A lot of the advice you’ll hear will tell you to avoid buying points, that’s it’s a sucker move. The truth about buying points is much more complicated than that. It can be a smart move or a terrible strategy depending on lots of different factors. We’ll explain those factors in more detail below but in the meantime, let’s look at some of the biggest advantages and disadvantages to buying points in sports betting.

Advantage of Buying Points:

• It’s more interactive – If you love getting deep into sports betting strategy and having the freedom to make more moves, buying points is a great way to spice up point spreads. Since it takes more research to buy points profitably, it will definitely get you more involved than traditional spread bets.
  
• You’ll win more bets – It sucks when you lose a point spread bet by one point, or even half a point. The simple truth is that buying points will make you win more bets than just taking the normal point spreads.
  
• Betting on spreads you’d otherwise skip – When you get some experience betting point spreads, you’ll start to spot tricky lines. When point spreads land on or around key numbers like three and seven in football, buying points can make bets a lot more appealing, even ones you wouldn’t usually make.
  
• It can make the favourite an absolute lock – Pushing the spread one or two points in favor of the better team can all but guarantee you a payday. Just remember that you’re accepting worse odds to do it.
  
• Give the underdog a better chance – If you really want to bet on a certain team but they’re a big underdog, buying a point or two in their favor can give them a fighting chance even against a much better team.
  
• Avoiding the push – This is one of the main reasons why experienced sports bettors buy points. We will cover this in more detail later, but we couldn’t avoid mentioning it as one of the benefits of buying points. When a point spread is a whole number it sometimes results in a tie (a push). By buying a half-point you can make sure that doesn’t happen.

Disadvantages of Buying Points

• You get a worse payout – It’s true that when you move the point spread in your team’s favor, you’ll win more often. The disadvantage is that you get a worse payout than you would have with the original spread. This is especially frustrating when your team would have covered the spread anyway.
  
• You don’t understand the spread will enough to buy points – Being able to profitably buy points on the spread isn’t a beginner strategy. If you don’t understand the initial odds inside-out, you’re probably not going to improve your chances by trying to buy points.
  
• Buying points as an excuse to bet for a big dog – Some people just want to bet on their favorite team, even when the odds say they shouldn’t. Buying points can look like an appealing way to increase your team’s chances but if the numbers don’t support it, don’t fall for this trap.