An Insider’s Look into Football Betting

You love football right? So do we, it’s fair to say that when we are not watching football, we are reading about it and when not reading about it, we are talking about it! Such is the impact of football on our lives, it is a truly global, 24-hour obsession.

Online football betting has exploded in popularity! You only need to watch the TV adverts at halftime to see how many betting companies are now advertising. Not only has the amount of companies offering bets increased but also the range of bets you can now place. It’s not uncommon to see over 200 things you can bet on during a football match, this guide will help you identify the value football bets.

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Finding Football Bets Online

Footy fans have it pretty easy compared to other sports. Being of course our national sport and the lifelong passion of many men and women, football is almost always the most prominent sport you will see on the sites.

All top betting sites list their football bets in a similar way. The most popular bets are listed first, sometimes you need to do a bit of digging around to find the more obscure bets but as we will explain in this football betting guide, sometimes the less popular markets are where the value bets are.

1X2 Betting on Football

The most common and one of the easiest ways to bet on a match. To win the bet, you have to correctly predict the game’s full time result.

Example:

It’s Tottenham against Juventus. You can either back Spurs to win (9/5), Old Lady to come on top (6/4) or the teams to share the points (23/10). To win, your guess has to be right.

Double Chance

Just like 1X2 betting, you can choose from three selections, but the outcome probability is much bigger which is good as a covering bet. Sadly, the odds are also very significantly lowered. That’s because different outcomes are grouped together and the probability of these results happening are much higher.

Example:

Everton host Liverpool in the Merseyside derby. You are not sure about the outcome, you fancy Liverpool but wonder if the Evertonians could scrape a draw. The Double Chance bets are as follows: Liverpool and Draw (1/6); Everton and Draw (5/4) and Everton and Liverpool (2/9).

Draw No Bet

Draw no Bet is a football bet that removes altogether the draw from the available selections. If the game ends without a winner, your stake will be returned.

Example:

Manchester City entertain Hull City at the Etihad Stadium and the Draw-no-Bet odds for the match are Man City (1/6) and Hull City (8/1). If the game ends in a draw, the bookmaker will refund your stake.

Correct Score

“Any idea on the what the score will be tonight?”, this little conversation starter takes place throughout the UK on a daily basis and probably ranks up there with discussions on the weather! An easy to understand bet, predict the exact score and you win, anything else is a loss.

Example:

Arsenal play Leicester and you can’t shake off the feeling that the Gunners will win by one goal to nil. Any football fan who was around in the 90’s will remember that this was how Arsenal used to win most of their games back then. In the 90’s you would have received low odds for that score line, today you are likely to be offered about 6/1.

Both Teams to Score

‘Both teams to score’ (also referred to as BTTS ) is one of our favourite bets, the beauty lies in its simplicity. You choose between ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ and your bet will be settled, depending on whether both teams score during the match.

Example:

Newcastle play Swansea at home and we pick “Both teams to score – No’ at 11/10. This means we will be winners if after the end of the game at St. James’ Park the final score shows at least one zero! A goalless draw will also mean the bet comes up trumps for us. If we had instead opted for the ‘Yes’ choice, the bookmaker will pay out as soon as each team has scored.

Handicaps / Alt HC / Asian Handicap

Handicap betting is a great way to enhance odds if you have a feeling that your selection will win. Handicap betting in football betting means an advantage for one of the sides that is given beforehand and is then applied to the final result of the game.

Example:

You are absolutely certain that Manchester United will beat Hull City in their trip to the KCOM stadium, but the price of 4/6 hardly seems worth touching. So you decide to go for the Red Devils with a handicap of (-1), this gives the much better 8/5 odds. So if we consider this scenario in this bet, there are 3 available outcomes after the game is finished;

1. Manchester United win by at least 2 goals or more. Handicap result is Man Utd, so our selection wins.
2. Manchester United win the match against Hull by exactly 1 goal. Handicap result is a Tie, so our selection loses.
3. If the game ends in a draw or a West Brom win then the handicap result is a WBA win, so our selection loses.

