Betting: Types and Options for Football Betting

Betting has grown by leaps and bounds due to advancement of technology. You can practically bet on anything in any football match nowadays so the possibilities of making money are endless.

Let’s have a look at the most common types of bets that exist in the online sports betting market.

1X2 Bets (Home Win, Draw or Away Win)

Moneyline bets, commonly known as win bets, is the most basic type of bet in the market. In this bet, all you would do is select the winner of the game. This is also called an outright bet. An outright bet generally gives good value for returns if you win.

1X2 bets are the most popular type of bets in football, where the aim is to predict the final result of the game by either betting on 1 (home team), X (draw) or 2 (away team).

Typically, around 75% of the bets are 1X2 bets in football, however, despite being the most popular bet, it is not necessarily the best bet to make because the odds are skewed slightly given that there can be an outright favourite on many occasions so returns can be unlikely or low.

No experienced bettor will place a bet on a favourite if the odds are low and they know that the favourite is almost certain to win. It is advisable to only place bets when the odds are 1.50 or higher so that you have a chance of potentially making more money for the risk you carry.

Another drawback of a 1X2 bet is the probability factor, that is, since there are 3 outcomes possible in this bet, your chances of being right drop from a typical 50% to 33.33% because 2 outcomes are unfavourable.

Therefore, 1X2 bets are typically combined in multiple bets like double or triple accumulators (also known as combo bets), in which you win your overall bet by predicting a majority of the results correctly, as a whole.

1X, X2, 1 or 2 (Double Chance)

This bet is a safer option as compared to the class 1X2 bet although there are 3 betting options here as well. The reason for this is the combination of bets you place.

The options available for betting in this are either a win for the home team or a draw (1X), a draw or away win (X2) and a win for either side (1 or 2). If any one of the 2 options you select happens then you win the bet. Therefore, here you have a 66% chance of winning unlike a 1X2 bet.

These bets, however, have much lower odds but lower the risk significantly. However, if the odds are all close to equal then this may not be a bad option. Although not popular, the law of averages suggest that you should end up making money more often than not, even if a low amount.

Draw No Bet (DNB)

In simple words, when you bet on DNB, you do not lose or win any money when the match ends in a draw. All bets are off and considered void in this case.

You can only win or lose money in this bet as long as a team wins the game. DNBs are pretty popular as they decrease the probability of losing and the odds offered are higher than those offered for Double Chance bets.

Bettors know that a draw is a common result in football, typically, and that is why they choose a DNB to reduce the possible outcomes from 3 results to just 2.

It is important to note, however, that you are not guaranteed to find a DNB on every online betting platform or with every sportsbook so check before you pick a platform to bet on.

Over/Under Bet

Over/Under bets are also known as total bets. This is where you predict the total number of goals in a match.

Here, the sportsbook/bookmaker sets the goal line and it is then the bettor who has to decide whether there will be more goals or less goals than the set line. In other words, bettors predict the combined number of goals that will be scored by both teams in the match.

It does not matter if 1 team fails to score. The only thing that matters is the total number of goals in the game. It could be 9 for 1 team and 0 for the other but if you bid on +2.5 goals, for example, then you are guaranteed to win the bet.

2.5 goals is the most popular goal line in football, seemingly. Do not bet on odds that are lower than 1.70 because if you do then returns are typically skewed.

Both to Score (BTS) or Both Teams to Score (BTTS)

This is a type of bet where you predict whether both teams will score in the match or not.

Remember that you lost the bet if only one team scores regardless of the number of goals. Many matches in world football have a high probability of both teams scoring goals, especially, in the English Premier League where teams may score a lot of goals but are prone to conceding as well.

A Premier League game is typically, the perfect for a BTS option. You should choose this option when a weak home team plays against a strong away side. The strong side can be more prone to conceding since they will be doing most of the attacking and can be caught out on the counter to concede. This hoglds true in a lot of cases in real football.

It is recommended to bet on BTS only if the odds are 1.70 or highest.

Handicap Bets

Handicaps are a type of bet where the bookmaker puts the favourite at a disadvantage and the so-called underdog at lower odds.

