Betting Guides > BETTING ON FOOTBALL
BETTING ON FOOTBALL – FULL-TIME RESULT
The most popular form of betting on football is full-time result, with two betting types being the most common – 1X2 (Win/Draw/Lose) and Asian Handicap.
With 1X2 betting, you can bet on either team to win or for the match to end in a draw. This form of betting is often referred to as 3-way betting. Asian Handicap, on the other hand, was essentially created to eliminate the draw as an option and to also make seemingly one-sided matches a little more interesting. Bookmakers will offer you a goal handicap that is added to one team’s full-time score or deducted from the other.
For example, a handicap of +1.5 goals, means that if you add 1.5 goals to the full-time score of that team, and the score is then greater than their opposition, that bet is then a winning bet. That team has ‘covered the handicap’. A handicap of -1.5 goals on the other hand is deducted from that team. However, if that team’s score remains greater than their opponents once the handicap is deducted, that is a winning bet.
It’s also worth noting that the regular length of a football match is 90 minutes. In many matches, it’s not uncommon to see two or three minutes of added injury time, but it still counts as normal time for betting purposes. Extra time or penalty shootout do not count in normal 3-way bets.
MATCH RESULT 1X2 ODDS EXPLAINED
If you’re asking ‘How can I bet on football teams?‘, the match result is the most common answer.
Match result betting is often referred to as 1X2 betting.
It’s easy to learn how to read 1X2 odds?
The 1 signifies one team (usually the home club), the X signifies the Draw and the 2 signifies the opposing team (usually the away club).
The match result is the most common form of football betting (along with Asian handicaps).
How to read 1X2 odds? Well we can see that Man City are the home team (1) at odds of 2.50, the draw (X) is at odds of 3.25 while Liverpool are the away team(2) at odds of 2.80
1X2 football odds
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1 ✖️ 2 |
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2.80 |
3.25 |
2.50 |
Manchester City V Liverpool |
It’s important to note, that when betting in knockout tournaments, there is often the potential for extra time to be played.
In this is the case, 1X2 betting only covers the regulation 90 minutes.
If you have bet on the match to end in a draw, then your bet is a winner even though extra time will be played.
If you have a bet on either team to win and the game goes into extra time, your bet is lost.
ASIAN HANDICAP ODDS EXPLAINED
Another popular way of betting on football is the Asian Handicap (AH) market. In recent years the popularity of Asian handicap betting has exploded with tens of thousands of pounds being bet on football handicaps every weekend. What does Asian Handicap mean? To the uninitiated, Asian Handicap odds can appear a little complicated at first glance. The video below provides a basic introduction:
Video here
To put it simply, Asian Handicaps give both teams a goals handicap, either a goals advantage (+) or a goals deficit (-),.
Below we can see an example of an Asian Handicap odds, with odds at BetVictor for an upcoming match between Arsenal and Liverpool. Arsenal has a handicap of -0.5 goals while Liverpool has a handicap of +0.5 goals. What does this mean? It means that if you bet on Arsenal -0.5 goals, Arsenal must win the match for you to win your bet. On the other hand, if you bet on Liverpool, then either a Liverpool win or a draw will be enough for you to win your bet.
The easiest way to understand handicap betting is to take the full-time result and adjust the scoreline to incorporate each team’s handicap. If a team has a minus handicap (as Arsenal does in the above example) we deduct that handicap from their full-time score. If they still lead after the handicap has been deducted, then that is a winning handicap bet.
On the other hand, if a team has a positive handicap (as Liverpool does), then we simply add the handicap to their full-time score. If they then lead after the handicap has been added, then that is the winning handicap bet.
CALCULATING ASIAN HANDICAPS: TWO EXAMPLES
So let’s say you have bet on Arsenal with the -0.5 handicap. The full-time result is Arsenal 2, Liverpool 1. Is your handicap bet on Arsenal a winner? We simply deduct Arsenal’s -0.5 goal handicap and we have an adjusted scoreline of Arsenal 1.5, Liverpool 1. With their -0.5 goal handicap deducted, Arsenal still “win” the match by half a goal. In this case, your handicap bet on Arsenal is a winner.