Asian Handicap

The Asian handicap is almost the same as a normal handicap is that the draw is removed from the equation. Another difference is that the Asian HC may consist 2 values, one whole and one half number.

Example:

Liverpool host Leicester and we bet £3 on the scousers with Asian Handicap (-1.0, -1.5) at Evens.

1. Liverpool win by 2 goals or more. The selection wins and we get full payout for our stake.
2. Liverpool win by exactly one goal. Our selection wins, but we are paid only half of the prize.
3. The match ends in a draw or a Leicester win. Our bet counts as lost.

Goals Galore – The Betting Market

A bobble off the defender’s backside or a Beckhamesque shot from the halfway line? Who cares? As long as they go in, they all count, right? Scoring can mean points but it can also mean pounds when you play on the goal market!

Footy Goal Scorers

What a season we had last year, with Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy scoring in 11 consecutive Premier League games, who would have thought that at the beginning of the season?

Jamie beat previous record holder Ruud van Nistelrooy’s spree on ten games but did you know that the

all-time record is still held by Dixie Dean, the Everton club legend who scored in 12 consecutive Division Two matches in 1930-31.

The bookies offer odds on every player on the pitch, you will of course receive lower odds for star strikers or players in form, midfield and defenders will usually have the highest odds. However, don’t dismiss defenders totally! Some of the best covering bets we have had, have included defenders. Names such as John Terry, Ian Harte and Leighton Baines have all been heroes in our eyes for at least a day!!!

At some bookmakers you can select an each-way bet on the first goal scorer, if they don’t score first but score the 2^nd goal then you would receive a payout.

If you think the star striker is going to have an amazing game, then why not bet on the player scoring more than one goal? You can get pretty decent odds on a player scoring two or even three goals, even if they are the most prolific scorers in the league.

Example:

We back Diego Costa to score first against Liverpool (5/1).

1. The Spanish international grabs the first goal. Our selection wins.
2. John Terry finds the net first, but Costa doubles Chelsea’s lead 5 minutes later. If the Each Way rules apply, we will be awarded a fraction of the win odds, this is likely to be ⅓ of the odds (so not worth it with odds this low).
3. A disappointing game for Diego Costa, he doesn’t score at all. Our bet counts as lost.

Diego Costa is 5/1 for first goal and you can get the same 5/1 odds for him to score the last goal or even 6/4 for him to score at any point in the match. In our experience it is a risky bet on a top striker getting the last goal, they are very often substituted around the 75-minute mark. We often find that defenders make a great outside bet for last goals (due to the fact they are rarely substituted and go up for corners).

As we mentioned previously, you get much better odds if you pick a player to score more than once during the game. Costa is 6/4 to score one goal at any time. He is 17/2 to score 2 goals and a whopping 40/1 to score a hat trick. I only wish I had been around in the late 50’s when Jimmy Greaves managed to score 13 hat-tricks from 1957 to 1961 at his time with Chelsea!

Next Goal Scorer/ Time/ Method/ Live

One of the best aspects about betting live is that you are not just restricted to which player scores the next goal! You can bet on which team, the time of the next goal and a quite fun bet is the method of the next goal. You can bet on whether the goal will be scored with a shot, a header or from the penalty spot. Time of next goal usually covers a set number of minutes and you will find that this varies with different bookmakers.

Example:

At half time we wager a fiver on two bets: 1. Next goal will be scored by a header; 2. The next goal to be scored before 60 minutes has been played.

1. In the 52^nd minute, Zlatan Ibrahimovic towers in the opponents’ box and heads home. Both our bets win.
2. Memphis Depay converts an 89^th minute penalty. Old Trafford erupts, both our bets fail.

Goal Bands in Football Bets

Another easy to understand bet! We are trying to predict the number of goals that will be scored during a match. The usual grouping is 0-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6+.

Example:

We predict that El Clasico will produce 4 or 5 goals.

