Anyone who has spent any time in the sports betting world knows there is no such thing as a sure thing, even an overwhelming favorite can flounder, and that longshot you had planned is more than likely to fail, no matter how hard you cross your fingers and hold your breath.

There are many ways you can aid your NFL bet, ways that help to push the odds of success ever so slightly back in your favor. Here are a few options to consider ahead of placing that all-important bet.

Do Your Research
Whether you are a sports betting enthusiast or a novice, you can get a great deal of help online to help you with your sports bet. For instance, this guide on how NFL spread betting works is a very useful starting point for those who are not all that knowledgeable about the matter.

NFL betting comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes, from a standard Moneyline bet to a complicated parlay, and as such, you can do with all the help you can get to make sure your bet pays off.

Pick the Right Sportsbook
Imagine you find a bet on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win the NFL Superbowl, and the odds are (+700), and then Tom Brady, in his comeback season (after retiring for all of three weeks), leads the Bucs to a triumph and collects his eighth Super Bowl ring, you collect your payout and then find out that another sportsbook had odds of (+900), well you’ve just cost yourself a decent chunk of change.

When placing your bet, make sure to shop around and see if there are better odds to be had at another sportsbook. You are not beholden to one provider, so make the most of the expanding field.

Stay Up To Date
Always check the latest news before placing a bet. Maybe the team you are about to back has experienced a real injury crisis, or the team they are playing is on a real slump; you need to make sure you have all the available information before you click ‘bet’; after all, it could come back to bite you if you don’t do so.

Make Use of Welcome Offers
When you sign up with a sportsbook, you’ll be given some form of a welcome bonus, and you can use this to get a better look at the sportsbook and what it has to offer. Some of these take the form of matched deposits, so in this scenario, you might deposit $200 and then get another $200 to play with, use this wisely and maybe back bets that are more likely to win, and in that way, these become pretty much risk-free bets.

Don’t Bet What You Can’t Afford to Lose
All in all, most sports bettors lose money; after all, if they didn’t, there wouldn’t be sportsbooks in existence. The act of sports betting should be looked upon as a pastime or a hobby and shouldn’t be something you lose sleep over. Only bet what you can afford to lose, and don’t expect to win your money back if you start to hit a losing streak. That’s not how sports betting works, sadly.