This great chart from Sports Insights takes a look at margin of victory in
It's a useful tool for sports bettors.
The key takeaway: Around 25% of all NFL games end with a margin of victory of either "3" or "7." That's a hugely disproportionate percentage of games.
From a betting perspective, this really drives home the importance of "key numbers."
For example, the difference between getting 2.5 points and 3.5 points is much more significant than the difference between getting 1.5 points and 2.5 points (or, even, 7.5 points and 9.5 points).
Not all betting lines are created equal.
Here's the chart, which Sports Insights allowed us to republished:
And here are the six most popular margin of victory numbers (or, "key numbers") since 2003:
- 3 — 15.39% of all games
- 7 — 9.55% of all games
- 10 — 6.14% of all games
- 6 — 5.58% of all games
- 4 — 5.32% of all games
- 14 —4.79% of all games