After a prolonged absence, the XFL made a short-lived comeback and was generating more excitement than ever before. The league had enticed both football enthusiasts and sports bettors, unlike any other football game apart from the NFL. However, the XFL filed for bankruptcy in 2020, and the planned season was cancelled while its future remained uncertain.
Now, the XFL returns and it's looking bigger and better than ever - with a brand new set of rules and a 10 week schedule, delivering 40 XFL regular season games before the playoffs begin on April 29 2023.
Whether you're an NFL fan who is dreading the thought of weekends without football, or a sports betting pro who's looking for another opportunity to beat the odds, we've got you covered! Today we're going to run through a comprehensive guide on how you can bet on the 2023 XFL season.
XFL Betting Sites
Given the size of the XFL, finding a site to place your bets may be slightly more difficult than usual. So, if you're stuck for ideas, or your usual favourite bookie doesn't offer the lines you want, here's a list of online sportsbooks where you can wager on the XFL.
Draftkings
BetMGM
MyBookie
BetVictor
888Sport
PaddyPower
bet365
All of these sites have previously offered online XFL betting, and some have already previewed this year's season.
The sites we have listed above are credible, reliable and world-renowned sportsbooks. So, once you have chosen your favoured sportsbook, simply sign-up, deposit and wait for the XFL odds to show.
Understanding the XFL Betting Odds
If you're already familiar with NFL odds then you should find it easy to understand the XFL odds presented, as they work in the same way. Given the new rules, sportsbooks may release betting options that are not included in the NFL, but these options should be quite self-explanatory if and when they appear.
For those of you that are unfamiliar with NFL betting, we are going to breakdown all you need to know to start betting on the XFL.
Odds Format
Every sportsbook should have the option to alter the odds format, but for simplicity we are going to use American odds for our examples.
You can check out our Guide to Understanding American Odds here.
But remember, you can change this to Fractional or Decimal Odds on your sports betting account if you prefer either of those options instead.
Popular XFL Bet Types
Now, there may be a few new betting options that we haven't seen before, but for now, let's go through all the major betting types that you will see in the sportsbook.
Moneyline
This is the one of the easiest and certainly most popular wagers to place money on. Simply put, moneyline betting means you’re betting on that team to win.
Lets take a matchup between two XFL teams, Seattle Dragons and Tampa Bay Vipers, as an example.
In this example, the Seattle Dragons are the favorites to win with moneyline odds of -150. This means you would have to wager $150 to win $100 dollars.
On the other hand, the Tampa Bay Vipers are expected to lose, giving them underdog moneyline odds of +175. For this bet, if you wager $100 dollars on the Vipers, then you would win $175.
Point Spreads
The point spread is a line that represents how much a team will win or lose by.
Let's take a game between Los Angeles Wildcats and New York Guardians as an example.
When it comes to this game, the point spread is set at 4 points. T
The Wildcats are favourites with odds of (-110(. The Guardians are underdogs with odds of (+110).
This means that if you want to place a bet on the Wildcats, they must win by more than 4 points for your bet to be considered a win. And if you want to place a bet on the Guardians, then they must not lose by more than 4 points for your bet to win.
In the case the final score is 24-20 in favour of the Wildcats, this means they did not cover the spread, resulting in a "push" where no one wins the bet and the money is returned.
The numbers inside the brackets (-110) indicate the odds, and it means that in order to bet on the point spread for either the Guardians or the Wildcats, you would have to risk $110 to win $100.
Totals (Over/Unders)
Total lines represent the combined total number of points scored by both teams in a given game.
In this example, lets say the sportsbook has set the total to 45 points in the game between the Houston Roughnecks and DC Defenders.
This gives you the option to wager that the Roughnecks vs. Defenders game will end with over 45 combined points or under 45 combined points.
Just like the other bets, the numbers inside the brackets represent how much money you would have to wager in order to win $100.
Other XFL Bets
In addition to the more popular and common bet types we went through above, there will also be other wagers you can place on some more complex events.
Prop Bets
Prop bets are wagers on the specific performance of a player and or team, which usually rely on a specific event taking place.
Prop bets can mimic moneyline bets for props like 'Anytime touchdown scorer' where you are simply betting on a player to score a touchdown. They can also mimic the point spread, where you may bet on a player to record over or under a certain amount of rushing yards.
Here are a few examples of prop bets:
Quarterback total passing touchdowns
First team to score
Player to record a sack
Defense to score a safety
Props are a great way to use your football knowledge to beat the odds. They give you the opportunity to bet on one single player, or one event that you may know more about.
But perhaps more importantly, they make it even more fun to watch the games ! You could take a wild bet on a team's defense to score a safety, and who knows, you might just win the bet!
Futures
Futures describe making wagers on events that are happening at a much later date. They can be wagers on individuals or teams to accomplish something or for a single event to occur.
A popular futures bet in the NFL, is betting at the start of the season on which team will win the Super Bowl.
You could do this with the XFL Championship Game (May 13 2023).
XFL 2023 Season Odds
Houston Roughnecks+200
DC Defenders+300
St. Louis Battlehawks+375
Dallas Renegades+550
LA Wildcats+1000
New York Guardians+1300
Seattle Dragons+2000
Tampa Bay Vipers+2200
Another popular futures wager for online XFL betting is choosing the MVP for the season. Or you can sometimes make even crazier futures bets like the St Louis Battlehawks head coach getting fired!
After each week of the season, the odds could change depending on how the team or player has performed.
So, you may be on the edge of your seat as we approach the 2023 Super Bowl, but rest assured there will be plenty more opportunities to use your football knowledge to beat the sportsbooks when the NFL is over.
