Soccer Betting Markets
A betting market can be thought of as a category for a specific type of bet. For example, if you are looking at a Premier League football match, you are going to be able to find a wide selection of markets which are available for just that one fixture.
Get the latest soccer news, rumors, video highlights, scores, schedules, standings, photos, player information and more from Sporting News. Classical 3-way betting (also described as 1X2 or FT betting) has remained the top choice for punters around the world. Other popular football markets include total number of goals (over /under betting).
Those will range from the straight forward Match Outright Winner market. So through to markets such as Correct Score and Asian Handicap. So for any given event in any sport, be it tennis, cricket, basketball, volleyball or anything else. The bookmakers may open numerous different betting markets for punters to look into.
Across the many sports that are out there which bookmakers operate odds for. So there are simply too many markets to list in just one resource. In this betting guide you can find some of the most popular markets that are available for bettors to consider.
Popular Betting Markets Explained
Double Chance
The Double Chance market on a football game offers bettors the chance to pool together two of the three potential match outcomes into one bet. In a match between Manchester United and Liverpool for example, the options would be : Man Utd Win – Draw, Liverpool Win – Draw, or Man Utd Win – Liverpool Win.
One single stake covers a Double Chance bet, but odds are less favourable than in backing just one single match outcome. So if you backed a Liverpool Win – Draw then your bet would be successful if either of those outcomes occurred.
Correct Score
This is a popular market for events such as football matches as well as in other sports like tennis. The market will list options of what the final score of a match will be exactly. The market prices within a correct score market for a football match are generally ranging from around 6/1 and larger.
That is because of the difficulty in actually picking one exact score out of a multitude of possible outcomes. It’s a high-risk market, but one with high reward. In selecting a 2-1 correct score, for example, only that exact result will result in a win.
Half Time/Full Time
The Half Time/Full Time markets which are available in football matches asks the punter to correctly predict the outcome of the match at two points of the fixture. In order for a bet in this market to win, both parts of the bet have to be correctly called. This means namely what the half time result is going to be and what the full-time result is.
If just one of the predictions are correct, the entire bet is lost. If Draw/Liverpool half time/full time option is selected in a match but Liverpool were winning at half time and winning at full time, the bet loses.
Both Teams To Score
The popular BTTS market in football betting simply asks whether or not both teams will score in a match. It’s a straight-up option of a yes or no and because of that, market prices generally don’t stray a long way from even money options. An example of this could be used in backing a strong home team to keep a clean sheet against a weaker opponent by selecting “no”.
Asian Handicap
Asian Handicap markets are a popular alternative to regular handicap betting. This bet eliminates a “push” (a drawn outcome of the bet). That means that an Asian Handicap is either going to win or lose. Therefore it is regarded as offering more value than traditional handicaps. Highly popular in football matches, quarter and half ball Asian Handicaps come into play to increase options.
Winning Margin
In a football match if there is a winning team then they are going to be victorious in the match by a winning margin. Therefore as an alternative market, a team can be backed to win by a certain margin. An example would be a one goal or a two-goal margin (the most common selections in the market).
This is often used when a team is at very short odds in a match outright, in order to seek out more value on that team winning the match. Chelsea could be backed to Win By A 2 Goal Margin home game against Southampton for example at longer odds. Which means that it has to be by exactly two goals.
Draw No Bet
The Draw No Bet offers some coverage to a punter on a backed selection in a football match. A team can be backed to win the match, but if they are selected as a Draw No Bet option and the outcome of the match is a draw. So then the stake is returned. Naturally, with the extra outcome included in the bet, it comes at a cost of odds. This compared to backing a team to win in a straight outright bet.
Goal Line Bet
A Goal Line bet is a prediction of how many goals or points are going to be recorded in a match. The outcome of the match isn’t important. For example, in football, a commonly used option in the Goal Line Market is over/under 2.5 goals.
The half goal is always included in goal line options. So that the bet will always be won or lost. You think Man City v Liverpool is going to be a high scoring game, so you select Over 2.5 Goals as the outcome. A minimum of three goals in the match would be needed for the bet to win. It doesn’t matter which team scores them.
