How to Make a Football Betting Board
Whether it is for the Super Bowl, the Bowl Championship Series or a local game in your hometown, a football betting board adds some excitement to the experience. The board is easy to construct, and because this is game of chance, your friends don't even need to know the first thing about football to participate in betting. Point spreads and fantasy football statistics are not involved. A betting board is more like a lottery with the winning numbers determined by the score of the game.
Draw the board's graph. A betting board is a square grid that contains 100 boxes. Draw a large square and divide it into the boxes--10 across and 10 down. Leave some space in the margins outside of the top and left side of the grid because you will need to write numbers there later. Make your boxes large enough for players to clearly write their names inside.
Fill up the boxes. For fundraisers, you can sell a raffle ticket for each box, which can be turned in for a prize for the person who chooses the winning box. Instruct your players to write their names in the boxes. There is no strategy or science involved. It is all chance, so they can choose the boxes that they feel are lucky for them. Do your best to fill up the entire board. Empty boxes mean there is a possibility that will have no winner.
Insert the numbers. Once your players have filled in the boxes, you must write in the numbers that will determine the winner. Write the numbers zero through nine on slips of paper and drop them into a hat. Pull out a slip and write that number above the box at the upper left-hand corner of the grid. Continue drawing and writing numbers until each column has a digit over top of it. Put the numbers back in the hat and follow the same process, this time writing the numbers along the left-hand side of the grid so that each row across has a number.
Determine your winner. The horizontal numbers are for team one and the vertical numbers are for team two, and thus these numbers declare the winner. For example, the final score of the game is 28 to 17. Find the column with the eight above it and then go down that column until you meet the box in the row that is marked by the sven. The person whose name appears in this box is your winner.
Tips
If you wish, you can have as many as four winners. Announce a winner by checking the score at the end of each quarter. If the score doesn't change, some people are lucky enough to win more than once.
If you are selecting more than one box for yourself, do not choose boxes that are in the same row or column. Choose a diagonal pattern. This gives you more number combinations and more chances to win.
Warnings
Do not insert the numbers outside of the grid until all the boxes have been filled. Players are not allowed to choose their numbers. You don't want players gobbling up all the sevens.
Many people like to give out cash prizes for football betting board games. Make sure that this is legal in your area.
If minors want to participate, have their parents purchase boxes for them.
Tips
- Determine the number of winners; up to four people may win. Announce a winner by checking the score at the end of each quarter. If the score doesn't change, some people are lucky enough to win more than once.
- Choose a diagonal pattern if you are selecting more than one box for yourself. This gives you more number combinations and more chances to win.
Warnings
- Do not insert the numbers outside of the grid until all the boxes have been filled. Players are not allowed to choose their numbers. You don't want players gobbling up all the sevens.
- Confirm that cash prizes are legal in your area, if this is your chosen prize.
- Ask parents of minors to purchase boxes for them; all participants should be over 18 or 21, depending on the laws in your particular state.
Writer Bio
J.L. Goldsworthy has been working in the publishing industry since 1996, serving as a commissioned editor and ghostwriter for various publishing entities and private authors, and holding the position of Managing Editor for Aldine de Gruyter Books.