How popular are football bets?
Football is clearly the number one sport in the world with estimated over 3 billion people watching regularly oder every once in a while. The millions of people watching the Champions League Final for example are proof of this. Of course, there are countries, with a higher number of fans like Germany or Great Britain. In these countries, football is the number one sport to bet on. But the sport conquers new ‘markets’ like China or India – where a lot of new football fans are waiting.
Where can I bet on football?
If you watch football on TV, you probably already noticed that many bookmakers are courting your favour. Bookies like William Hill, Unibet or betway are always omnipresent with their spots on TV. However, there are far more bookmakers who don’t attract so much attention, which we liked for football betting.
Due to the number of bookmakers, it is definitely worth comparing the advantages of bookmakers.
Our advice:
Just make up your own mind: Pay attention to common and free deposit methods, a practical user guidance and a good customer service, because that’s where you usually feel most comfortable. By the way, football is almost always one of the allowed sports when it comes to a welcome offer from the bookies.
Which competitions can I bet on in football?
You will realize that some bookmakers have more competitions from several countries in their offer than others. But of course you can’t only bet on the best leagues or tournaments like the Champions League. Instead, many bookmakers also offer leagues from far away countries. However: The most bets are placed on the top divisions, so here you can see, which of them can be found at almost every bookmaker:
- La Liga (Spain)
- Premier League (England)
- Bundesliga (Germany)
- Series A (Italy)
- Ligue 1 (France)
- Eredivisie (Netherlands)
- Süper Lig (Turkey)
- Premjer League (Russia)
- tipico Bundesliga (Austria)
- Champions League
- Europe League
- European Championship
- World Cup
What can I bet on in football?
There are two basic types:
- Bets per match
- Long term bets
In terms of the types of bets per match, there are those called “main bets”. These are the most popular types of bets such as over/under, handicap, both teams to score or halftime/full time.
In addition to the main types of bets seen above, there are also those that are more suitable for advanced players: the special bets, like
- Asian Handicap
- Corner Kicks
- Minute of the goal
- Yellow/red cards
- …
Asian handicap is popular with advanced tippers. The best bookmakers also offer other special bets such as bets on the exact number of goals or which player will score the first goal. How many betting types are available per match depends on the bookmaker. The range is from about 60 betting types to well over 500.
What can I bet on live?
The football matches from the top leagues as seen above as well as from lower leagues like the Championship, the 2nd Bundesliga or the Serie B for example are available in the bookmakers’ live betting area. But not only that: many bookies have a large live betting area, where you can bet live on football matches from far away countries like Australia or China. Because of the time difference, there can be live betting options in the morning or early afternoon.
But what can you bet on? In the live area, you normally will find many betting types, that are available pre-game, such as 1X2, Over/Under,… . By clicking on the small “+” behind the game you can see more betting types you can bet on live.
A special bet type is, for example, “Who will score the next goal”. If you place a bet on the remaining time, the score will be deleted. From now on, you bet on who will win the match or whether it will end in a draw.
What are the rules for football betting?
The bookmakers make it very easy for you to place bets, and even the payout of winnings runs smoothly with reputable bookies, so that you may not even ask yourself about football betting rules. From time to time, however, there are special cases where it’s good to know what to do. So check here what happens if:
a match is interrupted, postponed or cancelled:
Usually the bet is still valid if the match is replayed until the end of the next day. If there is no rescheduling in the mentioned period, the bet is cancelled. This means: with a single bet, you get your money back, with a combination bet, the match falls out of the combination.
my half-time bet is correct, but the match is abandoned:
Halftime bets are settled immediately. So you will get your winnings credited to your account at half-time. Whether the match is then abandoned is irrelevant.
if I bet on a goal scorer who isn’t playing:
Then the bet is settled at odds of 1.00. Note: Even if he comes on later in the match and scores, this is the case!
the match goes into extra time or penalty shootout:
If you place 1X2 bets, you bet on the score after 90 minutes. For example, if you bet on a home win, but the home team does not win until extra time, then the bet would not be correct. If you want to bet on a team and take into account that they will win in overtime or penalty shootout, then you should bet on a betting type like “Who will reach the next round”.
the bookmaker does not evaluate my betting slip:
in most cases your betting slip will be settled quickly. However, it can also happen that the bookmaker has to wait longer for the official results from his data provider. Important: For goal scorers, cards etc., the value that the bookmaker gets from his data provider is always what counts, not what is in your livescore.
What is the best strategy in football betting?
We often read about supposedly safe tips, safe combos or a “no brainer” – but of course it is not that easy to make money with football bets. Even if you always bet on favourites, you will most likely not get rich.
Our advice: Read the key statistics and follow these five golden rules for successful football betting:
- Not too many matches in your acca
- Rather low odds
- Specialize in one league
- Compare odds
- Analyze betting success
You can find out a lot about your sports betting in the statistics section. For example, if you want to bet on over/under goals, you could just look at the latest results or the direct comparison. Or you can take a more professional approach by looking for an over/under table.
Useful statistics besides the over/under numbers are for example:
- Form table
- Home / away table
- Table of the 1st and 2nd half
- 15 minutes goal difference
Furthermore, we would like to point out that if you bet live, for example, you should pay more attention to qualitative rather than quantitative (e.g. ball possession) statistics.
Qualitative statistics are:
- Big Chances
- Touches in the opposing penalty area
- Interceptions in the opposing half
Above all, the “big chances” are an essential quality feature. If a team misses five big chances and loses 0:1, it is probably more valuable than a team that comes in front of the goal once and wins by the skin of its teeth.
Our conclusion on football betting
Football is extremely popular and so it is not surprising that the same is true for football betting. At many bookmakers you will find a lot of betting options for football – also in the live betting area. But choose the bookmaker you want to bet with wisely and pay attention to the welcome offer, if there is a good customer service and if the odds are appropriate.
If you have a good bookie, then you can start: Make sure you include the necessary statistics in your football bet. Don’t be misled by supposed “safe bets”, but think for yourself. Then success is waiting for you.