1. As the full time whistle is blown, the result is Barcelona – Real Madrid 3-2. Catalonia is happy, so are we as we have just beat the bookie.
2. Los Blancos manage to beat Blaugranas 3-0. Which means that there is no joy for Lionel Messi nor our account balance.

Scorecast / Wincast

So you want to show off your betting prowess right? Well there is no better arena than the Scorecast market. To win this you have to pick the first goal scorer (not the easiest of markets) but also the correct score. This is a difficult feat but if you pull it off (ohh err Mrs), then great riches could be on the way to you! A Wincast is similar but a bit easier as you don’t need to specify the score, just the result.

Example:

Chelsea play Liverpool in a pre-season. We put a £10 Scorecast on Eden Hazard to score first and Chelsea to win 3-0.

1. Eden Hazard does open the score line, but there are no more goals in the game. We lose our bet.
2. Eden Hazard scores first, this experimental Chelsea side put Liverpool to the sword and the game does indeed finish 3-0, drinks are on us as the odds are 110/1 and our £10 bet sees us partying well into the night!

Punters like these types of bets as the pay-outs are usually higher than having two separate bets on the correct score and first goal scorer plus the fact you get bragging rights. It is one of the hardest things to do in football betting to get the exact score line and the first goal scorer.

Bookmakers love these bets and if you walk past a physical bookmaker’s shop in England then you will see huge posters offering “Rooney to score first and Manchester United to win at 18/1” or similar promotions. Remember though, Bookies love these bets for a reason! The margins for the operator are huge and in the crazy game of football, anything can and probably will happen (Manchester United 8 Arsenal 2, Greece wins Euro 2004, Denmark champions of Europe (1992), Artmedia 5-0 Celtic (2005), UEFA Cup to Galatasaray (2000) the list goes on).

Team to Score First, Second or Last

Although a lot of people place these bets before a game, these are one of the bets I like to place whilst watching a game on TV. If I see it has been constant pressure from a certain team, I will often back them to score the first goal (or next goal if there has already been a goal), the best piece advice here is really about knowing the teams. If a team plays counter attacking football, you expect them to be under periods of intense pressure for much of the match so I wouldn’t rush to put a bet on.

Example: Northern Ireland are at home to Spain and Northern Ireland are 9/2 odds to break the deadlock. The final score is completely meaningless for us as our bet is settled as soon as the first goal is scored.

Time of Goal Betting

One of my most satisfying bets was not at an online bookmaker but betting with a friend on how much time would be added on after a Euro 2016 game between England and Iceland. I just knew there would be three extra minutes added on! Was this based on an accurate calculation of the game where I mentally added up all the stoppages? No, I just had one of those weird gut feelings, I was that convinced I would have bet £50 with him if he would have accepted it.

The great thing about the time of first goal market is that you don’t need to be as exact in your prediction. Although the exact bands can change between the different companies, they tend to follow the same logic.

In the example above the slots for the goal scored are roughly 14 minutes, as you can see you can also bet on there not being a goal within a slot.

Example: Borussia Dortmund are playing Manchester City in the pre-season International Champions Cup. I place a £100 bet on a goal being scored between 31 and 45 minutes.

After 35 minutes, Aguero (shouldn’t that be Aggggggguuuuueeeerrrrooooooo – Ed?) scores a peach of a volley in to the German’s net – We celebrate with the Argentinian striker as the bookie pays us out £260.

Over / Under Betting in Football

I mentioned in the last section how having a gut feeling will often drive my bets, pretty sure many experts will scoff at this very notion of betting with your heart rather than your head but I would counter by asking how many experts predicted Leicester City to get into the Champions League spot? Never mind them actually winning England’s toughest competition (**insert Liverpool joke here**).

So whilst I do believe studying form, knowing teams and tight money management are essential parts of successful sports betting, I also feel there is room for intuition as well.

This is part of the reason that over/under betting (also called goal line betting) is one of my favourite bets. What I love about it is that unlike Scorecast bets, over/under betting is very forgiving. You just decide if the total number of goals will be over or under the specified number, it really is that simple. If you decide there will be over two goals and seven are scored, it doesn’t matter, you still win!

