Betting on Soccer – Wager Types Explained
Soccer remains the most-watched and beloved of sports on planet Earth. Alongside horse racing, the sport sees the most betting in terms of money wagered on its outcome.
From a betting perspective, soccer is most popular in the UK and much of Europe, although parts of Asia are also becoming more involved as the legal restrictions on soccer betting become less intense.
There is a huge range of markets available when betting on soccer, and these require one or both of the teams to perform certain feats, or even individual players at times. We can even predict which teams will win particular competitions too.
Here are some of the most popular soccer bets to consider.
Match Betting
This really is as simple as betting on which team will win (or draw). The relevant odds will be reported like this:
Manchester United (1.48), Draw (4.60), West Ham (9.00)
Or, depending on where you are based:
Manchester United (10/21), Draw (18/5), West Ham (8/1)
This tells us that if we place a bet of $1 on Manchester United, we will win a total of $1.48. If West Ham were to win, then we would pick up $9 for betting on them.
Both Teams to Score
This one does exactly what it says on the tin: punters are looking for both of the teams in their selected match to score a goal.
The odds for this betting market fluctuate depending on how likely the two teams are to score given their league positions and current form, as well as their ability to score on any given day.
Handicap Betting
Here a theoretical handicap is placed on one of the teams, and a series of odds printed based on this.
For example, Manchester United would be well-fancied to beat West Ham at home. So a -1 handicap on them would remove a goal from their tally. In this sense, we are backing them to win with a goal removed from their score. So if Manchester United won the game 2-0, then the adjusted scoreline after handicapping would be 1-0, and out bet would still be successful.
If we thought that West Ham could do quite well then we could back them with a +1 or +2 handicap, which adds the relevant number of goals to their tally. So if Manchester United won 1-0, then our +2 handicap bet would be successful as the adjusted scoreline would be 1-2 to West Ham.
This range of betting caters for betting on individual matches, but we can also bet on tournaments and leagues too. Betting on which teams will win a specific division or competition is popular, as is backing a certain team to finish in a certain placing in the league. In the modern era, we can even bet on soccer matches in-play after the match has started.
Most of the leading bookmakers offer these markets, and players can make their money stretch even further by taking advantage of welcome bonuses and promotions that these bookies offer. You can learn more about betting from promotions from online-betting.me.uk. Good luck!