noun

• 1North American A forecast of the number of points by which a stronger team is expected to defeat a weaker one, used for betting purposes.

  ‘Straight betting means wagering on a team winning or losing-bucking the odds in baseball or betting against the point spread in football and basketball.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Bet against any pro football team that is attempting to cover the point spread for the second straight game as a road favorite.’
  • ‘In the second experiment they were also asked to estimate the probability that a specific NBA team beat the point spread in an earlier game.’
  • ‘But how can you bet on football without the point spread?’
  • ‘What I am pointing out is that people who study the game can prefigure and hypothesize, with a fair degree of accuracy, who will win (and more importantly, cover the point spread, as in football) on a somewhat regular basis.’
  • ‘We have won every game with a massive point spread.’
  • ‘You are thinking of covering the point spread and they have their minds on scoring titles, parties, and big cars.’
  • ‘The only time that the basketball bettor is very vulnerable to luck is the last 30 seconds of the game - and only if the contest is hanging around the point spread at the time.’
  • ‘But the bottom-line truth is professional football wouldn't be nearly as popular as it is without a point spread.’
  • ‘Upsets are in the eye of the beholder and signify only that the bookies had the wrong point spread.’
  • ‘We have consultants that provide us with what they feel the point spread should be.’
  • ‘A few upsets aside it had to be a simpler matter than ever before, analyzing whether one team would beat the other by the Las Vegas driven point spread.’
  • ‘So… we need to win the game tomorrow and just hope that the point spread goes in our favor.’
  • ‘As for beating the point spread, Steven is right to note this example of selection bias in journalists, who tend to frame everything as a horse race where relative standings matter more than finishing times.’
  • ‘If you follow skating closely, I am sure you have seen examples where a skater in the last warm-up has fallen out of the top ten, in which case there would be a larger point spread to keep track of.’
  • ‘Maybe we should ask her the point spread of the Super Bowl.’
  • ‘The point spread is still tight and it will be a good battle between these two in the final two World Cups.’
  • ‘This went on for a few years, with me just rooting for the point spread and some extra cash.’
  • ‘How everything else becomes closed off to the gambler and they see only the spinning numbers or tumbling dice or point spread.’
  • ‘Football point spreads are easier for the masses to understand.’

• 2Physics Physiology
  The spread of energy from a point source, especially with respect to light coming into an optical instrument or eye.