What is Football Betting and How Does It Work?

Without a shadow of a doubt, football can be regarded as the most followed sport globally, with billions of followers. Throughout the year, major football events like the UEFA league, English Premier League, Bundesliga, etc., attract a large audience on TV and in stadiums. 

Football is not only famous in the real world but also number one in the sports betting world. As football is the most covered sport online and offline, betting enthusiasts gather a lot of knowledge and nuances, making it easier to place bets on this sport. Hence, football betting takes the cake in the betting arena, with online websites offering many odds and wagers, allowing betting enthusiasts to bet and win big prizes regularly. If you are a rookie or experienced bettor in other sports, learning how football betting works is crucial to place your bets with the right strategies. Let’s discuss how online football betting works.

How Does Football Betting Work?

There are thousands of football matches taking place throughout the years, allowing many sports betting websites to offer a plethora of betting markets and odds on every little detail of matches. These bookmakers will offer their prices on the outcome and events of games such as winning team, goals scored, red and yellow cards shown, corners, and individual goal scorers.

Many sports betting websites will provide special offers, bonuses, and competitive odds to ensure you get the best-valued bet. Once the outcome of an event is realized and your bet is declared a winner, you will be paid the original wager plus winnings from the odds. Some of the top football betting websites include:   

• Betfair
• Betway
• Bet 365
• Sky Bet 

The betting website or bookmaker sets the football betting odds. They represent the ratio between the wager and winnings on a given outcome if you decide to place a bet. Depending on the sports betting website, they are usually represented by fractions like 2/1 or decimals like 2.00.

Example: If an outcome has odds of 2/1 or 2.00, you will get Rs. 200 for every Rs. 100 bet.

Different Types of Football Bets 

1. Match Bet

It is the simplest and essential form of football betting, where you pick the winner of a match. You can bet on 3 different results in a football match: a home team wins, the away team wins, or a draw. Knowing that the match bets are paid out on the outcome after 90 minutes is vital. If the scores are level at this time, then a draw is the winning bet irrespective of results achieved through extra time and penalty shootouts.  

2. Bet Builder or Multiple Bet

It is a relatively new addition to football betting and has become popular these days. These bets are accumulators of outcomes from a single game rather than the number of matches. These bets are less likely to happen since many outcomes are possible. However, bet builder bets are ideal for bettors with excellent football acumen and those that wish to place smaller wagers with more enormous odds. You will win if the combination of outcomes like corners, goal scorers, and yellow and red cards are in your favour.

3. Player Props or Player Stats

It is different from goal scoring or card betting markets, where you have to bet on players to have specific shots, offsides, and tackles. The other player prop markets include some intriguing bets, like how many free kicks, throw-ins, goal kicks that can happen during a game. Also, there is a feature that allows you to bet on the number of passes a player can make in a game, making it a fascination for bettors as they have to do thorough research to make accurate predictions.

4. Asian Handicap Bet

It is a football bet where your selection has a handicap to overcome, and the unique element here is it removes the possibility of a draw in terms of betting. The betting websites assign plus or minus signs to denote handicap. They can be either whole-goal handicap like -2 or +1 and half-goal handicap like +0.5/-0.5. 

5. European Handicap Bet

It is similar to Asian handicap but with two significant differences. 

• The draw remains an option
• Handicaps are only whole numbers 

6. Half-time/ Full-time

In this type of football betting, you can bet on the results of the first or second half. The bets can be placed on the home team, away team, a draw for the first half, second half, or both. Having in-depth football knowledge is crucial to maximizing the chances of winning.

7. Double Chance

Here, you can place your bets on two out of three possible results in a football match. 

• Away team or draw
• Home team or draw
• Home team or away team

If either of your combinations wins, you will be declared the winner and get a payout. The odds are lesser compared to single outcome bets but reduce the risks for bettors in terms of losing an enormous amount.

8. Accumulators

These bets combine multiple selections into one bet, making it very popular among bettors. It is because they offer big rewards for small stakes as winnings from every selection are placed on the next. The main risk in accumulators is that you must win all the bets to get a payout.    

9. In-play Betting

As the name suggests, you bet on outcomes during an event, such as predicting a team to score a goal while you are watching that match live on television. The sports betting websites offer several markets like the next goalscorer; the next corner won by a team, the next player is shown a yellow card, etc.

10. Draw No Bet

Here you will bet on the result of a football match, and if it ends in a draw, you will get your stake back. However, the odds are lower for Draw No Bet than in other markets.

Football betting has huge betting markets with competitive odds and can help you get bigger payouts than other sports betting. Make comparisons and place your bets on websites or bookmakers that offer high odds and are safe to play online. Finally, choose the football bet type based on your interests and knowledge to minimize risk and win big.

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