Updated on: October 3rd, 2024
American Football Conference betting (also known as AFC betting) forms a big part of National Football League betting – the most popular form of sports gambling in the United States. As one of the two conferences of the NFL, the AFC is home to 16 teams in the league. In fact, in recent years, it seems that it has been almost been more profitable to pick an AFC team to win the Super Bowl, particularly the New England Patriots, who have won it three times in the last five years.
With half the games in the league involving AFC teams, many avid US football bettors are looking to learn more about how they can get the edge when betting on these teams. Well, if you are one such bettor, all you need to do is carry on reading. Down below we have got our NFL AFC betting guide, which is filled with helpful tips needed to place more successful bets on the league along with a list of the top online gambling sites.
Best AFC Betting Sites 2024
Min Deposit: $20
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Min Deposit: $15
Popular AFC Championship Betting Lines
Experienced bettors already know that many of the regular season AFC lines will be available on the Championship game too. Generally, big games just open the door for new prop bets at sports betting sites that aren’t always available throughout the season. If you are new to betting on the NFL in general, below is a list of the most popular AFC Championship game betting lines:
- AFC Point Spread Bets – usually, these are the most popular AFC Championship game lines. They tend to be the most popular bets on the NFL throughout the season really. Basically, a favorite is declared in a matchup. That favorite is then given a handicap to beat in order to “win” the game. Bettors wager on whether or not the favorite will be able to overcome the handicap.
- Moneylines – these are bets made on a team to win. It is important to note the difference between a moneyline and a future bet.
- Futures – these are bets made on a team to win the Conference long before the championship game actually takes place. The further in future the match is due to take place, the more likely you are to get AFC Championship game odds that will gift you big real money wins.
- Totals – these are bets made on what the total score of a match will be combined. Sportsbooks will set multiple lines and then players bet over or under these lines.
- Props – these bets are generally where the variations in wagering options come in for betting AFC Championship. Basically, these are bets made on happenings during the game. Bets can be made on anything from who will score first to whether or not the team will soak their coach in water if they win.
Top AFC Betting Tips
While these aren’t game specific tips, considering them when you make bets on NFL AFC games will lead you to making better bets, which means more money at the end of the season. That said, we won’t guarantee that using these tips will lead you to making winning bets every single time.
- Analyze Teams and Matchups – it is very important to make sure that you analyze each overall matchup you want to bet on. You want to look at the form of both teams involved, the players set to be in the starting line-up and their overall progression throughout the season. This should generally tell you whether or not a team will be good enough to beat their opponent.
- Keep Up With Stats – a very big part of making good bets is analyzing the overall performance of teams not only throughout the season, but over years too. This will help you deduce how matchups may go. This is particularly important when checking who is favored in the AFC Championship game as you are able to determine whether public betting trends are accurate or just fueled by people riding assumptions.
- Shop for Odds – this really should go without saying, but you must shop for odds every time you are looking to make a bet. Some sportsbooks will offer better odds than others, meaning a greater potential to make more money. You really don’t want to place a bet at one sportsbook only to find out later that you could have made more money at another.
Current AFC Championship Odds
While AFC Championship betting odds change throughout the season, these are the sort of odds teams are looking at when placing futures on each of the conference’s teams this year. As expected, the New England Patriots lead the pack in terms of AFC Championship game odds.
| AFC Teams | Odds |
| New England Patriots | +400 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | +500 |
| Cleveland Browns | +700 |
| Los Angeles Chargers | +700 |
| Indianapolis Colts | +800 |
| Houston Texans | +1200 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | +1200 |
| Baltimore Ravens | +1600 |
| Jacksonville Jaguars | +1600 |
| Raiders | +2200 |
| Denver Broncos | +2500 |
| New York Jets | +2500 |
| Tennessee Titans | +2800 |
| Buffalo Bills | +3300 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | +5000 |
| Miami Dolphins | +6600 |
AFC History
The American Football Conference was created when the American Football League merged with the National Football League in 1970. The AFL initially started out in 1960 as a small sporting league featuring a total of eight teams, which would increase to ten as the years went by. When the league merged with the NFL, three teams from the NFL (Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers and the Indianapolis Colts) were made to move over to the AFC in order to equalize the two new conferences.
Since its formation, five teams have joined the AFC and two have left. These teams include the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans and for some time the Seattle Seahawks who now form part of the NFC West. Since 2002, the league has seen no further new addition with last new team being the Texans.
Overall, the AFC has been rather predictable over the last decade, with only five different teams making it to the final; these being the New England Patriots (5 times), Denver Broncos (2 times), Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens (1 time). Even more surprising is the fact that these teams have mostly had one of three quarterbacks in starting position: Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger. This fact should make betting on the AFC a lot easier, especially in terms of futures.
