Football Betting Guide
If you check online sportsbooks, you’ll find that they all offer betting on football. It’s the bread and butter of online sports betting and a sport that most bettors bet on. However, new bettors might be confused about where to start.
In this guide, we’ll cover the most important aspects of football betting online, including the odds, most popular markets, and share a few tips too.
Understanding Football Betting Odds
When betting on football online, you’ll need to understand the odds. Betting odds at online sportsbooks represent the likelihood of something occurring in a match. Of course, they also represent how much you’re likely to win depending on your stake in a particular market.
- If the odds are low (e.g. 1.10 in decimal odds), it means an outcome is very likely to happen.
- When the odds are high (for example 3.50), it means that an outcome is less likely.
- The odds for soccer matches are displayed in eight decimal (example: 1.20), fractional (2/1), or American format (+110).
- Most online bookies have a switch that can convert the odds to a suitable format.
The Different Types of Online Football Bets
One of the reasons why bettors place football bets is the variety of markets. There are plenty of football bets to put your money on with varying levels of difficulty. Some are easy for beginners, others are more suitable for seasoned bettors. Let’s take a look at the most popular types of football bets you’ll find online.
Match Winner
The first football bet is the most obvious and popular one. By placing a match winner, you’re betting on one team to win the match. You can choose one team or the other – the ones with shorter odds will be the favorite.
Match Result (Correct Score)
If you want higher returns, you can always try and predict the match result. Usually abbreviated as correct score, this bet allows you to predict the score at the end of the match. It’s much harder to predict the correct score than to pick the winner, which means this market usually has longer odds.
Outright Bet
Outrights refer to choosing the winner of a tournament or competition. They’re often categorised as futures. This long-term type of market can be profitable if you place a bet a long time before the event. As the end approaches, the outright odds for a team or player are likely to get shorter.
Half-Time/Full-Time
This two-part bet lets you predict the score at half-time and full-time. It has a much higher level of difficulty than predicting the match winner. It requires getting the prediction right at HT and FT and often with lucrative odds.
Over/Under
The O/U market is an interesting way to bet on football. The goal is to predict if a match goes over or under the line set by a bookie. Usually, this refers to goals or points scored. For example, you can bet on over or under 3 goals in a derby between Manchester United and Manchester City. It doesn’t matter who scores the goals – as long as the total is over or under the line, your correct prediction will win.
Goal Betting
Goal betting refers to placing bets on how many goals will be scored in a match. For example, you can predict that the match will see 3 or more goals scored. Just like over/under, it’s the total number of goals that counts.
Double Chance
With double chance, your goal is to predict 2 out of the 3 main outcomes in a football match. For example, you can back Manchester City to win the derby or draw. As long as Manchester United doesn’t win, your bet wins.
Draw No Bet
Draw no bet covers either team to win. If the match ends in the most unpopular result—a draw—you’ll have your bet back.
Goalscorer Betting
In the past few years, goalscorer betting has become pretty popular. Many sportsbooks even offer boosted odds on certain goalscorers. Anytime goalscorer is the most popular type of market, although you can also bet on the first/last goalscorer or a player to score 2, 3 or more goals.
Both Teams to Score
The BTTS market lets you predict if both teams score in the match. It doesn’t matter if it ends 1-1, 2-2, or 3-1 for either team – if both teams score, your bet wins.
Handicap Bets
Handicaps aim to level the playing field between two teams uneven in quality. If, for example, City is handicapped -1.5, it needs to win by 2 or more goals for your bet to win. Similarly, weaker teams might be handicapped with a positive goal advantage. As long as they don’t lose over the specified number of goals, you’re good to go.
How to Place Football Bets?
Placing football bets online is the easiest thing. The mechanism at most sportsbooks is simple – you just click on the odds in any market on offer to add them to your slip.
This makes it easy to build a bet or create accas. If you need help with anything, talking to the customer support team is the best way to get answers.
Football Betting Tips
Successful football betting relies on luck and experience together. This means that there are a few tips that can help you master the art of football betting and are good to know before you start.
Manage Your Bankroll
First things first – if you don’t put limits on your budgets and bets, it’ll be depleted before you know it. Manage your bankroll to bet responsibly and stay in the game for longer – that’s the main goal.
Do Your Research
There are a lot of stats involved in football, and you’d do well to do your research before placing your bets. Take a look at the stats from previous matches to possibly find patterns that might make your bets easier. Look at the H2H between teams, and check for injuries and the latest team news. Every little bit helps, so doing research before placing football bets is imperative.
Choose Trusted Sportsbooks
Always go with trusted and most reliable sportsbooks if you want a proper football betting experience. Not all football betting sites are the same, and some can’t be trusted. Check out reviews and real bettor comments before you take a dive into the world of football betting sportsbooks.