When betting on football and events instead of leagues like the Euro Cup, there are several betting options to consider available on a bookie like Bet365. Here is a list of the most common betting types available before the tournament, as there could be a dozen or more exotic bets in addition.
To Win Outright
This is a straight bet, you bet on who will be the winner of the Euro Cup. Before the tournament begins and after the qualifying phase this will be the first option most bookies will show you. Selections will be showcased from favorites to less favorite, and for the Euro Cup 2016 Germany is the main candidate to win with odds of 3/1, followed by Spain 6/1 and England 10/1.
This betting option is great to fish the best odds possible, as the odds might change as the tournament nears and begins.
How to bet
- Place a small stake on your favorite candidate.
- Do not simply go for the favorite for the sake of it. Make a small list of your favorite candidates and conduct some football stats mining, rate each national team according to your own value system and decide who is the best candidate to win.
- Once the Euro Cup begins and things go against you, cover your losses by taking bets on In Play bets.
TIP: France will host the Euro Cup 2016 and the national team has always been a great favorite to win the tournament. With odds of 7/2 a stake of £100 pays out = £450.00. Not a bad consideration.
Group Betting
During the qualifying stages national teams are grouped together on groups of 6 teams each. Bookies will select two or three candidates to qualify for the next round and provide their odds. Bettors can select which national team will advance.
How to Bet
When betting on the groups stage consider the offered odds. At first it sounds smart to bet on Germany and Spain to advance to the next stage, but the odds are bollocks.
For the Euro 2016 Spain has odds of 1/200, if we stake £100 we win = £100.5
Germany has odds of 1/20, if we stake the same £100 we win = £105
A smart person would think of taking many of these favorite to win to add up the winnings, but sportsbooks like Bet365 forbid combining these type of bets.
- Go for the less super-favorites to advance into the next stage, instead of selecting Spain or Germany go for Belgium who has a nice chance to advance and bettor payout odds.
Belgium to advance the qualifying round has odds of 4/7, with a stake of £100 we win = £157.14
Betting on Belgium returns more than 50% with a high probability of occurring.
To Be in Final Squad
This is an exotic bet with horrible value in them but you might still want to consider taking one of them. To be in the final squad refers to players, and Bet365 likes to open this bet for England.
Take for example Joe Hart 1/33, a £100 stake would turn out = £103.03
Wayne Rooney 1/20, £100 stake = £105
Alex Oxlade Chamberlain 2/7 stake = £128.57
How to Bet
- This might actually be a sure-bet, if you know your English squad well make a list of all the possible players you think will make it to the Euro Cup.
- Number then in order of importance or probability of making it.
- Revise their odds on your preferred sportsbook, select those with more than 15% of return.
Risk: There is a major risk here, other than the manager to not call the player, and that is injury. You might want to check the injury history of your selected player.
“To Be in the Final Squad” is a fun bet to take, consider a small stake at least for some pocket money.
To Qualify
Similar to Group Betting, to Qualify is a bet on if any of the options available will make it to the Euro Cup after the qualifying rounds.
Not all national teams are available to bet on though, Bet365 only offers for Euro 2016:
- Northern Ireland 1/7, stake of £100 = £114.28
- Scotland 12/1, stake of £100 = £1,300.00
- Republic of Ireland, stake of £100 = £225.00
Tuff selections considering the qualifiers are already on an advanced stage. It would be great to bet on Scotland, but it has a tough road ahead albeit with possibilities.
How to Bet
Not many options to bet on here, this might be a bet to avoid all together unless you find great offers doing some sportsbook cross-research. A better option is the following bet type, “Not to Qualify”.
Not to Qualify
Not to qualify is simply the opposite “To Qualify”, a lay bet. A lay bet is a bet on an event not occurring, in this case on national teams not making it to the next round. Here are Bet365 betting options:
- Republic of Ireland 4/7, with a stake of £100 = £157.14
- Scotland 1/25, with a stake of £100 = £104.00
- Northern Ireland, with a stake of £100 = £500.00
How to Bet
Once again the value on these bets is tricky, but with proper research and a look on the match calendar one can determine if the obstacles ahead are too tough or not.
More Euro Cup Betting Types
The previous selections are the pre-tournament betting types, which are very specific to the event itself. Following are the most common bet types found for every match or sport on most bookies.
To Win
This is your regular straight bet, it is offered for single matches and not the tournament as a whole like the previous betting types.
Americans call this a Money Line bet.
Win or Draw
Win or Draw are very popular bets when doing “doubles”. It is a very safe bet, so odds tend to be lower, which is why bettors like to make them doubles to multiple their winnings. With a Win or Draw you are betting on a club to win the match or to at least turn a draw. Either result returns a profit.
Draw No Bet
The Draw No Bet is very similar to the above “Win or Draw”, with the difference that if the club you were expecting to win doesn´t and ends in a draw, then the bet ends in a “push”. Push means no winnings and no losses, your stake is returned.
Over/Under
The Over Under is an all-time favorite and some bettors prefer it more than win bets, or use it in conjunction to them. Over/Under are bets on if the score is going to be higher or lower of a certain number. Usually the Over under is labeled with a .5, for example Over 2.5 which means the overall goals of the match should be higher than 2, in other words 3 or more total goals from both teams.
You can also bet the Over Under for individual club goals and first half or second half goals. Some bookies will even offer exotic Over/Unders of highly absurd goals but with a high payout.
First Scorer
An exotic bet not much used by pro punters. You are betting on a popular striker to open the score.
Asian Handicap
Asian Handicap is the Euro term for the American Point Spread. It is termed Asian because it was developed in Indonesia, but it works just like a point spread. Points are added to the weaker club or subtracted to the stronger one.
For example: Real Madrid -2.5 in the match Real Madrid vs Shakhtar Donetks
If the final score is Real Madrid 4 – 0 Shakhtar Donetks, then you win the Asian Handicap with a final result of Real Madrid 1.5 – 0 Shakhtar Donetks.
Asian Handicaps are sometimes hard to understand at first, but with some practice punters get the hang of it pretty fast.
Future Bets
Future bets is a general term to name all types of bets that are staked in the present for matches occurring later, much later in the future. Most the first group of bets mentioned are all future bets.
The advantage of future bets is that they odds start being very high than compared to a few days or at the present of the match. Odds shift as more money comes into the betting pool or out of it.