How To Bet On Xfl
Sign up With at XFL Betting Sites. Once you’ve chosen one of the best XFL online sportsbooks, it’s time to sign up. This step is easy because the sites make it very simple to register for an account. Within a matter of minutes, you can be registered, have your money deposited, and be ready for XFL betting. Guide to XFL Football Betting. The XFL has made a comeback and betting looks to be a big part of it. With a failed initial attempt in the early 2000s, Vince McMahon’s crack at pro football will get a second chance as the league approaches the first season of its modern-day revival.
The XFL is embracing sports betting more than any other U.S. professional or collegiate league ever has.
While the NFL and other leagues spent years fighting in court to stop the spread of sports betting, the XFL kicked off its reboot by consulting with bookmakers on new rules and encouraging media partners to infuse gambling into broadcasts. The XFL may be just starting, but it appears it is already ahead of the gambling game. Now, we'll see if it pays off.
For decades, the traditional leagues in the U.S. kept their distance from sports betting, concerned gambling would tarnish the integrity of the games. At the same time, even though commissioners and owners may have been reluctant to admit it, they benefited from fantasy sports and bettors participating in the massive underground and offshore sports betting industries. Former baseball commissioner Bud Selig once testified that sports betting is 'evil, creates doubt and destroys your sport.'
Times have changed. Legal bookmakers now operate in more than a dozen states, and, at least to this point, sports have survived. The NBA, the NHL and MLB each have official betting partners, and the NFL is moving in that direction. None of them, however, are as all-in on betting as the newest league on the block, the XFL, which, instead of shying away from the gambling industry, is determined to 'embrace the spread.'
'This notion of embracing the spread,' XFL president Jeffrey Pollack said, 'means that our mission, our design and our business infrastructure are all geared to the sports betting future that's coming fast.
'We see a lot of pros to leaning into the sports betting world,' he added. 'It's what our fans want. We don't see cons, we see opportunity.'
Keeping the spread in play
When creating its rules and scoring system, the XFL kept the bettor in mind and even bounced ideas off Las Vegas sportsbook operators to see what worked and what didn't.
'I thought it was very interesting,' John Murray, executive director of the SuperBook at Westgate Las Vegas, said of the informal calls with the XFL. 'It was cool just to talk to the guys who were starting a new football league and see what kind of ideas they had.'
The XFL landed on rules aimed at condensing the game. They wanted to increase the pace of play, eliminate virtually automatic plays like kicking extra points and enhance timing rules to improve comeback opportunities and keep the spread in play longer.
• The XFL's play clock is 25 seconds (it's 40 seconds in the NFL), and the game clock stops only briefly, except for the final two minutes of each half, called 'comeback periods.' The goal was to deliver a similar number of plays per game as the NFL but in less than three hours. NFL games during the 2019 regular season averaged 126.8 offensive snaps and 45.6 points per game. The first four XFL games averaged 124 offensive plays and 38.5 points.
• After touchdowns, teams choose between going for one point from the 2-yard line, two points from the 5-yard line or three points from the 10-yard line. 'This enhances a team's ability to make a comeback,' XFL senior vice president strategy and business development John Scheler said. 'Your bet's in play longer because the team potentially has the ability to come back and cover the spread.'
• Overtime is decided by a pseudo-shootout, with teams alternating single plays from the 5-yard line. Each score is worth two points.
The rule tweaks to timing and scoring were a challenge for oddsmakers. Not knowing how coaches would handle the new options after touchdowns and their success rate on those attempts reduced the value of the traditional key numbers -- most notably three and seven -- that bettors are accustomed to in the NFL and college football. Out of the 19 touchdowns scored in the four games over the weekend, coaches elected for the 1-point option 11 times and the 2-point option eight times. They were successful on four 1-point chances and three 2-point chances.
Creating a point spread, though, was not the toughest task for oddmakers in Week 1. Setting the over/under was.
Circa Sports, a new bookmaking operation in downtown Las Vegas, was the first sportsbook to put up totals on the four Week 1 games. They admitted the process of setting the totals was not sophisticated.
'For me, it was a huge guess,' Circa sportsbook manager Chris Bennett said with a chuckle.
Xfl Football Schedule Today
Last Thursday, Circa opened at 40.5 for each game. The first wave of bets came in, all on the over in each game. In less than three hours, the totals on each game climbed into the 50s.
Three of the four Week 1 games went under the total.
Odds-infused broadcasts
For years, play-by-play announcers like Brent Musburger and Al Michaels slyly worked gambling references into broadcasts. 'Some baskets are more meaningful than others,' Musburger might say in regards to a basket that affected the spread. Michaels is known to describe a late score that pushes the game over the total as 'overwhelming.'
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There were no veiled references, though, in the weekend's XFL games. Instead, announcers were overt, and the odds were front and center.
Point spreads and over/unders were displayed alongside the scores on the XFL broadcasts on ESPN and Fox, and advertisements for the sponsoring sportsbooks like Caesars and FoxBet popped up from time to time.
In the fourth quarter of the Seattle Dragons-D.C. Defenders game Saturday, ESPN color man Greg McElroy joked about the disappointment fans who bet the over must have felt when the Dragons elected to take points off the board after a running into the kicker penalty, only to squander the ensuing scoring opportunity by fumbling deep inside D.C. territory.
For many sports betting proponents, the odds-infused broadcasts were what they envisioned when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal statute in 2018, allowing states to decide whether to regulate gambling.
