Football bets explained
This should be your one stop shop for an explanation of football fixed odds betting. We will explain how to use football statistics to make football betting profitable. The best types of bets for football are...
Match results |
Handicap betting |
Goal betting |
Match betting
Full time result
Typical odds for a full time results would look like this
| Team A win | 10/11 |
|---|---|
| Draw | 9/4 |
| Team B win | 3/1 |
Explanation
This is a straightforward bet on which team is going to win the match (or whether it will finish a draw). Teams playing at Home (always listed first) will normally be shorter odds favourites – unless the visiting Away team is very strong.
No bet if there is a draw
Typical odds might look like,
| Team A | 4/11 |
|---|---|
| Team B | 2/1 |
This is a simple win/lose bet which is cancelled if the games ends in a draw.
Double Chance
Typical odds
| Team A and the Draw | 1/5 |
|---|---|
| Team B and the Draw | 5/6 |
| Team A or Team B | 2/7 |
Explanation
This bet gives you two chances to win out of the three possible outcomes. You can either back a team to win AND the match to be a Draw (so you only lose if your pick loses). Or if you can bet on both teams to win (so you only lose if the match ends a Draw). Because you are covering more options, the odds are shorter than on Match Results.
Handicap result
Typical odds might look like this,
| Team A (minus 1) | 5/2 |
|---|---|
| Team B (plus 1) | 13/5 |
| Tie (Team B plus 1) | 5/6 |
Explanation
Handicaps can create a betting opportunity when it wouldn't otherwise exist – either making two teams more even, or getting better odds on short-priced favourites. You will see handicap bets applied to Goals (see Asian Handicaps) and Corners - the team with a 'minus' handicap having to overcome their deficit in order to win the bet.
So, for example, if a top team were awarded a (minus 2) handicap against a lesser team – they would need to win the actual match by at least 3 Goals to win the bet:
- Bet: Team A (-2) v Team B
- Actual result: Team A wins 1-0 = bet loses
- Actual result: Team A wins 2-0 = bet loses
- Actual result: Team A wins 3-0 = bet WINS
An example of an Asian Handicap bet may look like this,
| Team A (minus 0.5 Goals) | 2.0* (Evens) |
| Team B (plus 0.5 Goals) | 1.73* (8/11) |
You will notice that boookmakers commonly use decimal odds for for Asian Handicap bets.
Explanation
This is a popular way of betting in the Far East (hence the name), offering a potentially better chance than straight forward Match Result bets.
Handicaps are awarded (in brackets) that the winning team must overcome. These handicaps can vary from match to match – and are sometimes shown in 'fractions' of Goals. Of course you can't have 0.5, or 1.5 of a Goal – it is simply a means to decide winning margins. Below is a list of example handicaps and their outcomes:
- A team with a (-0.5) handicap must: Win the match by any score. Any other result and the bet is lost.
- A team with a (-1) handicap must: Win the match by 2 Goals. By 1 Goal and the bet is void and stakes are returned. Any other result the bet is lost.
- A team with a (-1.5) handicap must: Win by 2 Goals. Any other result and the bet is lost.
Split handicaps
You may also see a 'split' Handicap, such as: (0, -0.5) – which splits the bet into two, for example:
- A team with a (0, -0.5) handicap must: Win the match by any score. If the match is a Draw – half the stake is refunded, half is lost. Any other result and the bet is lost.
- A team with a (-1, 1.5) handicap must: Win by 2 Goals. Win by 1 Goal and half the stake is returned, half lost. Any other result and it's a loser.
And so on…
There are also 'plus' split handicaps. For example, a team may have a (0, +0.5) handicap. If they win the match, the bet wins. If they draw, half wins and half is returned (if they lose, the bet loses).
Half time result
| Team A | 6/4 |
| Draw | 6/5 |
| Team B | 7/2 |
Explanation - this is the same as betting on the match result, but, you are betting on the result of the first of the game.
Half time / full time result
| Team A – Team A | 15/8 |
| Team A – Draw | 16/1 |
| Team A – Team B | 40/1 |
| Draw – Team A | 7/2 |
| Draw – Draw | 4/1 |
| Draw – Team B | 8/1 |
| Team B – Team A | 28/1 |
| Team B – Draw | 16/1 |
| Team B – Team B | 13/2 |
Explanation
This allows you to bet on the result at Half Time AND Full Time – twice as difficult as predicting the outright winner, but offering bigger odds.