In the past certain fixtures have been goalfests, back in the 90’s, Liverpool and Newcastle games would very rarely disappoint in the goal mouth stakes and attacking teams like Manchester United (Pre Moyes and LVG), Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham in recent times have been given and taken severe goal beatings.

The way it works is that the Bookmaker sets a certain number of goals (this is also called the line) and you have to predict if the total amount of goals will be above or below that number.

Example:

Derbies are famous with the impressive score lines they can and often do produce. We’ve seen multiple 5-2’s, 5-4 and a 5-1 just in North London derbies alone so we decide to put some cash on over 4.5 goals on Saturday’s late kick off at the Emirates. Tottenham stun Arsenal with an almost tiki-taka style of play and win by three goals to two. This means the total of 5 goals means we have won our bet.

Naughty, Naughty – Cards Market

We’ve all witnessed at least one of those games, when you get the feeling that nothing is happening on the pitch. A tedious goalless draw, no desire for fight shown by either side, a real snoozefest and you start to wonder if watching Golf (or paint dry) is more your thing. I have been a victim to many of these games (last one was Cherno More v Ludogorets in Bulgaria).

You may struggle to take any positives to these types of games but they are great for betting on the “under” market for cards shown. This is particularly true for end of season games when both teams have nothing to play for. It may sound obvious but I also keep my distance if its two local teams playing each other or if Vinnie Jones or Paul Scholes have announced that they are coming out of retirement.

Example:

We have a hunch that Sunday’s reunion between Celtic and Rangers once again will turn into a bookings bloodbath. Celtic end the game with 7 yellow cards and a straight red, while Rangers contribute ‘only’ 5 official warnings. As the points system is different from bookie to bookie, let’s say a yellow is awarded with 1 point and a red with 3, the card points count for this game is 15. All over 15.5 predictions will be loss and any bet with lower value will grant a return.

Betting on how many Corners

Corners are another option to place your over/under bets. You are not limited to the total number of corners, you can also bet on the home side or the visitors’ tally as well as the total amount. An important thing to remember is that the corner-kick has to be taken in order to count for the statistics. So if there have been 11 corners and a 12^th is awarded but the ref blows for half-time before it is taken, the count will still be 11.

Example:

We are browsing the fixtures list and looking for a potential open, end-to-end game of attacking football. Arsenal – Liverpool seems like an informed choice. These sides love to attack! We bet £10 on over 10.5 corners and sit back and relax.

The first half ends and we are already at 8, which is really promising. What is great (or bad, depending on your bet) about betting on corners is that any side can be awarded with multiple corners in very quick succession. That’s exactly what happens, another Liverpool attack and Arsenal’s defence are in fine form, blocking all the attempted shots but at the cost of plenty of corners. By the hour mark we are already at 13 corners and our bet is well and truly won.

• Odd / Even Betting in Football

This is the equivalent of a roulette wheel in sports betting if you like, I’m convinced there is no skill involved in these bets, over a multitude of events (goals, cards, corners, goals) you decide if the final result of that event will be odd or even.

Example:

We bet that Luton – Grimsby will produce an even number of goals. At the start of the second half we’re confident with the score being 1-1, but any goal will turn things around and then we will have to hope for another one goal by any means.

Halves

The best thing about betting online on football is the enormous variety of available options. You are not obliged to bet on the final outcome of the game, as there are a number of markets that concern just one of the halves or both separately.

Half Time / Full Time

Half time / full time combos can be a fun bet and if you combine it with another bet then it can add great value to your selections. With this type of bet, you’re betting on the result of the match at half-time and full-time and you need both aspects of the bet to be correct to win. Altogether there are 9 possible combinations of bets.

