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The NFL season kicks off Sept. 7 with a matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions. This game will air on NBC; all other Thursday Night Football games will be on Prime Video. It pits the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs against the up-and-coming Lions. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are among the favorites on most Super Bowl odds lists, while the Lions are looking to build off last year's momentum in which they finished the season 8-2 and nearly snuck into the postseason as a Wild Card.
Online sportsbooks already have set moneyline and spread odds for all Thursday Night Football games. Below are the early lines for TNF odds, with these NFL odds expected to change throughout the course of the season.
The first Thursday Night Football telecast will also open the 2023 NFL season, with the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs hosting the Detroit Lions on Sept. 7, 2023. (Photo by Raj Mehta/USA TODAY Sports)
All 32 NFL teams will play at least one time on Thursday Night Football, with a handful of teams playing twice. The NFL also goes to a flex schedule beginning in Week 13, which means premier matchups you can follow on most sports betting apps that have potential playoff implications will be moved to Thursday Night Football. Here's a list of the current Thursday Night Football matchups.
The top online sportsbooks will have a number of offers through the top NFL betting promos for bettors who want to wager on Thursday Night Football. In addition to those specific features, all bettors who register for a new account with these operators will earn an elite sportsbook promo codes welcome bonus that increases potential payout to players after their first wagers.
You can use those welcome bonus offers on anything you'd like, from TNF bets to NFL MVP odds. Here's a look at what's available right now to bettors who want to place bets on Thursday Night Football.
Bettors who register for a new account with the BetMGM bonus code USATODAY will receive a first-bet offer up to $1,000. That means their first bet will either earn cash profit if it's successful, or if it's a loss, BetMGM will refund players in the form of five bonus-bet credits, each worth 20% of the original wager amount. Either way, you're receiving something from one of the official betting partners of the NFL. The bonus bets expire after seven days. It's one of the top ways for those learning how to bet on the NFL to get acclimated to the strategies of successful wagering.
The biggest potential offer on the board for new players is the Caesars Sportsbook promo code USATODAYFULL. New players will earn first-bet insurance up to $1,250. It's as simple as it sounds: Your first bet is insured, meaning a losing wager earns you a single matching bonus bet up to $1,250. The bet credit expires after 14 days. Caesars Sportsbook also has some of the best odds boosts on player and team props during Thursday Night Football.
Bet $20, get $100. That's how simple the WynnBET promo code XUSATODAY is for new players. Place a $20 real-money wager on any set of odds -120 or greater and automatically earn $100 as two $50 bonus bets. The bonus bets must be used on odds of -150 or greater, meaning you'll have dozens of Thursday Night Football odds to choose from to meet these requirements.
With the FanDuel promo code, new players will receive a No Sweat First Bet Up to $1,000 when they open an account. If the first wager is a loss, FanDuel will return up to $1,000 in the form of site credit. Maximize this deal by wagering on any set of Thursday Night Football odds. You earn cash profit on that first bet if it's a winner. If it's a loss, you'll get the site credit. You can divide the credit up into as many bonus bets in whatever denominations you want. It expires after 14 days and can be used on any set of odds in any sports betting market. FanDuel also offers odds boost and Same Game Parlay insurance, for those interested in NFL parlays, each Thursday night in the NFL.
There are no guarantees in this era of the NFL where leads can evaporate in a hurry thanks to some high-octane offenses. But there is a guarantee in the online sports betting world, where bettors who use the DraftKings promo code to create a new account will receive $150 in bonus bets after they place a $5 wager on any set of Thursday Night Football odds, whether the bet wins or loses. You can use those six $25 bonus bets on any set of odds on Thursday Night Football or any other market that DraftKings offers.
Don't sweat your first bet with the BetRivers promo code SPORTS. All new players will receive a second-chance bet up to $500. The amount might differ based on your location. Either you'll earn cash profit with a victory or BetRivers will refund you in the form of bonus bets equal to the amount you wagered and lost (up to $500). BetRivers also does a nice job of providing bettors with local boosts, so when an NFL team from the state you're betting in is playing, look out for specific offers.
Receiver George Pickens and quarterback Kenny Pickett are a dynamic tandem for the Pittsburgh Steelers. (Photo by Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports)
There are about a dozen different bet types that players can select from when using the top NFL betting apps of their choice, but the majority will use the options we've listed below when trying to make their own NFL picks and predictions. Each Thursday Night Football game will feature these types of bets.
The moneyline is a wager on which team will win Thursday Night Football. The win differential and the total amount of points scored do not come into play with the moneyline. Each game features a favorite, whose odds are shorter because the expectation is they will win the game, and the underdog that has longer odds because they are expected to lose. For example, if the Chiefs are -250 favorites, a bettor would need to bet $250 to earn $100 profit. An underdog Lions team at +200 would cost a bettor $100 to earn $200 in profit.
The point spread evens the playing field between the favorite and underdog. A favorite has points subtracted from its final score, and the underdog has points added to its final score. Because of that, point spread odds are typically similar between -105 and -115 on sports betting apps. For example, if the Bears are -3.5 against the Packers (+3.5), the Bears cover the spread if they win by four or more points. The Packers cover the spread if they lose by three or fewer or win the game outright.
NFL prop bets are wagers on individual or team statistics within the contest. There are hundreds of player props and team props to bet on during each Thursday Night Football matchup. Examples of player props include Patrick Mahomes' passing yards set at 279.5 yards, Davante Adams to score the first touchdown of the game, or TJ Watt to record a sack. Examples of team props include the first team to score 10 points or the Lions to score over or under 27.5 points. Thursday Night Football prop bets are some of the most popular bet types each week, especially with the explosion of fantasy football in recent years.
The over/under is a bet on the total combined points scored between the two teams on Thursday Night Football. Oddsmakers set a total, and bettors wager on whether the actual total will be higher or lower than that set amount. For example, if the total of Ravens-Jets is 46.5, the over hits if the teams combine for 47+ points. The under hits if the total is 46 or less. Odds on the total are typically between -105 and -115.
Though not specific to Thursday Night Football, futures odds are wagers on a specific outcome by season's end. Examples of NFL futures include which player will win league MVP, the winner of the NFC North, or Super Bowl winner. These odds fluctuate throughout the course of a season based on what has already happened, and action that happens during Thursday Night Football can have a direct impact on those odds.
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) has helped push the Jacksonville Jaguars toward sustained respectability in the AFC. (Photo by Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports)
Thursday Night Football kicks off the week in the NFL, but we know there's so much more in store for bettors. Each NFL week includes two other prime-time games, with Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football pitting some of the game's best against one another.
Using Sunday Night Football odds and Monday Night Football odds, bettors can take advantage of the same wagering options like boosts, promotions, and offers that are available during Thursday Night Football.
There's nothing quite like Thursday Night Football betting. Though there have been debates about the quality of the contests and whether teams have enough rest to get ready for the contests, that doesn't change the betting opportunities that players have to use each week. The spotlight is on this matchup each week, and online sportsbooks accordingly provide hundreds of different odds along with some great promotional offers for new bettors to earn when they register for accounts. Start your weekend early with the first game of the NFL week and sign up for an account to take advantage of everything that's available at the industry's top Super Bowl betting sites.
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