How To Do Soccer Betting

Soccer betting enables you to bet on Lionel Messi's Barcelona team, or even Lionel Messi himself. (Photo credit: tpower1978 / Foter / CC BY)


Whether it’s the Premier League, the World Cup or the MLS, soccer betting makes the beautiful game even more beautiful.

Soccer betting offers more betting options than any other sport. You can bet on everything from who will win the game to when the first yellow card or corner kick will be issued.

The different handicaps

The first thing to understand when learning how to do soccer betting is the different types of handicaps.

Level Handicap

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A level handicap bet is similar to the moneyline in other sports. You are simply picking who will win the game, it doesn’t matter by how much.

If you take a favourite, you will have to risk a larger amount than what you can win. The larger the favourite, the more you have to risk.

If you take an underdog, you can win a larger amount than you have to risk.

Single Handicap

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A single handicap is an amount taken from the favourite and given to the underdog to balance the odds.

In this example, Liverpool is a better team than Aston Villa. So the oddsmakers apply a -1 handicap to Liverpool and a +1 to Aston Villa. Now, Liverpool pays +220 on the single handicap odds, instead of -118 on the level handicap. In order for you to win your Liverpool bet, however, they need to win by more than 1 goal.

The single handicap bet is good for when you want to bet on a heavy favourite but don’t want to risk a lot to win a little. It is also good when you want to bet on an underdog to keep the game close but aren’t quite convinced they can win the game outright.

Split Handicap (Asian)

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When the difference between the two teams’ abilities is small, it makes sense to split your bet over two handicaps.

Let’s say you like Liverpool to win the game, but you’re not so sure Liverpool will win by more than the -1 handicap.

With a split handicap of -0.75, you can put half your wager on each. If Liverpool wins by 1 goal, you’ll win half your bet (the -0.5 half) and push the other (-1). If Liverpool wins by 2 or more, you’d win both halves of your bet. If Liverpool doesn’t win the game, you would have lost your wager anyway.

 

Many different types of soccer betting

Now that we’ve mastered the three types of handicaps, here are the different types of soccer betting you can do on any match, using whichever handicap you’d like. All of these bets can be found at most sportsbooks and you can also find most of them at Bodog or Sports Interaction.

Full Time Result

Betting on the full time result simply means picking one of three possible outcomes at the end of full time: a home team win, an away team win, or a draw. Full time typically includes 90 minutes of regulation time plus injury time, but not extra time, shootouts or golden goals.

Double Chance

Double chance soccer betting basically means betting on two of three possible outcomes at the end of full time. You can bet on the home team win and draw, away team win and draw, or home team and away team win (no draw). Since you have two different ways to win, the odds on this bet won’t be that great.

Correct Score

Betting on the correct score means predicting what the score will be at the end of full time. You will need to be correct on the total score for both teams.

Half Time/Full Time

The half time/full time bet requires you to predict who will be winning (or if it will be a draw) at both half time and full time. You need to get them both correct to win your wager, just like a parlay.

Half Time/Full Time Correct Score

With this form of soccer betting, you don’t just predict who will be winning (or if it will be a draw) at both half time and full time, but also what the exact score will be for each team.

Goals Over/Under

Predict whether there will be under or over a certain number of goals in a match. In the event of a match being abandoned before 90 minutes have been played then all bets will be void unless settlement of bets is already determined.

Both Teams To Score

You can either predict that each team will score at least one goal in the game, or that at least one team won’t score.

Goal Scorers

The goal scorers bet is a prop bet where you can bet on whether a specific player will score a goal during the match.

Draw No Bet

Playing the draw no bet means that if the game ends in a draw, your bet is cancelled. It’s like insurance on your wager.

Result/Both Teams To Score

Soccer betting on result/both teams to score is essentially parlaying the both teams to score prop with who you think will win the game.

Winning Margin

The winning margin bet is a parlay in which you predict which team will win and by how many goals (exactly).

Scorecast

In standard scorecast soccer betting, you parlay which player will score the first goal and what the final score of the game will be. Some sportsbooks also offer varieties of scorecast combinations, like the anytime scorecast (the player just needs to score a goal, not necessarily the first one) or first half scorecasts (which player will score the first goal and what the score of the first half will be). Due to the difficulty of accurately predicting these combinations, the payout can be large.

Wincast

The wincast bet is similar to the scorecast, except that you predict which team will win instead of what the final score will be. It’s easier to win but does not pay as much as the scorecast.

Timecast

The timecast bet is similar to scorecast and wincast, except that you predict a certain time span when the first goal will be scored instead of what the final score will be or who will win.

Cards

Cards soccer betting involves wagering on the yellow and red cards that will be issued in the match. You can bet on which team will receive the most cards, the total number of cards received in the match, the number of cards either team might receive, when cards will be issued, when the first card will be issued and more.

Corners

Corners soccer betting involves wagering on the corner kicks that will be taken in the match. You can bet on which team will receive the most corner kicks, the total number of corner kicks in the match, the number of corner kicks each team might receive, when the first corner kick will take place and more.

Goals

Goals soccer betting involves wagering on goals scored in the match. Over/under is the most common goals bet, but you can also bet on whether both teams will score, the exact number of goals scored in the match, if both teams will score in the first half, how the first goal will be scored (header, penalty kick, etc.), what time the first goal will be scored, whether the number of goals in the game will be odd or even, and more.

Specials

Specials soccer betting is wagering on various propositions (props) in the match. Will there be a goal on a penalty kick, will one team come from behind to win, will one team win both halves, will one team score in both halves or will there be an own goal are all examples of specials betting.