What an NFL odds API returns in play
An NFL odds API returns the football event alongside the markets your application displays. The event supplies the teams, score, clock and possession. Each selection carries a decimal price and implied probability, while the market carries its margin and an open or suspended state. Keep that state visible to your application so a price remains tied to whether the market accepts bets.
- Winner is the game outcome market, exposed as moneyline.
- next_drive_result offers touchdown, field goal or no score.
- score_next_3_min asks whether either side scores within the defined window.
Use GET /api/v1/events?sport=american-football&status=live to find games in play. Open /api/v1/stream?event={event_id} for streaming push of the full event market set once a second. REST supports the initial view; streaming carries subsequent prices and market states without repeated polling.
Starter includes winner prices. Growth and Enterprise add the drive and scoring window markets through the same interface. For a media board, display modeled prices with their source clearly identified. For an operator, use market state as part of the acceptance flow. The live odds API overview and API documentation explain the shared request and response structure.
How the drive model prices football
RealTimeBets models American football as a sequence of drives. Each offense has a modeled chance of a touchdown, field goal, punt or turnover. A touchdown contributes seven points in this model and a field goal contributes three. Punts and turnovers end the possession without adding points. These outcomes feed the expected scoring calculation behind the prices.
The clock determines the estimated number of drives remaining. The winner calculation combines the current score difference with expected points from those remaining possessions. As time runs down, fewer drives remain for a trailing team to recover. The scoring steps matter too. A field goal and a touchdown change the score by different amounts, so they produce different movements in the winner price.
The engine works at drive level. It does not price individual downs, distance to the first down or field position as a detailed play model. Product teams should assess that scope before planning next play or first down features. Those markets are outside this feed.
Prices are recomputed every second, including between drive results. The underlying probabilities come from the RealTimeBets model. They do not represent a consensus of US bookmakers or a copy of any sportsbook line.
Next drive and 3 minute micro-markets for NFL
The next drive result market opens before the offense takes the ball. Its selections are touchdown, field goal and no score. It locks when that drive starts and settles when the drive ends. A punt or turnover resolves as no score. The lock belongs to the specified drive, so an application needs to retain the market key rather than identify a bet by its display label alone.
The points in the next 3 minutes market has a defined start and end. It locks at the start of the window. A touchdown or field goal inside that window resolves yes at the first qualifying score. If neither occurs, it resolves no when the window closes. It asks whether points occur, not how many points either team scores.
Both markets follow the event timeline and arrive alongside winner prices on Growth and Enterprise. Your board can show the window, selections and lock time using the same market structure. Keep closed markets out of the acceptance path while retaining their identifiers for results.
The micro betting generator handles opening, pricing, suspension and resolution. Use the sandbox to inspect those transitions before connecting the markets to your production bet slip.
| Provider | Published price | Trial or key | Source of prices | Push for live | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RealTimeBets | From $499/mo ($249/mo yearly) | Sandbox key at signup, 60 s delay | Own drive model, every second | Yes, every plan | In-play winner, next drive micro-markets, settlement |
| The Odds API | $30 to $249/mo | 500 free credits a month | Aggregated bookmaker lines | No, polling | Pre-match NFL lines on a budget |
| SportsGameOdds | $99 to $299/mo, All-Star custom | Free Amateur tier | Aggregated, 80+ bookmakers | WebSocket on All-Star only | Props and quarter markets |
| odds-api.io | £49 to £229/mo, WebSocket costs the plan price again | New free keys paused | Aggregated, 415+ bookmakers | Yes, paid add-on | Many books per plan |
| OpticOdds | Not published, via sales | Via sales after a demo | Aggregated, 200+ sportsbooks | Yes | Odds screens, props, trading desks |
Suspension, risk and settlement on football Sundays
Touchdowns, field goals and turnovers trigger about ten seconds of suspension for affected football micro-markets. Prices then return after repricing. Punts end a drive without the same suspension. Your frontend should follow the published state, and your acceptance service should check that the market remains available before confirming a bet.
Growth includes the risk engine with liability per market, a stake cap per customer and a sharp flag that halves limits. Send a proposed bet for a risk check before accepting it, then record accepted bets so they contribute to liability and can settle. These controls support your trading policy; you remain responsible for the markets and customer access your state license permits.
Settlement uses HMAC SHA-256 signed webhooks. A bet.settled delivery identifies the recorded bet and its result. Verify the signature over the timestamp and raw body with your endpoint secret, and check the delivery identifier before applying a wallet transaction. Duplicate deliveries should not produce duplicate payments.
Your platform retains customer accounts and the wallet. RealTimeBets supplies pricing, market state and settlement messages. The sportsbook API describes that flow, while the risk engine page explains the controls available to your trading team.
NFL odds API pricing and plans
Choose a plan for the markets and operating tools your product needs. REST and streaming push are included on every plan. The pricing page lists monthly and yearly billing.
- Starter costs $499/mo or $249/mo billed yearly. It includes live odds REST and streaming push for 3 sports, winner prices, an event data feed, 500,000 requests, 2 streaming connections, widgets and signed settlement webhooks.
- Growth costs $1,999/mo or $999/mo billed yearly. It includes every sport and CS2, the micro-market generator with automatic suspension, the risk engine, model pricing with your margin, 5,000,000 requests and 10 streaming connections.
- Enterprise costs $4,999/mo or $2,499/mo billed yearly. It adds a white label front on your domain, wallet integration, cash out, SSO, an audit log and a 99.95% uptime SLA.
A sandbox key is issued at signup. It covers 1 sport with a 60 s delay and 1,000 requests over 7 days. Payloads carry "sandbox": true. Use it to check parsing, stream updates, lock times and settlement handling before switching to live production traffic.
Production keys require a paid plan and a stored license number, regulator and country. Affiliates and odds or media sites follow the same production access path. Sandbox access does not require a gambling license.
When you need an NFL odds aggregator instead
If your product shows DraftKings, FanDuel or BetMGM lines, buy an aggregator that carries those books. The same applies to bookmaker spreads, totals, player props and historical NFL odds. RealTimeBets supplies modeled winner and drive markets. It does not supply those books' prices or their recorded line history.
The Odds API, SportsGameOdds, OpticOdds and odds-api.io are aggregator options. Confirm the exact sportsbooks, NFL markets, history and display rights in the package you select. A broad bookmaker count does not establish that your required prop or historical period is included. Also check whether live push is included, an add-on or restricted to a particular plan.
Read The Odds API alternatives, OpticOdds pricing and our SportsGameOdds alternative guide when preparing that comparison. The table below distinguishes the source of prices and delivery method alongside published costs.
Engine games currently include replays of fictional teams tagged Replay. Games from the licensed data feed are tagged Live.
NFL is a trademark of its owner. RealTimeBets uses it only as the phrase buyers search and does not claim official league data or any partnership.