NCAAF Public Betting & Money Percentages
Because of its popularity and sheer volume of games, there are fewer sports in the world that have as much money bet on them every year than college football. That will only continue to grow, too, as sports betting works itself into the mainstream and more states legalize betting and come online.
With more public money entering the market, there's more opportunities to spot edges on bets using The Action Network's data and tools.
How to Use Public Betting and Money Percentages in College Football Betting
We house betting data from numerous U.S. online sportsbooks, including "percentage of bets" and "percentage of money" on every college football game and major bet type.
- Percentage (%) of bets: The percentage of wagers on a particular side of a game. For example, if Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt had 20,000 total bets that we've tracked and 12,000 of those are on the Vols, we'd say that Tennessee has received 60% of the bets.
- Percentage (%) of money: This is the same thing except for the money. If we know the total handle, we can then calculate the percentage of money on one side or another of a bet.
Combining those two factors can help college football bettors eye bets that might be worth making. The reason is because not all bets are the same amount of money. Some bettors might place just $10 on a game, while professional bettors -- sometimes called "sharps" -- might wager $10,000.
Thus, the difference between the percentage of money and the percentage of bets can often highlight the games in which pro bettors are getting down action. And, well, they're professional and bet high amounts for a reason: It could be profitable to take those sides.
It's also important to look at the total number of bets we're tracking, which you can see on the far right of the table above. The reason is because you don't want to put too much stock in a money vs. bet difference that has a small sample of bets. Utilizing all four factors -- bet percentage, money percentage, bet vs. money percentage (the delta), and total bets -- is recommended when using betting data to gain an advantage.