Asian Goal Line
The Asian Goal Line market introduces some different options for over/under goals betting. In some instances, this market is called Alternative Goal Lines as well.
The alternative options in Asian Goal Line betting is in the creation of quarter goal bets. This is a type of interval. What these do basically is split a stake between two different options.
A quarter goal is the midway point between a whole goal and a half goal option. For example, an Asian Goal Line option would be presented as “Over 2, 2.5” which means that the stake played is being split evenly between an Over 2 and an Over 2.5 bet. This creates situations where half wins and half losses can occur in Asian Goal Line betting.
Another different option that Asian Goal Line betting brings as opposed to regular Over/Under markets in football matches, is the use of whole goals. If you back a game to just go Under 2 goals for example and there are exactly two goals scored in the match. This creates a situation of a refund being paid back, because the game neither ended over or under
1X2 Bet
The 1X2 bet is the most simple and common betting market used for sporting events. In a football match the 1 represents a home win, the X a draw and the 2 an away win. It is a straightforward market where one pick from the three potential outcomes is made. You back a Draw (X) for example in the match outright because you think the two teams are evenly matched. The scoreline doesn’t matter, just the result.
Handicap Bet
A traditional handicap bet is where the bookmaker attempts to level the playing field in terms of the two competing teams. For example, if Saracens are a strong favourite at home in a rugby match, then they may be set a -14 point handicap. This means that not only must they win the match. However, it must be by a margin of 15 points or more.
Similarly, the underdog in that match may be at +14 which is setting the requirement that they don’t lose by a margin bigger than 14 points.
Scorecast
The scorecast market in a football match is a notoriously tough market. That is because it is calling for two correct predictions in the bet from highly unpredictable markets. A Scorecast bet asks for the First Goalscorer and the Correct Score in a match. Harry Kane – Tottenham to Win 2-0 would be an example.
Wincast
A Wincast is similar to a scorecast bet. This is commonly used in football betting but it is not exclusive to it. In the example of a football Wincast, the two parts of the bet (which are combined into one) are the Winning team and Anytime Goalscorer. The Wincast comes into play because a double cannot be created out of selections from these markets from the same event.
Win To Nil
The Win To Nil bet is backing the winner of football match to keep a clean sheet as well. Both factors in the bet have to happen in order for the bet to be successful. The two options are rolled into one bet for a single unit stake. An example of using this bet type is backing Barcelona To Win To Nil in a home match against a weaker team.
Below are soccer betting strategies that should help you win some money from the sportsbooks.
Laying the 0-0 Draw
The number of matches that are goalless is remarkably low across all global leagues and this trend presents a good profit making opportunity. In correct score betting the price for 0-0 can be anything from 8/1 to 20/1. The price that is offered is based on statistics for the league and respective scoring records for home and away teams.
Laying the 0-0 draw can be a high risk strategy as a bettor can be risking 100 dollars to win five but with accurate statistics long term profitability is possible. Obviously this strategy must produce enough winning bets to compensate for the costly occasion when the match does not see one goal.
Live television or some updated ticker with ongoing statistics can help. It is wise to take a view at half time to minimise losses. It is far better to give up say 15 dollars in a game with few chances rather than leave the bet to expiry and risk much more.
If the score is 0-0 at half time the flow of the game and number of shots on goal or corners can be assessed to determine whether the bet should be closed or left until the conclusion of the game. However, only about one in five matches do not have a goal before half time so in most cases the bet will be settled as winner before the second half.
Spread Betting on Corners
Betting on how many corners there will be in a footbal match might seem a strange form of gambling. However, with the right statistics big profits can be made from this market. Simply be keeping a note of how many corners a team wins or concedes easy winnings can be generated in the second half of the season of any league.
There are five factors which can be used to determine the total corners in any match:
Attacking tactics
High corner counts often go hand in hand with teams that attack with width.
Defensive tactics
Some teams will play the ball out of the penalty area or head away from goal rather than risk conceding a corner.
