Introduction:
- How Does Virtual Football Betting Work
- Soccer Betting Lines Explained
- How Soccer Betting Works
- Understanding Soccer Betting Lines
In this article, we will be explaining how to bet on soccer. We’ll explain the numerous methods to bet on soccer and the terminology commonly used. Soccer is a widely-bet sport worldwide and there are a number of different ways to bet an individual game.
American odds for betting on the favorite work by showing how much money you would have to bet in order to win $100. Things are different when betting on an underdog. The positive number shows how much you can win if you risk $100. You may notice that this is similar to 'odds-on' bets in UK markets. Goal Spread Soccer Betting. Goal spread soccer betting is where there is a line put on a specific soccer game. It works similar to any other point spread bet in basketball or football, and is very common in World Cup games. This goal spread is set up to give better odds on a team who is a heavy favorite. Betting on football isn't as simple as just picking the eventual winner of the game, you've got to consider who will win, but more importantly by how much. The point spread is considered the great equalizer in football betting, and being on the right side of that line is the goal of every football bettor. With the point spread, you’re making a fixed odds wager on a game. In this type of wager, the favorite is effectively deducted points (or goals in the case of soccer) and the underdog is awarded points. These adjustments in the points/goals are referred to as the spread. Here’s an example. Soccer bets are based on results after 90 minutes of play or, ‘Regular Time’, which includes any time added by the referee in respect of injuries and other stoppages. Any Overtime, Golden Goals or Penalty Shoot-Outs do not count towards these betting since they are not considered ‘Regular Time’.
Betting the 3-way Moneyline:
In soccer, there are many types of competitions with varying rules so it’s always good to be informed prior to placing a bet. In most competitions, draws may be the final result of the game, so there are 3 different outcomes to bet on between Team A and Team B:
Team A wins
Team B wins
Team A and Team B draw
Soccer bets are based on results after 90 minutes of play or, ‘Regular Time’, which includes any time added by the referee in respect of injuries and other stoppages. Any Overtime, Golden Goals or Penalty Shoot-Outs do not count towards these betting since they are not considered ‘Regular Time’. For example, in the elimination stages of the World Cup, a winner is required in the tournament in order to progress to the next stage, but all bets are settled on 90 minutes of play (Regular Time). Thus, a draw is a possible outcome to bet on even in a game where one team must be eliminated. An example of what a 3-way moneyline would look like is:
France -129
Switzerland +325
Draw +250
Betting the 2-way Moneyline without the Draw:
Another way of betting soccer is to take the 2-way moneyline, also known as “Draw, No Bet” This is betting on the outcome of the game without the Draw. The two possible wagers are:
Team A wins
Team B wins
This form of betting eliminates the option of the Draw, and will likely have inflated odds on the favorite and deflated odds on the underdog to win the match since a draw results in no bet. For example, in a World Cup match between France and Switzerland, odds on the 2-way moneyline would like look:
France -310
Switzerland +272
As you can see, there is no option to bet on the draw, and if the game ends in a draw, the bet is refunded or “No-Actioned”, and is as if the bet was never placed.
Betting Goal Lines:
Similar to betting the 2-way moneyline (without the draw), the Goal Line is a way for bettors to win a bet on multiple outcomes of the game. Goal Lines are similar to Puck Lines in hockey and Point Spreads in football or basketball. A Goal Line is typically 0.5 goals but for games with big favorites, the Goal Line may be 1,1.5, 2, 2.5, 3 and so on. A World Cup match between Argentina and Iran looks like this:
Argentina -2.5 goals (+110)
How Does Virtual Football Betting Work
Iran +2.5 goals (-120)
If you bet Argentina -2.5 goals, then to win the bet they must win by 3 goals or more. On the other side, betting Iran +2.5 goals means to win the bet, Iran can win, draw, or lose by 1 or 2 goals.
Betting Totals:
Soccer Betting Lines Explained
Totals in soccer work differently than other sports and can be shown in multiples of .25 goals. Since scoring is minimal in soccer, bookmakers will often times set a Total of 2.25 or 2.75. For example, if you bet on the Over 2.25 goals, half your bet is placed on “Over 2” and the other half of the bet is placed on “Over 2.5”. If the game settles on 2, you lose half your bet (Over 2.5) and refunded the other half (Over 2). If the game settles on 3, you win both bets (Over 2 and Over 2.5).
Another example is if you bet on the Under 2.75 goals. In this example, half your bet is placed on the Under 2.5 goals and the other half is bet on the Under 3 goals. If the game lands on 3, you’d lose half your bet (Under 2.5) and refunded the other half (Under 3).
The most common football pool is the standard 100 square football pool. At almost every Super Bowl party you have ever been to you might have seen this 10 x 10 betting sheet and wondered what it is. There’s nothing like a friendly little game to liven up the party during the Super Bowl. This pool is built around a simple chart calls for no skill or previous knowledge of how to bet the spread or of the game of football in general. In this article I will explain how easy this to partake in and how much fun this form of gambling on football can add to the game.
How a 100 square football pool works is very simple. Whoever the party host or pool host may be creates at 10 squares by 10 squares chart; this is numbered on each axis from 0-9. Each axis is also labeled home/away or by each team playing, if chosen.
The pool host will then try to sell each square on the chart, usually ranging from $5-$100, depending on the type of clientele buying the squares. After all the squares have been sold, each box is then assigned at random so that everyone has a fair chance to get a coveted square. Another method some pool hosts use is to have all the entrants write their names down inside a single square of their liking on the blank 100 square pool sheet and then use 10 cards (Ace through Nine) to randomly draw the numbers at the top and side of the pool sheet.
How do you know which squares are the best? This is simple, so the way this works is that every square on the board will assign two numbers. For instance, if you had a square in the middle of the board, this would correspond to 5 for the home team and 5 for the away team. So what do those 5’s mean?
The numbers 0-9 correspond to either the last number in the home or away team score depending on where the square is located. So 20 points would be a 0 whereas 35 would be 5 points.
How Soccer Betting Works
So how do you win? At the end of the first quarter, halftime, third quarter, and final score whatever the score is will be awarded to the person who owns that square. If the score is 17-10 at the half with the home team winning, the person with the squares of 7 and 0 would win that portion of the game. Having the squares 0 and 7 would not help because it would be assigned to the wrong teams. Usually the total money is divided by 5, and is paid out as follows. 1st quarter, Halftime, and 3rd quarter all get a 1/5 of the total bank and the Final Score doubles this to 2/5. So if you were involved on a $5 dollar pool and all 100 squares were filled that would be $500 to be paid out. With that number you would get paid $200 for final score and $100 for all other scores.
Which numbers are the best to have when entering the office pool? The top 5 most common scores for NFL games since 1970 are 20-17, 17-14, 27-24, 13-10, and 24-17. So as you can see if one of your numbers is 0, 3, 4, or 7, then you already have a leg-up on the competition.
Understanding Soccer Betting Lines