point Spread?
• What is a Round Robin?
• What is a Teaser?