Clearing lines
Some sides clear away an attack regardless of whether they concede a corner or not.
Size of pitch
The larger the pitch the greater the width of the touchline and that means more corners.
Soccer Betting Tips And Predictions
Weather
Windy weather tends to increase the count but very heavy rain can waterlog the pitch and reduce the count.
These factors and statistics for corner winning abilities create a bank of data that can be applied to spread betting and traditional betting. Spread betting firms will quote a range of corners which can be bought or sold. Traditional bookmakers will quote odds on three bands such as under 11 corners, exactly 11 corners or more than 11 corners.
Soccer Betting Advice
This approach can be used for domestic matches and international games. Tournaments such as the World Cup, Copa America and European Championship involve many games over a sort period of time. Noting results from the first few matches and carefully applying the extra data concerning playing style, weather and pitch conditions can result in decent profits.
Going Low on Bookings
Towards the end of any football season around the world the fixture list contains many “dead matches”, games that don’t mean much to either team. Sides that cannot qualify for Europe in that continent but are well clear of relegation often have little commitment when they meet.
History proves for example in the English Premiership that the last weeks of the season produce far fewer red and yellow cards than any other period. Bookmakers price up bookings for all matches shown live on television. They use a scoring system that awards 10 points for a yellow card and 25 points for a red card.
In England from February until the end of the season in May many games are sure to end with much lower total bookings points than the average for the whole of the season. Spread betting and normal betting firms are obviously aware of this but often matches are still overestimated in terms of the number of cards shown by the referee.
Before betting in this market it is also advisable to consider another vital factor and that is the referee. Some refs produce cards far more than others but it is best to look for low-carding referees. That means the ideal game to make consistent profits involves both teams safe from relegation or not challenging for the title refereed by a low carding official.
Laying the Underdog When They Score First
Soccer markets managed by the exchange betting firms are suspended when a significant event occurs. This generally means a goal, penalty or sending off as these events will have a substantial bearing on the outcome of any match.
This strategy can be applied to any soccer league or international match as the markets tend to react in the same way across all countries, leagues and tournaments. The favourites are most likely to score the first goal in any match but sometimes the underdog will be the first to register.
As a general rule it is good strategy to lay an underdog when their price goes to even money (2.0) or less. The first goal is often key to determining the outcome of any match. However, the average number of goals across all leagues is about 2.5 goals. The first successful strike will be the only goal in about 30% of all matches.
The prices will generally over adjust after a goal but any discrepancies or errors will soon be eliminated as the market recreates the correct balance. Therefore the first minute after a goal is scored by the underdog is the limited window of opportunity to follow this strategy.
Arbitrage Opportunities
In economic theory arbitrage is the practice of taking advantage of a state of imbalance between two or more markets by making deals in those markets at the same time to exploit the imbalance. In betting terms arbing is when a bettor guarantees a risk-free position by backing a selection at high odds while laying it at lower odds elsewhere.
Soccer exchange betting provides a great deal of scope to take advantage of arb opportunities. This is due to the fact that the sport is the most extensively covered by traditional online bookmakers and exchange operators. Betfair offers soccer betting on almost fifty countries and more than 200 leagues.
In its simplest form soccer arbing involves backing a team to win at 6/4 with a traditional bookmaker and laying them to win at 5/4 with an exchange. Stakes are determined to ensure a winning bet regardless of the outcome. The overall profit margin may be as little as 3% but this is guaranteed and the process can be repeated many times.
With such an array of matches covered the sport will provide most opportunities to take advantage of price differentials. The discrepancy might be minimal and profit margin small but many people around the world try to make a living from arbitraging.
It is now possible to buy software packages that constantly monitor the global soccer markets and highlight these risk-free opportunities. Gambling bots can now be used to place bets automatically and cancel any potential bets when the price differences quickly disappear as the market adjusts. One potential drawback with manual arbing is that prices mat change during the process of placing each bet and that is why a fast internet section is necessary to make profits through arbitrage.