beating the spread

[NotHereToPlayGames]

Strictly a curiosity question.

I'm not a gambler and I don't bet.  But...  Something has piqued my curiosity.

This question pertains to "beating the spread" and just how that "works".

A nearby NCAA basketball team has done "much better than average" this season, especially pre-conference play.

So they keep landing in national news much more than often on account of that "success".

But here is my "observation", they keep getting before-game "spreads" in DOUBLE DIGITS.

But RARE are their double-digit WINS.

Which leads to my curiousity...

I can't help but be curious on how "betting" AGAINST them would have benefited anyone that may have bet them to LOSE.

Because unless I'm mistaken, if the "spread" is DOUBLE DIGITS but they only win by SINGLE digits, then they technically LOST and betting for that LOSS is a *WIN*.

So how much would a person have "won" if, purely as an example, say $100 was bet that they would NOT beat the spread in FIVE consecutive games and regardless of them WINNING those FIVE games, they DID NOT BEAT THE SPREAD, so they didn't "win" in that sense.