The advantage of betting on football

The world of betting is vast. New bookmakers appear almost daily, and sports websites are brimming with advertising banners.

They entice bettors with bonuses, promotions, support for various sports, and betting options. This diversity can leave beginners overwhelmed and they lose money trying to make money on extravagant bets on esports, exchange rates, and other sports, while professional tipsters primarily focus on one discipline: football.

The Advantage of Football Betting

The main advantage of football betting is that the sport itself is incredibly popular; even those who are not particularly interested in it stay up-to-date on the latest news and events. For bookmakers, this type of betting is their primary focus, and due to the high competition, they use it as a form of advertising, offering high odds and reducing marginal commissions on specific matches.
The easiest way to get started as a tipster is with football. Thanks to intense media attention and the availability of information, specialized online resources are awash with statistics and various analytics that help predict not only the outcome of a match but also the results of less popular bets, such as yellow cards or corners.

Bet Types. Singles

1. Match Result.
The safest and easiest to understand bet type. The bettor selects the desired odds and bets on the outcome of the match in regular time. This can be a draw or a win for one of the teams. If the match is expected to progress (Olympic system or playoff tournaments) and both halves end in a draw, then only bets on the teams finishing tied are considered winning. Bookmakers also accept bets on one team to advance, but these differ from the above-mentioned bets in that they have smaller multipliers.

Example: 2018 World Cup match between Russia and Croatia. The odds for a Russian victory were 3.85, for a draw 3.05, and for a Croatian victory 2.2. The teams finished tied at 1-1 after both halves. Although the match continued and went to penalty shootouts, which ended in a Croatian victory, bets on the draw were settled as winning bets, while the others were settled as losing bets.

2. Win or Draw.
These bets have reduced odds and allow you to win on both outcomes. There are two types: a win for one of the teams (12), or a win or draw (1x or 2x).

3. Express.
This is a bet consisting of several single bets on one or more matches. The odds for each of them are multiplied together, but to win, all bets must win. Example: A handicapper places a bet on several events in an accumulator bet for 1,000 $:
1. Barcelona vs. Dynamo, Barcelona to win, 1.139.
2. Atlanta vs. Liverpool, draw, 4.1.
3. Porto vs. Marseille, Porto to win with a handicap of 0.1.36.
The final odds are calculated using the formula 1.139*4.1*1.36 and will be 6.35. If the bet wins, the player will receive a payout of 6351$. If one of the events fails—say, Barcelona loses—then the outcome of all the other matches will not affect the accumulator bet, and the bettor will lose. Let's look at another scenario.

Porto and Marseille are tied. Due to the "Handicap 0" modifier, the accumulator will still be a winner only when calculating the prize pool; the multiplier for this event will not be taken into account, and the handicapper will only receive 4,556 $.

But the most interesting and profitable type of bet is live betting. And this is where statistics sites like our real-time football statistics site BETLAB come in.