How To Bet on Soccer: An In-Depth Guide

Soccer is a bettor’s favorite – it’s the ultimate game of ball. It’s easy to understand and the most popular sport in the world. If you want to get into betting in general, it’s imperative that you learn how to bet on soccer. This comprehensive guide will discuss everything you need to know to be anexpert on how to bet on soccer.

Best Soccer Betting Websites

Bet Now

Bovada is the go-to website for most U.S. based individuals looking to make a bet on sports. The site is really simple to use and the layout is rather welcoming as it feels easy to jump right in and make your bet. Bovada provides you with a sweet welcome bonus to get you started and they provide great competitive rates for their markets. If you’re looking to apply some of the soccer betting strategies listed below, Bovada is a great place to find valuable odds.

Bet Now

Last but not least, BetNow is a rising monster in the U.S. gambling scene. Their app is amazingly sleek and easy to use, and the general interface and branding makes you feel at home. The withdrawal process can sometimes take quite a long time, but generally they give you your sweet earnings quickly.

Betting on Soccer: Full Guide

Now that we know which websites will take our hard earned cash and multiply it, let’s get on to general strategies when betting in soccer.

Helpful Tips and Tricks

First and foremost, it’s important to understand a crucial part of sports betting: resist the greed. A bet is only as successful as it is realistic. Part of the fun of soccer betting is the research. Looking at the match history, which team scores more or has better stats per 90 minutes and making informed and calculated choices really elevate the bet experience.

What does that mean exactly? You may be attempted to make a big accumulator or parlay (multiple single bets compiled into one big one for a big payout) with all the underdogs on it and see a massive payout of $100,000. Don’t. It’s never going to work. Understand your budget and be realistic with your expectations!

It is also important to understand that every bet is based on the regulation time of 90 minutes. If, for example, a World Cup game goes to overtime, any progression of your bet stops there.

The Most Popular Types of Soccer Bets

Here’s the juicy stuff.
There are two different times you can make a bet: before the event starts, and while the game is in-play. When you bet while the game is going on, you’re going to be against time and the odds will be changing constantly.

The most popular categories for soccer betting is as follows:

Moneyline

Moneyline is by far the most popular soccer bet out there; you’re betting on which team will win. Many people think that bets only have a two way moneyline, and for other American sports like basketball or hockey where teams can’t draw, that is definitely the case.  Soccer has a three way moneyline. This means that you will lose your bet if you bet on a team to win and it ends in a draw. There are some websites that will give you money back if the match ends in a draw, but usually they don’t.

There is, however, an option to reduce the category to a two way moneyline instead. This is usually called “double chance” and “draw no bet”.
Here’s an example of a three way moneyline:

• Team A wins
• Team B wins
• Draw

Here’s an example of a two way moneyline:

• Team A wins or draw
• Team B wins or draw
• Team A or Team B win

Draw no bet would completely get rid of the draw and only give you the option of either team to win.

Over/Under

The next most popular category is over/under. This category keeps track of either how many goals are scored in the match or how many each team scores. This is the point where newbies looking to bet on soccer may get turned off. You’ll start to see decimals and you can start to get confused. If you see the odds “over/under 2.5 goals” that means you’ll be either looking at a combined scoreline of above 2 or below 3.

Here’s an example of a scoreline that you would win if you bet UNDER 2.5 goals: Team A 1 – Team B 1. The score combined is 2 goals,  so you would get a nice payday here! Congratulations.

Over/Under bets are typically good additions to an accumulator/parlay as bettors usually find it easier to predict how many goals there will be in a game rather than who will win.

Handicap

Handicap is definitely a deterrent for new bettors as it can be complicated to understand initially. It’s best to explain through an example:

Team B has a -2.5 handicap. This means that to win your bet, Team B would have to score 3 goals or more by the time the game ends. 

That’s pretty much it! Most websites will allow you to customize the handicap, so you can have a handicap from between 0.5 to something ridiculous like 5.5.  It’s pretty important to understand when one team is stronger than the other for a handicap bet.

Other Categories

There are lots of other categories – too many to count. Most of them are easy to understand if you have the general gist of a soccer bet. You can bet on:

• Goalscorers
• Corners
• Correct Score
• Half Time/Full Time
• much more

These categories are definitely niche, and you’ll have to draw upon a bit of research about the teams to confidently put these in your bet slips.

Soccer Betting Strategies

Make a Value

It is imperative that you find thevalue bets. Educated and experienced bettors will understand when a specific market is undervalued and will quickly seize the opportunity to add it to their bet slips. Sometimes bookies won’t truly understand the dynamic of a match quite like an educated viewer will, so it’s up to you to be crafty enough to catch that moment.

Knowledge is a Man’s Best friend

It would also be important to research certain trends and statistics beforehand, such as who’s the hottest goalscorer right now, which team’s defense or offense is good or bad, etc. This knowledge will only strengthen your betting technique.

Choose Your Battles

If you try and fit every single soccer game into a single accumulator and expect to win, most likely you won’t. Choose which games you’re confident is undervalued that you know will win.

Summary

After this article, you should be able to comfortably bet on soccer games and win a lot of money through your endeavors. Don’t forget to keep a level head and to always keep your gambling in check. When the fun stops, stop! Thanks for reading, and may your betslips make you rich.