Example:

PSG are playing Leicester City and I expect a closely fought encounter. I suspect it will be 0-0 at half time but PSG will score late in the 2^nd half. The odds on a PSG victory are 8/15. The odds on a draw at half time and PSG to win 2^nd half are 4/1 so I can combine these two bets to give better value. Highest scoring half result– this is a bet on which half will produce the most goals. This is a great bet if a team has a habit of scoring goals late on or if a team is renowned for conceding late goals. A good tactic for this type of bet is when you have a top team playing a club from the lower divisions. The gulf in both class and fitness tends to show itself in the later stages of a game and you will often see the minnows begin to tire.

Example:

For the PSG game, first half to have most goals is 2/1, 2^nd half is 1/1 and for both halves to have the same amount of goals is 5/2.

Halftime / Fulltime

Another firm favourite with many footy punters is the HT/FT market, you predict the halftime result and the full time result. This is a market that I have used extensively and shown some pretty good returns.

It’s not unusual (as Tom Jones would sing) for the less fancied team to take a surprise lead at halftime and then the other team play better the 2^nd half and win the match. These swings are very profitable. If you also add into the mix any trends you have noticed, for example; Last season Manchester United failed to score in the first half an amazing 22 times by April. I took advantage of this and in each game I bet on the HT result being either a draw or the opposition leading, this worked well to my advantage. To win either half

• This market concerns the 45-minute periods separately.

Example:

Lincoln City play Blackburn in the FA cup and we back Rovers to win at least one of the halves at 11/10. Turns out it is the Imps afternoon and they manage to put 4 past Blackburn inside the first half. The tie is practically settled, when the away side scores a late goal with 5 minutes to go. It doesn’t make much of a difference to the result, but it’s vital for us, the second half’s score is 1-0 to Lincoln and our bet wins.

• to score/not to score

Another easy to understand bet, you just decide if a team will score or not. It is worth mentioning that the market is for 90 minutes, if a game goes into extra time then any goals scored in that time do not count.

Variations on this are half-time correct score and half time /full time correct score. Half time / Full time correct score is a really difficult one to predict, of course the odds reflect this difficulty.

This is just a small selection of the many different bets that all the best online sports betting sites have, other bets include;

Draw No Bet, Match Winner and Both Teams to Score Combo, Win/Draw/Win and Total Goals, Correct Score, Home Team Time of First Goal, Away Team Time Of First Goal, 1st Half Away No Bet, Team To Score In Both Halves 1st Half Goal Bands, Team To Keep A Clean Sheet, Any Team To Lead At Halftime And Not Win, Half With Most Goals and many more. With bookmakers competing with each other to bring immersive, engaging markets, it is worth checking regularly to see what is new.

Specials

You can find some pretty bizarre markets at some of the sports bookmakers, some of them are nothing to do with sport such as the next Eurovision Song Contest winner or the sex of the next royal baby! These can be a welcome distraction, 2016 was pretty much the year of the surprises with bookmakers getting many predictions wrong (Brexit vote and Leicester being champions are just two off the top of my head). Let’s have a look at some more football related specials.

Winning Margin

This bet requires you to predict the winning margin of the game, in this bet it doesn’t matter which side wins, as long as the margin is what we have guessed.

Example:

We bet that the winning margin of Chelsea – Manchester City will be 3 goals. The list of results that will grant us a return, consists either side to win, 3-0, 4-1, 5-2, 6-3, 7-4 etc. This is a good pocket bet which is good to combine with other bets.

Results Minute Markets

As we covered in the time of first goal market, most online bookies offer their customers betting markets for exact portion of the game for several different outcomes. Will that interval see a goal? Will there be more than 8.5 corners by 70 minutes? Will a player be booked between 40:00 and 49:59? The choices are almost endless.

Clean Sheet

If a team or even both teams have a good solid defence then the clean sheet market is a good one to cover, quite simply you are stating if a team will have a goal scored against them or not.

Penalty

“Are you blind referee? That was never a peno!” Ahh, there is nothing more divisive than football and our team loyalties can sometimes affect how we see the action. I guess we all suffer the convenient temporary blindness that Arsene Wenger claims to have in certain circumstances. However, I digress, the penalty market is again, a fun side bet. Simply decide if there will be a penalty or not… simples!

