Football is America’s favorite sport. Many football fans enjoy betting on the games but up until last year, betting could only be undertaken in an informal or illegal framework. Today sports betting is legal in 10 states and by the end of the year, sports betting should be legal in another dozen states.
Each state has its own laws and available platforms – in some states you must bet at a physical, brick-and-mortar casino while in others, options exist to bet online.
If you follow these basic guidelines you can look forward to an enjoyable and fun-filled football betting experience with a casino sign up bonus to boot.
Fulltime Result
Fulltime result is the most popular form of football betting. There are two types of wagers in a fulltime result bet – 1X2 (Win/Lose/Draw) and Asian Handicap.
The 1X2 betting allows you to bet on either team to win. You can also make a wager for the match to end in a draw. Such betting is often referred to as 3-way betting. On the other hand, Asian Handicap eliminates the draw as an option while allowing the bettor to make seemingly one-sided matches a little more entertaining. Bookmakers offer you a goal handicap and that is then added to one team’s fulltime score. Alternately, it can be deducted from the other.
One example might include a handicap of +1.5 goals – that means that, if the fulltime score of your team has an added goals and the score is then greater than their opposition, your bet becomes a winner because that team has 'covered the handicap'. Similarly, a handicap of -1.5 goals hand can be deducted from that team so, once the handicap is deducted, if that team's score remains greater than their opponents, there’s another winning bet.
Since the regular length of a football match is 90 minutes, it's not uncommon to see two or three minutes of added injury time. Injury time still counts as normal time for betting purposes, though penalty shootout or extra time don’t count in normal 3-way bets.
1X2/Match Results Odds
There are also options to bet on football teams by betting on “Match Results.” Match Results, also referred to as 1x2 odds, refers to the fact that the “1” refers to Team 1 (generally the home team), the “X” refers to the Draw and the “2” signifies Team 2. Match results and Asian handicaps are the most common types of football betting.
Say Team 1 is playing at odds of 2.50 while the draw is at odds of 3.25 and Team 2 has odds of 2.80. This gives you the overview that tells you what your odds are for each possible outcome.
If you’re betting on a knockout tournament, there is a potential the game to go into overtime. If that happens, 1X2 betting covers only the regulation 90 minutes. If you wagered on a draw, then your bet is a winner. However, if you bet on one or the other teams to win, you lose your bet if the game goes into extra time.
Asian Handicap Odds
Along with the Match Result Odds, the Asian handicap odds are a popular way of betting on football. Simply put, Asian Handicaps give both teams a goals handicap, either a goals advantage (+) or a goals deficit (-). Basically, both teams are handicapped according to their form, so the stronger team must win by more goals.
If Team 1 has a handicap of -0.5 goals while Team 2 has a handicap of +0.5 goals, if you bet on Team 1, that team must win the match for you to win your bet. If, on the other hand, you bet on Team 2, then either a Team 2 win or a draw would be enough for you to win your bet.
So, if a team has a minus handicap (as Team 1 does in the above example), the handicap is deducted from their fulltime score. If that team still leads after the handicap has been deducted, it’s a winning handicap bet.
Alternately, if a team has a positive handicap (as does Team 2 above), then we simply add the handicap to their fulltime score. If Team 2 leads after the handicap has been added, that becomes the winning handicap bet.
Double Chance
A Double Chance bet allows you to place one bet and have that bet cover two out of the three possible outcomes of a match with that one bet. Double Chance bets can cover:
- Home Win / Draw
- Away Win / Draw
- Home Win / Away Win
Odds offered on Double Chance are generally lower than if you were to bet on just one result since the Double Chance bet covers a combination of two possible results.
Correct Score Odds
The Correct Score bet involves a wager on the exact fulltime scoreline of a match. Many casual bettors prefer this bet as the odds on the various choices tend to be long.
When you bet on a correct score – ditching – you bet on the score that you believe will be the final score of the match. There are options to cover a range of potential scorelines – you can place additional side bets on variations of the score (along with a bet on 2-0, you can add bets such as 1-0, 1-1-, 2-1, etc). If you do this, your overall returns will be shorter but you’ll provide yourself with some insurance should your initial 2-0 bet fail.
Half-Time Bets
Sportsbooks accept bets on half-time (either half) or full-time. To succeed at this type of betting on football, it's important to have a sense of the tempo of both competing teams and be able to anticipate how a match may play out and. For instance, it may be clear from the outset which is the superior team and which is the interior team but if one team if prone to slow starts, a HT/FT bet of Draw/Win could be great value.
For example, if Team 1 is hosting Team 2, the bettor doesn’t simply pick the fulltime result but actually tries to predict how the match will play out across both halves. Perhaps Team 1 has a history of late starts but a strong second half. The punter can take that into consideration as s/he divides up his bet into 2 separate predictions.
Parlay Bets
Parlay Bets are also referred to Accumulators and Combo Bets. The bettor can put a number of selections on one betting slip and watch the odds multiply. For example, with a combo bet of four selections, the odds are calculated and the bookmaker’s commission is multiplied as each selection diminishes the value of the bet. The value is multiplied into each selection made.
