What Is a Teaser? Teaser Betting Explained

Most common in the United States and generally limited to American sports, a teaser bet allows you to combine multiple totals or point spread betting selections in one bet. Like a traditional parlay, every leg of the bet must be successful for the teaser to win. 

Teasers can be great fun if you’re a savvy gambler. Why settle for the betting site’s spread or total when you can get a more favorable number?

How Teasers Work with Point Spreads and Totals

Let’s start by explaining how odds work in the point spread. A point spread is a handicap bet where one team (the favorite) is given a theoretical points deduction before the game starts. The other team (the underdog) is given an equal number of points as a head start. For example, imagine the Cleveland Browns are playing the New England Patriots. The spread is listed as follows:

• Cleveland Browns +3 (-110)
• New England Patriots -3 (-110)

The Browns are slight underdogs on the moneyline, but with a 3-point head start on the spread, the bet on them becomes more balanced, with both sides typically priced around -110. If the score finishes 42-40 to the Patriots, and you had bet on the Browns on the spread, you would have won as they would have ended with a theoretical total of 43 (40 + 3).

Now, imagine you want to increase your cushion even further—this is where a teaser comes into play.

With a 6-point teaser, you add 6 points to the Browns’ original spread, giving you Browns +9 (3 + 6). That means your bet covers if the Browns win or lose by 8 points or fewer. A 9-point loss would be a push—more on that later. 

If the Patriots win 43-40, your teased Browns score would be 49 (40 + 9), so your bet on the Browns against the adjusted spread wins. Teaser bets typically pay around -110 odds per leg, balancing risk and reward. Remember, in this scenario, your teaser bet must be paired with at least one other game, and you would need to pick that game correctly to collect.

With totals (over/unders), teaser bets work similarly. For example, if two games had totals of 48 and 35, you could take the under and push the total up to 54 in the first game, take the over, and reduce the total to 29 in the second game with a 6-point teaser.

Basketball vs. Football Teasers

Football and basketball are the two most common sports for teaser bets. Let’s examine how they differ in each sport.

• Football: Sites offer a range of points to adjust point spreads and totals. However, the standard teaser options are 6, 6.5, and 7 points. Football teasers usually allow 2 to 8 legs (games) in a single teaser to lengthen the odds.
• Basketball: Basketball teasers usually offer smaller adjustments: 4, 4.5, or 5 points. Also, in contrast to football, basketball teasers typically allow fewer legs (often 2 or 3, but sometimes as many as 6); the number of legs you can play varies depending on the betting site.

Teaser betting is not generally offered on MLB baseball, NHL hockey, or soccer. This is mainly because these sports use small point spreads (run lines in baseball, puck lines in hockey, and handicaps in soccer), which don’t lend themselves well to teaser adjustments.

The process for placing a teaser will vary from betting site to betting site, but the method is generally the same.

1. Log in to your betting site account.
2. Navigate to the sport you want to bet on—almost always American football or basketball when it comes to teasers.
3. Add at least two selections from the game spread or game total points markets to your bet slip.
4. If teasers are available on your betting site, select them now. Depending on the site, it might be a “Teasers” button, a drop-down menu, or a toggle that lets you choose between a “Teaser” and a traditional “Parlay.” 
5. Choose your teaser point value (generally 6, 6.5, or 7 points for football and 4, 4.5, or 5 points for basketball).
6. Enter your stake on the bet slip.
7. Carefully review the bet you’ve made to ensure it’s accurate, since teasers are not as straightforward as most bets.
8. Confirm and place your bet.

Teaser odds, which determine both the payout and the risk associated with adjusting the line in your favor, vary between betting sites, so it’s a good idea to open multiple accounts and compare odds to find the best value.
That said, the standard odds for a 2-team teaser are -120, a fixed price based on legs and points regardless of which teams you include. The more teams you choose, the higher the odds. 

Here is a breakdown of the common teaser odds depending on the point spread advantage and how many teams you include in your parlay: 

A teaser bet can sometimes end in a tie. For instance, one of the games you selected may land precisely on the number of the adjusted spread. If this happens, the leg will result in a “push.” In most cases, the leg of the teaser that pushes is removed from the bet, and the betting site will recalculate the payout based on your remaining parlay legs.

Check sites’ terms and conditions. While some operators will scrap the leg and honor the remaining legs, others will void the entire wager. 

Many sports bettors gravitate toward teasers because they offer a better shot at covering the spread or total. Even though the payouts are smaller than traditional parlays, the ability to tweak the lines in your favor makes teasers safer and more strategic.

A teaser bet can be a great wager to make in some circumstances. The best way to use a teaser is to manipulate a point spread or a total through key numbers to increase your edge. If you can identify multiple games where this applies, you’ll be in a strong position to place a well-informed teaser.

Some sports bettors will avoid a two-team teaser purely because of the house edge, which is why some pros consider teasers “sucker” bets. For instance, a traditional 8-team parlay on point spreads typically pays out around +15000. However, depending on the betting site, a 7-point teaser bet with those same eight teams may only pay +900 to +1200. That’s a huge difference.