Gambling 101: What is a Backdoor Cover?

Welcomed by the winning side, and dreaded by the losing side, sports betting tickets sometimes end with backdoor cover. This phenomenon often occurs when a team scores points, usually late in a game, that causes one side to cover the point spread. Backdoor covers can occur with favorites or underdogs and bettors on the losing side often refer to them as a bad beat. Points scored late, that don’t affect the outright winner, can create a backdoor cover.

Backdoor Covers are Common in Football

While they can affect all sorts of wagers, in virtually any sport, backdoors covers are common in NFL and US college football. Week 2 of the 2019 NCAA football season gave us a solid example as defending…