Soccer Betting Explained

The How-To of Betting on Soccer 

Drawing from the most popular sport in the world, soccer betting is huge.

Especially when the World Cup comes around every four years, the frenzy for betting on soccer is of biblical proportions.

Before you place your bet on soccer, however, there are a few things you should keep in mind to maximize your winnings potential.

Do you have to know about soccer to bet on it?

If you don’t know the first thing about soccer then you should at least know how it works before making your first bet.

In a nutshell, there are two 11-player teams that play for two 45 minute halves with the aim of scoring more goals than their opponents.

Simple, right? Well, in soccer betting, there’s a whole bunch of market and outcomes to bet on that aren’t decided by the just the result of a game.

It’s also good for you to know about the teams you’re betting on, the players, and trends that might give you a further edge.

You’ll start to notice the games that seem to favor one side or the other. For example, you’ll know what teams are favorites in events such as the UEFA Champions League.

What leagues can you bet on?

There are hundreds of matches to bet on every week and an equal number of markets for each match.

At any given moment, you’ll find soccer odds on practically any soccer league you can think of.

And some the better-known soccer competitions are also the most fun to bet on because of the many available soccer prop bets.

What about World Cup betting?

That’s when things get really crazy; the FIFA World Cup is a soccer bettor’s dream because of the size of the stakes.

There’s national pride on the line as well, so millions upon millions of people will be watching games.

World Cup 2018 starts on June 16 and the soccer betting odds have been open for betting for quite some time now.

If you’re planning on watching the games, then you might want to place a bet on one of them.

Before you place a bet, understand how odds work first. The live soccer odds at the BetPhoenix sportsbook are represented as moneylines – numbers in the hundreds or thousands with a plus or minus accompanying them.

A positive moneyline, represents how much you will earn on a $100 bet. If you bet $100 on a team with a +300 moneyline, you’ll get $400 if your bet is a winner.

If you bet $200 on a +100 moneyline, you’ll get back $400 ($100 on the first hundred, $100 on the second hundred, and your initial $200 risk amount).

Negative moneylines show you how much you have to risk to get back $100.

Let’s say you bet on a negative moneyline of -100 and you risked $100 and won. You’d get back $200 ($100 you risked plus the $100 in winnings).  

Odds can also be translated into probabilities; the likelihood of a particular outcome happening or not happening is reflected in the odds.

A low value for odds shows a team with a high probability of winning whereas high-value odds show a team not favored and likely to lose.

What types of soccer bets are there?

The three most common soccer bets are similar to those of other sports. Handicapping and totals in soccer betting is the same as in other sports.

Two-way moneylines are bets based on the full 90 minutes of the match, excluding penalty shootouts, golden goals, or overtime.

You’re betting on one team winning or the other losing. There’s also a “draw, no bet” which means that if there’s a draw in the match the money risked is given back.

Three-way moneylines are exactly like two-way moneylines, except that you can bet on the draw. These bets usually have lower odds.

Totals Betting

On totals, you’re betting on the average goal count per team in a game. For example, if you bet on the Under 2.5 or Over 2.5, you’re predicting the average goals per team in the game will either under or over that number (or a close value).

Let’s say, for instance, that you bet the over 2.5, if both teams score three goals for a total of six goals, you divide this by two and you get the number three. You’ve just won the bet because the total was over 2.5.

Goal Line Betting

When you bet on the goal lines, you’re betting on what the difference between two team’s scores will be.

They’re very similar to totals in the sense you’re betting on what you believe the winning team will win by represented in goals made.

There’s also live soccer betting; if you’ve ever bet live betting in other sports it’s basically the same thing.

You’ll also find betting opportunities on such things as the World Cup group betting odds 

This is what's cool about soccer betting, that there are so many options to choose from. 

soccer Soccer Betting Explained