Joe Favorito, a longtime sports marketing consultant in New Jersey, was watching the St. Louis-Dallas game Sunday with his 21-year-old son, who asked what the 'O/U 52.5' meant on the scoreboard on the bottom of the screen.
'[He] was casually following XFL and had no idea of the floating betting lines,' Favorito told ESPN. 'He assumed it was another deep dive into stats, not gambling. He figured it was similar to when 'SOG' appeared on a hockey scoreboard for shots on goal or when MLB suddenly added 'MV' for mound visits and 'PC' for pitch count to scoreboards. ... He became more engaged immediately.'
Betting interest
At Caesars Sportsbook in Nevada, less than $10,000 total was bet on the point spread for the opening game between the Dragons and Defenders. It might not sound like a lot -- and compared to the hundreds of thousands of dollars normally bet on NFL games, it's not -- but it was notable and was more than the amount bet on many of Saturday's college basketball games and even some NBA games.
'I think there's an interest, but it's just not something I think people have confidence to bet on yet, on the public side of things,' Caesars senior oddsmaker Alan Berg said.
In New Jersey, sportsbook FanDuel said '20 times' as much money was bet on the first XFL game as was bet on the first game of the now defunct Alliance of American Football League. XFL betting increased from Saturday to Sunday by 55%, according to FanDuel.
The XFL believes it's only the beginning of the league's relationship to the sports betting industry, which unlike its predecessors, it has decided to embrace from the opening kickoff. The XFL has announced multiple betting partners, launched a new free-play gaming app (PlayXFL) and hired sports data company Genius Sports to provide integrity services.
'The XFL should be applauded for its proactive stance in engaging with the sports betting industry,' Chris Dougan, spokesman for Genius Sports, said. 'From its inception, the league has embraced best practices with operators and built strong relationships with the state regulators. By requiring all XFL players, coaches and officials to participate in our online integrity program, the league has made education a key pillar in preventing threats of betting corruption.'
The two XFL games broadcast on ABC and ESPN averaged to 2.9 viewers. There was buzz on social media and at sportsbooks. The XFL is determined to make it last by, in part, being the most betting-friendly league in the U.S.
'For a lot of our fans,' Pollack, the XFL's president said, 'free-to-play gaming, fantasy and legal sports betting have become [as] essential to the football experience as the helmet, ball and jersey.'
The newly launched XFL will showcase a heavy emphasis on sports betting. In fact, some of the new rules were built with the engagement of the sports betting fan in mind, and wagering will be front and center during the games.
'For a lot of our fans, free-to-play gaming, fantasy and legal sports betting have become [as] essential to the football experience as the helmet, ball and jersey,' XFL president Jeffrey Pollack said.
How To Bet On Xfl Players
Let's take a deeper look at the role of sports betting in the upcoming XFL season.
Where can you bet the XFL?
All major sportsbooks, including Caesars Sportsbook, will have lines up for every game during the XFL season. In Week 1, the DC Defenders (-8 vs. Seattle Dragons), Houston Roughnecks (-6 vs. Los Angeles Wildcats), Tampa Bay Vipers (-2.5 at New York Guardians) and Dallas Renegades (-9.5 vs. St. Louis BattleHawks) opened as favorites. DC covered with a 31-19 win, Houston cruised to a 37-17 cover, New York upset Tampa Bay 23-3, and St. Louis got a 15-9 win over Dallas.
The following states have authorized XFL betting markets ahead of the inaugural season: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Rhode Island, Iowa and Nevada. More states may allow it as the season gets underway. Notably, many states and sportsbooks did not begin offering lines on last spring's Alliance of American Football (AAF) season until after Week 1.
What can you bet on?
Point spreads, odds to win the championship and season win totals, just like in the NFL, are up at most sportsbooks. In addition, totals on individual games will be offered on a weekly basis, and the plan is to offer player props once the season gets underway.
How will betting on the XFL differ from NFL betting?
Betting limits will vary from book to book but will be lower than the limits for a typical NFL game. Bettors should expect lines to move quickly and significantly as oddsmakers look to gauge the new rules and the betting patterns.
How will the new rules factor into betting?
The XFL's new rules were designed to speed up the game, and that will likely have a direct impact on betting and scoring. According to league officials, XFL preseason games averaged 163 to 167 total plays per game. NFL games averaged 126.8 offensive snaps per game this season. In theory, this could mean more scoring.
How else will the rules impact betting?
Glad you asked. In the XFL, you can elect to go for one point (a play run from the 2-yard line), two points (from the 5) or three points (from the 10) after each touchdown. This will make the standard key betting numbers of 3 and 7 likely irrelevant and open up a whole new angle to betting.
In addition, overtime will consist of each team getting five one-play possessions to attempt to score from the 5-yard line and will continue until a team is mathematically eliminated. This means that if a game has a point spread of 6 or less, it will always be in play in the OT.
Is the XFL on top of things bettors want and need, like injury reports?
Yes, this is where things will differ from the AAF, which supplied very limited information. Through surveys, the XFL identified what fans wanted to be more engaged in games. According to league officials, the XFL's injury reporting will closely replicate the NFL's, using similar nomenclature in practice reports like 'limited participation,' and will be updated throughout the week.
What else do I need to know about how the XFL will embrace sports betting?
How To Bet On Xfl
ESPN and ABC plan to incorporate betting lines into their on-screen scoreboards and more freely discuss those lines during broadcasts. This is vastly different from the NFL, which does not allow on-screen graphics regarding sports betting or in-game mentions of it. Every XFL game in 2020 will be televised by ABC, ESPN, Fox or FS1. The full schedule can be found here.