The National Football League is the cream of the crop of professional sports leagues in North America. They have healthy franchises, strong marketing and merchandising, legions of rabidly devoted fans, and a very lucrative TV contract. But it is not without its flaws.

After the clock winds down to zero in the Superbowl, football fans are forced to go close to six months suffering NFL withdrawal pains—with only the Pro Bowl debacle and the NFL draft serving as appetizers in between.

Before the season kicks off for real in September, football fans are teased with second and third stringers sprinkled in with glimpses of their favorite players during the preseason. For football fans, it is the end of a long drought, for wise guys, it is an opportunity to put five months worth of study and analysis to use.

The NFL cycle will begin anew come the 6th of August, when Philly and Oakland meet in Canton, Ohio, for the Hall of Fame game.

The preseason’s profile has certainly grown over the past couple of years. Where people once followed with only passing interest, the NFL exhibition sked now gets its fair share of attention with a bevy of nationally televised games, including Monday Night Football.

Calvin Ayre founder and CEO of sportsbook Bodog and his line makers have noticed that interest in the NFL preseason is continually growing.

“[We’ve] seen a very large increase in the amount of wagers placed on the NFL preseason over the course of the last few years,” said Ayre.

“With the increased TV coverage and all the hype surrounding the upcoming season, we expect this trend to continue.”

Players are strapping on the pads and lacing up their cleats again and both bettors and sportsbooks alike are licking their chops in anticipation of another football season. Still, NFL preseason is a different beast and everybody must take a different approach when it comes to setting lines or wagering. There are a lot of things to take into account when trying to balance and get in on the action in the preseason.

“A number of adjustments are made in order to adapt to preseason football. Some of these include changes to the betting limits and type of wagering lines offered,” explained Ayre.

“The biggest difference would be in the Bodog.com bookmaking style. With the little information available, preseason lines can become quite volatile, so bookmakers are less inclined to take chances when it comes to moving the lines.” continued the Bodog boss.

“If one side is attracting heavy betting, the lines will be moved right away, whereas during the regular season, since the line is more solid, bookmakers might wait a little longer before making their move.”

Bettors for their part must make adjustments as well. It is one thing to bet on a team like Seattle when Matt Hasselbeck is going to take a majority of the snaps and a different thing altogether when a Seneca Wallace or a David Greene lines up behind center. But what games are ideal to bet on? Bettors too must change their mind set from that of the regular season.

“I’ve looked at a few games that have potential from a first pass,” said one sharp bettor.

“I still need to research what coaches are saying, who is coming out of camp in what position on the depth charts, particularly at the QB position.”

A team with a solid trio of quarterbacks, who will all see their fair share of preseason action, is likely to attract the eyes of seasoned bettors.

The sharp pointed to the Hall of Fame game as one that seemed intriguing.

“You’ve got Jeff Garcia up in Philly, there to backup Donovan McNabb,” he said.

“[Garcia] is looking to prove he still has value in the NFL after a couple of rough years and you’ve also got Koy Detmer, who has been a good preseason performer in past years. That’s a good 1-2 combo at QB, playing on a team coming off a disappointing year, both want to show well.”

In stark contrast, sportsbooks aren’t as picky when choosing which games they are looking forward to on the preseason sked.

“National television is [our] ‘bread and butter,’ and any television games will always be good for attracting bettors,” said Calvin Ayre when queried about exhibition preferences.

Since preseason results don’t count in a teams march to the playoffs, coaches are sometimes a little less guarded about strategy. The more laid back atmosphere of the press conferences can be of great use to people looking for the inside scoop.

“One of the reasons why I love preseason NFL betting is that if you pick your spots, you can find a few gems you would never see in the regular season,” explained the sharp.

“In preseason, coaches will actually tell you their gameplan (we’re starting Peyton Manning for one series, then the first stringers are gone, that’ll be followed by two quarters of Jim Sorgi etc.). You can work on looking at mismatches.”

Though sportsbooks get most of their action during the NFL’s regular season and playoffs, bettors shouldn’t discount the preseason.

“You certainly can’t compare the action on the preseason to the action on the Superbowl,” Ayre said.

“But the preseason certainly serves as the initiation for a lot of new football bettors, many of whom will use these games to predict the play of the teams over the course of the season.”