Soccer Betting Basics
It used to be that the soccer betting basics were simple. You picked the team that you thought was going to win and bet on them. Nothing clever, nothing fancy, just a solid bet on the team you thought was going to win. But times have changed significantly with regards to soccer betting.
You can still bet on a team to win (or draw), but now there are a huge number of additional categories you can pick from to bet on. Among these other bets include: Number of fouls, winners at half time, first scorer, and number of throw-ins. The opportunities to win money when betting on soccer are endless – and so are the opportunities to lose money.
With all of these increased options comes the increased chance of you taking an unnecessary risk. To many times when betting on soccer you may find that you go away from betting on what you know and bet on one of these other “promising” situations. This is usually a recipe for disaster. You need to avoid this and start to narrow your thinking. Never ignore a good value soccer bet if you see one and alwaysconcentrate on the soccer betting basics.
The Moneyline
The main bet in soccer is called the Moneyline. Americans can equate this best to Hockey or Baseball in that you are betting on the outcome of the game, with the only difference being it is possible (very possible) to achieve a draw rather than a result.
This means that you have 3 very simple bets. You can bet on the home team to win, a draw, or the away team to win. If you bet wrong (for example bet a home win and it’s a draw) you lose your money. But if you bet correctly, you win money.
Over / Under
Moneyline is the most popular type of betting but for ‘experts’ and those who know a thing or two about soccer there are other, more lucrative, betting types. Over/under is an especially popular form of soccer betting for those who follow the sport closely. The over/under is a simple bet on whether a certain amount of goals will be scored. A lot of soccer over/unders use 2.5 as a baseline. So you would be betting whether more or less than 2.5 goals will be scored (by either team) in that game.
Experts like it because it requires extensive knowledge of the defensive and offensive teams playing. Betting on the over/under also benefits those that have some insider knowledge about injuries and/or starting lineups. The more you know about the soccer teams and situations, the more likely you will have an edge over the Sportsbook and make some real money betting on soccer.
Betting on the Score
Another very popular ‘soccer betting basic’ is betting on the score. This is more complex than the over/under system because there are more factors to consider. In general, it is also a bit more popular as it is easily accessible to many fans that tend to predict these things anyway. When betting on the score most common fans swear that their ‘gut feeling’ works better than any stats or insider knowledge they may have. We still would like to express that knowing how the teams’ play is still pretty handy!
First Person to Score
The last of the soccer bets we’d like to cover is ‘first person to score’. Again, this is a bet that requires some knowledge or in depth research about the players in the game. Is a player scoring a lot? Are they likely to start? Are they getting themselves into the right positions? Do they start well? What sort of playing time are they likely to get? All of these are great questions that need to be looked at when betting on the first person to score.
In Europe, soccer is very easily the largest sport to place bets on. In North America, it’s also popular but American Football betting tends to trump soccer betting there. Overall, betting on soccer is certainly a profitable form of betting if you just know and study the soccer betting basics.
