Football Bets

Football is by far the most watched, played and bet on sport in the world. Countries rich and poor enjoy the sport due to it’s simplicity, excitement and ease of play. It doesn’t require any specialist equipment like other sports, just a football and a few friends. Football has produced some big stars over its history and given some gifted people an opportunity that changed their lives forever. Although the biggest leagues and matches usually take place on the weekend, football betting takes place on a daily basis. Bookmakers take football bets on big and small teams all year round. There many football leagues all over the world, however the biggest are in Europe.

The biggest of all is the English Premier League which many people enjoy betting on every weekend. Other notable leagues are the Spanish Primera Division (La Liga) and Serie A of Italy. These are all domestic leagues. Football betting on cup competitions is also massively popular. These can be split into club level and national. The most popular club level cup is the Champions League. Here the best teams and players battle it out to claim the title of the best in Europe. The Champions League takes a lot of football bets and it can be very profitable for some people.

Leagues

The second level club cup competition in Europe is the Europa League (newly re-branded in 2009), in which the next best teams in leagues all over Europe compete similar to the Champions League. The biggest cup competition of all is a national one, the World Cup. This is the most popular football event on earth, reaching to every country in the world. The amount of football bets on the World Cup are huge. Because of the size of the event people who don’t usually bet on football are often tempted to place bets on the World Cup. It even attracts people who don’t usually watch football.

Matches

Every year there are big football matches that attract a lot of bets. People who place bets on football often like to bet on these exciting matches often referred to as derbies. Derbies originally meant a rivalry between two local teams, but the term is now often used also when two big teams have a lot of history and rivalry play each other. Some of the big derbies are Rangers vs. Celtic, Barcelona vs. Real Madrid, Manchester United vs. Liverpool, Boca Juniors vs. River Plate and Brazil vs. Argentina.

Types of football betting

Most people who bet on football will bet with fixed odds. e.g. 15/4 (fractional odds) or 4.75 to 1 (decimal odds). Fixed odds betting is the most popular because it is the easiest to understand. However there is also another popular type of betting that is gaining popularity. This is known as spread betting. Spread betting works rather like stock trading where you bet a stake and for every unit increase you will win that stake. E.g. if you bet 10 on a team to have a goal margin of at least 2 and they actually end up with a margin of 4, then you will win a 2 unit increase multiplied by your stake., which equals 20. The most popular type of football bet is the 1X2 bet, where you bet on either team to win or for a draw. This type of bet attracts the most bettors because it is the most obvious thing to bet on and it has few outcomes. However there are many more different bets on football that you can place. These include the scoreline of the game, which players will score and total goals. These can often be more profitable if you win because they are less likely to happen and so will have larger odds. Over the last few years in-play betting has been introduced where you can actually bet as football matches are taking place. Bettors enjoy this because they can use their skill and knowledge to greater effect to predict outcomes from seeing the team’s performance on the day.

Football Spread Betting

Have you ever seen your team concede a last minute goal when you were seconds away from winning a big bet? Would you have settled for 95% of your winnings before the goal was scored? If your answer is YES, then football spread betting could be for you! Sporting Index is the biggest spread betting company and they are currently giving away £300 in free total goal bets to new customers. If you want to see the advantages of spread betting, take a quick look at the bottom of this page. When you place a bet normally you are placing it with fixed odds e.g. 1/2 or 1.5 to 1. You place this on a win or lose outcome and you either win or lose your bet. Your winnings are calculated from the odds and the amount you stake. So if you bet 10 for Manchester United to win at 1.5 to 1 and they do, you win 1.5 x £10. If they lose or draw, then you lose your £10 stake. However fixed odds often create a market where most people bet for the better team. E.g. if Manchester United played Birmingham, most people would bet on United to win. The main purpose of football spread betting is to create an active market for both sides of a wager.

With spread betting you are betting on a range of outcomes called the spread, and you bet whether you think the outcome will fall above or below the spread. The spread is often presented like this: e.g. 65-67, and is the range of outcomes or results that the spread company predict are most likely to occur for an event. If you think that the spread is too low, then you would bet high and “BUY” the spread at 67. If you think that the spread is too high, then you would bet low and “SELL” the spread at 65. The money you win depends on your stake how right or wrong you are. The higher your stake and the more right or wrong your prediction is the more you win/lose.