Online football betting has never been simpler. Countless websites offer free football (soccer) tips. The instant nature of online betting exchanges and tipster sites allows punters to choose from a variety of leagues, tournaments and matches from virtually any country and play the odds. With thousands of bets per day, bookies and bettors need not be bored.
When it comes to sports betting, most cases are binary. In other words, a team will either win or lose. Soccer is different as it is also possible to stake money that the team will draw, thus adding an additional variable to the odds, making the gamble more exciting. Conventionally, fixed odds systems treat draws as an extra outcome.
The money line is the most conventional way to bet on a football match, using fixed odds, you can work out how much money you stand to win. Here is a hypothetical money line:
Team A + 190
Team B – 220
The ‘+’ before Team A means that they are the underdogs for the match and the 190 means that you will have to risk $100 to win $190. The minus sign after Team B shows that this team are the favourites for the match and so you will risk $220 for every $100 won.
Spread betting (also known as point spread) is more complicated than the money line because you must also predict how many goals a team will win by, in order to cash in. If the spread between two teams is 2, then the favourites, lets say Team B, are expected to win by two goals. Punters who back Team B will only see a return if their team wins by more than 2 goals. Team A backers, on the other hand, will win their bets either if this team wins the match, or if Team A wins by less than 2 points.
Other types of bets include totals or goal lines, which is when you lay a wager on the number of goals scored in a game. Futures betting involves betting on the ultimate outcome of a match or tournament.
