Football is the biggest sport for betting, matched only by horse racing. There’s always a game to bet on worldwide all year round. Football is such a popular sport to bet on that bookmakers do
Football is the biggest sport for betting, matched only by horse racing. There’s always a game to bet on worldwide all year round. Football is such a popular sport to bet on that bookmakers do offer bets on minor league games. Here, we will show you how to bet on football and how to develop your football betting skills.
This will be a two-part guide: click here for part 2 of this guide
There are literally hundreds of games to bet on across dozens of bookmakers everyday, especially on the weekends, everything from the Premier League to friendlies to minor league games. Here are some of the basic betting markets that you need to be aware of:
- Match bet – This is the most common and mos popular type of bet to make. Here, you are betting on the final outcome of the game: win, lose, or draw.
- Over/Under Goals – This is where you bet on the number of goals being scored. Over 2.5 goals means you’re betting on at least 3 goals to be scored in the game. Under 2.5 goals means you’re betting on less than 3 goals to be scored in the game. This market typically offers Over/Under 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5, 5.5 goals and so on
- Btts – This is where you are betting on both teams to score in the course of the game
- Half-Time/Full-Time – This is where you are betting on which team will win by HT and FT
- Goalscorer – This is where you are betting on who will score a goal in the course of the game. You can either bet on a player to be the first goalscorer or to score at any time
- Correct score – This is where you are betting on the final score of the game
Some bookies may offer a combination of the above for enhanced odds, e.g. “both teams to score and 2.5 goals”.
Accumulators
There are several ways to place you bet: you can either place individual bets on individual matches which is the most common way to bet on football, or you can place several bet on several games as an accumulator (acca). When you make an acca bet, all the selections in your acca have to win in order to win your acca bet, therefore accas are much harder to win than single bets but the odds and the rewards are much higher when you do win. As a beginner with limited funds, it’s not a bad idea to place an acca bet rather than betting on several singles so that you reduce your risk of losing a lot of money. At least in the beginning, it’s about developing your experience while reducing your risk.
Cashing-Out
Traditionally, you bet is settle after the conclusion of the game, so you either receive all of your winnings or you lose your entire stake. However, some bookies offer the option to cash-out, in which you can settle your bet while the game is still in-play. By cashing-out, can you either lock in a guaranteed (but smaller) win, or you can cut your losses so that you are not losing your entire stake.
Special Offers
Football is such a popular sport to bet on that almost every bookmaker will offer their own special promotions to bet with them. These offers are typical enchanced odds, accas or free bets. We would advise you to shop around to as these offers may offer you more value compared the regular betting market.
Now that you understand that basics, let’s discuss some strategy in a bit more detail in part 2 of this guide.