In  football, this is done by adding or removing goals from a particular team to even out the chances of victory for both sides.

There are two types of handicaps – European and Asian.

Asian handicaps are the most popular handicap bets because it decreases the number of possible outcomes to just 2 whereas in European handicaps there are 3 options.

Handicaps have become tremendously popular among football bettors.

Corner Bets

A corner bet is where you bet on the number of corners that will be taken in a match in totality (by both teams). Of course, this makes it a conditional bet.

The line is determined by your online sportsbook and then all you need to do as a bettor is select whether the total number of corners will finish above or below that line. In many ways, this is similar to the over/under bet.

This is considered one of the riskiest bets in football as this is extremely unpredictable and depends on lots of luck. Given the risk, however, the odds are also usually high so it is a high risk-high return bet.

You must check the line that is offered by the bookmaker before placing your bet. Sometimes, to have a chance of making good returns, you are required to bet on 14-15 corners in the game.

For lines of 5 or 6 corners, the odds are generally low.

Corner bets are not only for the entire game though. There are other variations as well. You can bet on the number of corners in a particular half or the number of corners for each team as well.

A smart bet would be to bet on over corners where teams that face each other are attacking teams that play all-out offensive football like Manchester City, Liverpool and Leeds United.

Number of Cards (Yellow and/or Red)

Another conditional bet that is growing in popularity is the number of cards awarded in a game. This again is extremely unpredictable and depends on several factors.

You can do a lot more research here as compared to corners, however as you can study player tendencies and referee leniency as well before placing your bets on this. We only recommend those who watch football a lot and have extensive knowledge in the game to place bets on this.

Rivalries and past matches can play a significant role. The way the game is progressing can change a lot too so that is another major factor to remember as that is something that you cannot do research about or predict.

If you get your bet right here and work with a good line then you will be satisfied with your returns.

Half Time / Full Time Bets

This is also known as Double Result. This is where you have to predict the result at both, half time and full time.

In this type of bet, the bettor predicts which side will lead at the end of the first half and which will side win the game at the end of regulation time. You can bet that one of the teams will have the lead before the break and will ultimately finish victorious or you can even bet on the trailing team to make a comeback and win the game.

Just like the number of cards bet, this bet requires a lot of knowledge and experience to get right so we recommend this only for those who are either really knowledgeable or willing to take risks when betting.

The odds are typically not in the bettor’s favour, at least when it comes to predicting the half time result as historically, majority of the games end 0-0 at half time. It is because of this that the odds are generally extremely attractive and a tempting option to bet on.

This is hard to predict even if one side is an overwhelming favourite while the other side is an complete underdog.

Correct Score Bet

As the name suggests, we don’t need to say anything more really. You have to predict the match score and if you get it right, you will make some good money.

This bet is for those who are willing to take chances and who have the patience to wait out a result and have no problems in losing the bet.

Given the low probability and multiple variables, odds for correct score bets are generally extremely high so go for it but do remember that more often than not, you will get the score wrong, even if the result and scoreline difference is correct.

Goal Scorer

This is another conditional bet where you bet on a particular player to score a goal in the game. There are bets for a player to score a goal in a particular match as well as an outright bet for the top goal scorer (golden boot winner) at the end of the cup/league/tournament.

Although this can be pretty challenging, there is no doubt that strikers from top teams are a level above the rest and are definitely more likely to score more goals than others. History backs this up.

If you place bets on the English Premier League’s golden boot winner, for example, the odds you will get for Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy and Mohamed Salah will be quite low as they are common names on the list every season and are always in the running for the leading goal scorers.

The key in betting on goal scorers is to place such bets very early on, before the odds drop. In single match betting, you can also risk betting on less-probable options with players that usually do not score many goals like Scott McTominay and Daniel James are terrific options for Manchester United who could potentially score a goal. However, on the other hand, if you place a bet on Marcus Rashford or Bruno Fernandes to score then the odds will be minimal, especially for Fernandes since he is United’s penalty-taker.