But what if we bet on Liverpool with the +0.5 goal handicap? In this example, let’s then say that the match ended in a draw 2-2. Is our Liverpool handicap bet a winner? We add the +0.5 goal handicap to Liverpool’s score, giving us an adjusted scoreline of Arsenal 2, Liverpool 2.5. With this adjusted scoreline, Liverpool “wins”, meaning our handicap bet on Liverpool is a winning wager.
Asian handicap betting is a great way to bet on football, making even the most lopsided contest suddenly a thrilling match, not to mention the potential to find hidden value in Asian Handicap football betting markets.
There is also the possibility of betting on what is known as Quarter Asian Handicaps.
DOUBLE CHANCE ODDS EXPLAINED
A Double Chance bet allows you to bet on two out of the three possible outcomes of a football match in one bet. In a Double Chance bet, you can bet on the following full-time result combinations:
- Home Win / Draw
- Away Win / Draw
- Home Win / Away Win
Below we can see an example of a Double Chance betting market, with odds at YYY Sports for an upcoming match between Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund.
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Double chance betting odds |
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Manchester city or draw 1.50 |
Borussia Dortmund Or draw 1.40 |
Manchester City 1.25 |
As with the Draw No Bet market, the odds offered on Double Chance are typically far lower than if you were to bet on just one result, as with Double Chance your bet is covering a combination of two possible results.
CORRECT SCORE ODDS EXPLAINED
A Correct Score bet is betting on the exact full-time scoreline of a given football match. These bets are popular with casual bettors as the odds on any selection are usually long.
A popular Correct Score betting strategy is to bet on a combination of Correct Scores. This is often referred to as ‘dutching’. For example, if you think a particular match is going to finish 2-0 to the home side, you can pick this as your Correct Score bet. But you can also cover a range of potential scorelines, not just the 2-0. You could for instance place additional bets on 1-0, 1-1, 2-1. Your overall returns will be shorter but in covering a range of Correct Scores, you’re providing yourself with some insurance should your initial bet of 2-0 fail.
BETTING ON FOOTBALL – HALF TIME FULL TIME
Instead of combining the first and second half, you can bet on the outcome of just the first half. Especially if you spot matches where teams are close or if they are known for great defense, you can find great value in knowing these tendencies. It’s also a nice option to play outsiders here that dig in, often they manage to hold the game to a draw until halftime.
Betting on the result after both half and full time is also popular, but quite difficult. The basic notion is the same as with 1×2, but in this case, you bet on the outcome after each half and you have to get both parts of the bet correct in order to win.
To succeed at this type of betting on football, it’s important to have a sense of how a match may play out and the tempo of both competing teams. A team may be certain of victory against an inferior opponent but they may also be a team that is prone to slow starts in such situations. In this case, an HT/FT bet of Draw/Win could be of great value.
Correct score/Scorecast/Wincast
A correct score bet is one in which you predict the final score of a match. Remember, that this will be the outcome after 90 minutes in cup ties that could go to extra time and/or penalties. The prices for correct score bets are often attractive but, of course, predicting the exact score is far from easy.
A Scorecast is a bet that combines selecting a goalscorer and the correct score. For example, you can bet on Mo Salah to score and Liverpool to win 1-0. Again, the odds on such bets are higher because you are betting on the likelihood of two outcomes. Some bookmakers will also let you choose the goalscorer in a Scorecast to be the first, last, or at any time.
A Wincast is similar to a Scorecast but involves selecting a goalscorer and the outcome of the match rather than the correct score. The odds will not be as high as a Scorecast because it is easier to predict the outcome rather than the scoreline.
Where do you bet on Football?
Football betting and other sports betting are only available on certain sites.
Find out where sports betting is legal on our page about sports betting legalization.
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