THREE downs and 12 players on a 110yd pitch. The differences between Canadian and American football are marked, but CFL league betting offers summer solace and a variety of highlights for online betting fans.

Eight teams in two divisions play in a 19-week season from June to November. Following the regular season, the six teams with the best records (regardless of Conference) compete in the league's three-week playoffs, which culminate in the late-November Grey Cup championship, the country's largest annual televised sports event.

Never undersold, and always a genuine spectacle: the Super Bowl and enhanced Super bowl betting invariably represent a climactic finale to the NFL season.

Thirty two teams begin each season with dreams of upsetting the odds and reaching the final, which will be held in Dallas in 2011.

Predictions are plentiful, but regular season fixtures will give the clearest evidence of which teams are worthy of consideration for your Super bowl bet.

The NFL is 90 years old. Now made up of 32 teams and generating billions of pounds each year, it has become a global brand.

NFL betting has grown in unison over the past 25 years since Channel 4 were the first British broadcaster to show match highlights.

As NFL football betting has increased, so too has the interest in the game, with UK broadcaster Sky showing many fixtures live and the internet providing a news and results service.

Owners of teams in the National Football League will be keeping the current overtime format for the regular season despite rule changes for playoff games, according to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

"I think the membership felt and the competition committee felt we had addressed the issue we wanted this off-season with respect to the post-season", said Goodell. "We want to continue to talk to our players".

Back in March, team owners voted a majority 28-4 to amend the tie-breaker over-time rules for the playoffs, which modified the sudden death format.