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An Explanation of the Types of Football Bets

Types of Football Bets – The Win-Draw-Win Bet

There are many different types of football bet, but the simplest type of football betting is match betting. It is possible to make a single bet (one money stake on one selection) on the result of most matches, whether it is the Premier League, The Championship, the FA Cup, UEFA Cup, Champions League or Internationals. You select a Home Win, a Draw or an Away Win – this is the traditional Win-Draw-Win bet.

Types of Football Bets – Each Way Betting

Similarly, you can bet on an individual competition or event – be it the Champions League, World Cup, European Cup or Premiership – by picking the winner or a finalist. To place this type of bet, you must choose a team or player, if for example you want to place a bet on who will score the most goals in a tournament. Next, decide whether you want to bet on your selection to win outright or to win and/or finish in the places. This bet for a win or a place is known as Each Way betting.

When making this type of bet, have a good look at the Each Way terms – in other words, the final positions your team must finish in for you to have a winning bet, together with the proportion of the odds you would be paid for your selection being placed. You can find this information at the foot of the list of teams or players for the event you are betting on. If you choose Each Way and your selection wins the competition, you will collect both the win part (paid at full odds) and the place part (paid at the proportion of the odds shown in the Each Way terms).

Types of Football Bets – The Accumulator

The risks of betting on football are increased by playing via an accumulator bet – but so are the returns. An accumulator is a single money stake covering four or more selections in different events. Each of your selections needs to be successful, but the winnings from the first selection roll on to subsequent selections to generate potentially massive returns. But be warned, the odds of winning an accumulator bet are low.

Types of Football Bets – Special Bets

Of course, there is more to a football match than the final result, and this is where the bookmakers’ have taken advantage of fans’ passion for all things football to offer a variety of special types of bets. These include the correct score, half-time / full-time result, and first player to score. Doing just what it says on the tin, Correct Score Betting allows you to bet on what the final score will be on a particular match, or on a number of matches, at the end of 90 minutes play (for example, Chelsea 3 Real Madrid 2).

Further testing your prediction skills is the Double Result Forecast or Half-Time / Full-Time Betting. To win with this bet, you nominate the result of the match at both Half-Time and Full-Time – for example at half-time the match will be a draw, and at full-time the result will be away team win. Lastly, to place a First Goal Scorer bet, simply nominate the player to score the first goal in the match. A reputable bookmaker should refund stakes on any player who takes no part in the match or who comes on as substitute after the first goal has been scored. As for own goals, these are ignored.

More Types of Special Football Bets

Of course, there are other events that take place in a football match, and therefore other football gambling chances. Many special bets are possible such as:

• Bet on whether the total number of goals is odd or even
• Bet on the total value of bookings in the match
• Bet on how many corners there will be
• Bet on how many free kicks there will be
• Bet on how many offsides there will be
• Bet on the last team to score
• Bet on the player to receive the first yellow card

Alternatively, another type of football bet is where you can bet on two of the three outcomes possible in a football match. So, for example, if City are playing United, you can bet on City and the draw, United and the draw, or – bizarrely – both City and United to win.

Another type of bet is Handicap Betting, offering you the opportunity to bet on the outcome of an event where one team has been given a points start. Bets are settled on the outcome after adjusting for the handicaps.

You can also play special bets as accumulators – for example, in an accumulator based on goals scored in a number of matches, you bet on the amount of goals that will be scored in each individual match. But although special bets seem attractively straightforward, they can get complicated.

Types of Football Bets – Goal Line

For example, to bet on the number of goals scored in a match, you must bet under or over the Goal Line. This figure is the number of goals that the bookmaker thinks will be scored in total in a particular match. But this Goal Line will not necessarily be expressed in a whole number (2, 3, 4) but can also be expressed as a whole plus half number (3.5, 4.5). If you bet on ‘over’ when the line is 4, you lose your bet if one, two or three goals are scored and win if more than four are scored. If exactly four goals are scored, your stake will be refunded. If you bet on ‘under’ when the line is 2.5 and there are one or two goals in the game, your bet wins. If there are three or more, your bet loses.

To complicate matters, the Goal Line can either be a single line or number (for example, 4 or 2.5) or split line (such as 2 / 2.5 or 4 / 4.5). Understanding football betting odds is easier with this bet if you consider a split line bet as two separate bets - since your stake is divided equally between the two lines. So, for example, if you bet £10 on ‘over’ when the line is 4 / 4.5 you are in fact betting £5 on over 4 and £5 on over 4.5. In this example, if the total number of goals is 0, 1, 2, 3, your bet loses. If the total number of goals is 4 then half your bet is refunded (the 4 line) and half your bet loses (the 4.5 line). If the total number of goals is 5 or above then both parts of your bet win. As before, if the total number of goals scored in a match equals the Goal Line, bets are refunded.

However, though fun, special bets can often be poor value compared to other types of football bets in terms of odds given and likely winnings. As ever, a good rule to remember is that anything heavily promoted by the bookmaker is not necessarily the best bet for you, but the best bet for the bookmaker – one of the key risks of placing a bet on football.

Types of Football Bets – Coupon Betting

Traditionally, in this type of bet, a coupon gives a set number of matches, chosen by the bookmaker, and to win, you have to predict correctly how all the matches on the coupon will turn out. Needless to say, though you may be confident of predicting many, even most, of the matches on a coupon, there will always be some hard-to-call results on which the bookmakers will rely.

Types of Football Bets – The Pools

The Football Pools offer an enticing prospect of huge payouts, but you are more likely to be struck by lightning than scoop a million on the Football Pools. Like the lottery, all of the money staked by the bettors is placed in a kitty or central pool, which – after the organisers take their cut - is shared equally amongst the winners. The object is to identify, from the total number of matches listed on a Pools coupon, eight score draws (1-1 or 2-2, etc). To fill in a coupon, simply mark an 'X' against potential score draws. You can also win smaller prizes depending upon points gained: a Score Draw is worth 3 point; a No Score Draw (0-0) or Void (cancelled) match is 2 points and a Home win or Away win is 1 point. As in the lottery, there can be several winners with winning forecasts who share the jackpot, so the odds of winning a Pools jackpot can never be accurately forecast – but it is certainly an unlikely event.

Another type of popular football betting system is Asian Line Betting. You can learn more about this on our Football – Asian Line Betting page.

Once you are familiar with the various types of bets used when betting on football , why not visit our Football Betting Strategies page for some hints and tips?

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