These Football Betting Markets Have The Highest Chance Of Success!
You don’t need me to remind you of how popular foo
You don’t need me to remind you of how popular football is for betting. It’s the biggest and most watched sport in the world, which means it has the largest array of betting markets to pick from. Don’t fall into the habit of betting on match results all the time - or trying to form long accumulators. Some betting markets have a much higher success rate than others, and we’re about to introduce you to them!
A quick disclaimer before we begin: this post isn’t designed to show you markets that guarantee wins. You’ll still lose some of your bets, but when compared with all other football betting markets, these are clearly the best.
Over/Under Goals
The over/under goals market lets you predict how many goals you think a game will have. A bookmaker will give a figure and you can bet on whether the match will be over or under that amount. Most of the time, this market includes the following figures:
- 0.5 goals
- 1.5 goals
- 2.5 goals
- 3.5 goals
- 4.5 goals
Some bookies go over this, but these are usually the numbers you see. It’s a popular market as it’s fairly easy to predict how many goals there could be in a game based on the teams in action. If two sides are in great form and score multiple goals each match (while also having bad defences) you know to bet “over” 1.5 or 2.5 goals. Likewise, when there’s a cagey affair between two defensive-minded sides, betting on “under” a goal amount is wise.
You’re more likely to get this right when compared to betting on match results throughout a season. Plus, we’ve got some under/over goals predictions on our site covering loads of games every single day. Check them out for some free tips on where to put your money.
Handicaps
Handicap betting is an excellent football market when you see a surefire result on the horizon. For example, Manchester City are entertaining the bottom-placed side at the Etihad Stadium. The side they’re playing has never won here and hasn’t scored an away goal all season. All signs point to a resounding Manchester City victory - but the bookies are aware of this.
Picking a Man City win will mean you get awful odds as it’s almost guaranteed to happen. A handicap bet lets you place a wager on the favourites while securing better odds by giving them a goal disadvantage. Traditional handicaps look like this:
- -1
- -2
- -3
- Etc…
If you think Man City will win by 3 goals, you put a bet on them with a -2 handicap. Alternatively, you can try Asian handicap betting, which looks like this:
- -0.5
- -1.5
- -2.5
- Etc…
It’s not widely used by British bookmakers, but you’ll see it at all of the betting sites outside the UK on CasinoGam.uk. The benefit of Asian handicaps is that they remove draws from the equation. With a traditional whole-figure handicap, you will lose your bet if the teams draw after your handicap is taken into consideration.
You could also use positive handicaps to bet on the team you don’t think will win. This is pretty clever as the odds are usually better than betting on the winner - yet you still win the bet if the team you’ve bet on loses. E.g. a +2.5 handicap bet on Luton to beat Man City means your bet wins even if Luton loses 2-0. The handicap score would mean they technically win 2.5-2!
It’s a fun market to dive into when you want to get better value out of match results.
Both Teams To Score (BTTS)
Those of you who don’t like the over/under market can try BTTS instead. It’s another way of betting on the goals in a match, but this one is all about whether both teams will score. It’s a Yes/No market and works exceptionally well in leagues with a lot of free-flowing football.
We suggest using FootyStats for this as it has detailed statistics of the BTTS rates across most major leagues. There’s even a long table full of the best teams for BTTS betting, letting you see who’s the best side to bet on. A few standout mentions from that table are:
- Berdalens - 93% of matches see both teams score
- Criciuma - 89% of matches see both teams score
- KR - 88% of matches see both teams score
This is a fine market to jump into and can provide great value across some of the lesser-known leagues in regions across the world.
Double Chance
Successful betting is all about minimising the chances of your wager losing. Double chance does this for you! Instead of betting on who will win, you’re betting on two possible outcomes. It’s usually represented like this:
- 1X - The home team to win or a draw
- 12 - Either the home or away team to win
- 2X - The away team to win or a draw
Giving yourself a couple of possibilities means there’s only ever one way you bet doesn’t win. We think double-chance betting works better when you pick either 1X or 2X as it effectively means you’re backing a team not to lose. A great option when you think a team might win, but it’s not guaranteed. Combining a couple of double chance bets into a small accumulator is a smart way of magnifying the odds and making the bet more worthwhile.
Which football betting markets are your favourite? We like these four as they tend to be the easiest to predict and heighten your chances of winning. Many others exist, but the best advice is to avoid very specific bets. When you’re gambling on something specific to happen (or multiple things to happen) the chances of winning diminish.