Red Card Y/N

Regardless of the way they are shown, two yellows always translate into a red, it doesn’t even need to be a dirty game! The young, enthusiastic striker is so relieved to have finally scored in seven attempts that he takes off his shirt to celebrate, five minutes later, a slightly mistimed tackle and he’s heading to the showers! The one tip I would share on this one is of course bet on the “dirtiest” game for a red card and that would be the fiercely contested Merseyside derby between Liverpool and Everton. As Rangers are now back in the top Scottish league then the Rangers v Celtic game would be my 2^nd choice. Local Derbies are also a good choice and promise meaty tackles.

More and More Football Bets…

There are a huge number of bets that we haven’t even discussed yet, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. For example, a famous Irish bookmaker have a book as to who will be the next Arsenal manager. Some sensible options are there such as Dennis Bergkamp @ 10/1, Testicle sniffer Joachim Loew @ 10/1, Thierry Henry @ 16/1 but also Arsenal mascot “Gunnersaurus” @ 400/1! Similar odds as Piers Morgan @ 500/1 and Jeremy Clarkson @400/1.

Outrights / Ante Post Betting in Football

One of the great aspects of using an online betting site is that you don’t have to remember where you placed your betting slip receipt and you avoid the absolute horror when seven months later you realise your accumulator came up but you have no idea if the ticket was washed in your jeans or the dog ate it!

• Champion/ Cup Winner– Hey why wait till the final to have a bet? Get your bets early to ensure you can bask in the smug glory to your friends, “I knew last year that Grimsby would win the FA cup, see I even bet on it”. Ok, I admit that scenario isn’t likely but neither was Leicester winning the league.
• Fit to drop? No not you silly, I’m talking about relegation here. Remember the more games a team loses the odds on them being relegated will decrease, get those wooden spoon nominations in early.
• Top Scorer– Who will win the golden boot this year? Harry Kane won the accolade last year, just one goal more than both Jamie Vardy and Sergio Agüero on 24. Will it be one of them again or how about one of the new recruits such as Kevin de Bruyne?
• Trophies for club– United to go one better than their heroics in 1999 and scoop 4 trophies this year? How about Hull City to scoop the FA Cup? Anything is possible!
• Sacked Managers/ Next Manager– It is really rare to see lengthy spells of Premier League managers. Arsene Wenger may be the last long term top manager we see in this league due to the trigger happiness of chairmen.
• Player to sign for a club– One thing you can be sure of, the top clubs will be linked with every player that walks the earth, do you believe the hype?

Our Top Tips for Online Sports Betting

• Be realistic– This is true for both the bets you place and what if any, is your long term goal. Although we all love stories of lucky punters who stake 50p and win millions, the reality is, not many of us will win those life changing amounts.
• Be careful– Don’t place too many covering bets! Although a covering bet can often rescue a loss, it will also impact any profit if your main bet comes through.
• Stay in the game– If you are betting for anything other than recreational fun then this is the golden rule, don’t gamble and bust. Proper bankroll management is vital to being a top punter. Know your limits and don’t chase losses by doubling up.
• Keep a track of your bets– Not only is this vital for managing your bankroll but by studying which bets were successful and which weren’t, you will be able to see the strengths and weaknesses in your strategy. Are you more accurate on games in the Premiership? Are you getting let down by one or two legs consistently in your accumulator bets? These are the sort of questions to ask yourself.
• Keep learning– The markets change all the time, new features and promotions are added daily. Look for trends in results (have a team won 3 in a row, has a striker hit a purple patch?), are some leagues better for the over / under markets? Have you considered foreign leagues to bet on? Check out other markets such as greyhound betting for a comparison.
• Have fun!!!! – If you are not enjoying your betting and it becomes a source of frustration or anger then stop. Visit a site such as http://www.gambleaware.co.uk/ who offer free, confidential advice on problem gambling.