How to Bet on a Football Game - Beginners Guide to Football Betting

Football games take place throughout the year and football is a very popular sport especially when it comes to sports betting. There are many sporting enthusiasts who place bets on the outcome of major football games from several countries including UK, several parts of Europe, Australia and New Zealand and wherever else it is legal to place bets online. It is not legal to place bets if you're in India.

To place bets on football and to win it is important to understand how bets on football work. There are various types of bets in football.

On Bet365, you can learn everything about Football Betting or bet amounts as low as $1. They also offer free bets to their signups. Almost all sporting events worldwide are covered on their website.

The most common bet in football games is on the final result of the game or the 90 minutes result. This type of bet is also known as WLD. This is the abbreviation for ‘Win Lose or Draw’. This is where you're predicting the result of the game at the end of the normal time. They can be only three possible results - a win for either team or a draw. Predicting the final results of a football game is deceptively simple and this is why sometimes football fans placing bets online go overboard and place bets on too many football games at once. The end result is that they win some, lose some and eventually end up saddled with losses. Bet on the final results of a football game only if you strongly believe in a specific potential outcome. E.g.

Bet $10 on Chelsea to win in the Chelsea v/s Manchester United match at odds of 1:1.5
So the $10 bet gets you $15 if Chelsea wins. If it loses, you lose your bet.

Bets on football games are based on normal time. This normal time includes the time for injuries but excludes extra time and the time for penalties.

Total Goals – Under/Over

Another type of bet involves predicting the total number of goals in a football game. Here the punter has to predict whether the total number of goals will be out of all below a certain figure. You can also choose to predict the exact number of goals that the winning team will score. The numbers of goals are taken into account at the end of the normal time. Predicting whether the total goals will be higher or lower than a particular figure is a popular bet because there can be only two outcomes.

You bet on the total goals scored by Arsenal in the Arsenal v/s Manchester United match
Win if Arsenal scores 3 or less goals
If Arsenal scores 2 goals, you win. If they score 4 goals, you lose.

Correct Score

This involves accurately predicting the exact score at the end of normal time. There can be many possible scores at the end of the game so while you will get very high odds of predicting the outcome the chances of winning are usually slim. While you can bet a small amount on this just for a lark don't depend on winning this bet because it's hard to predict the final score of a football game even for experienced punters. E.g.

Liverpool v/s Manchester United match Football Game
Win if Liverpool wins 3-1
If Liverpool scores 4-2, you lose your bet although Liverpool won the match because you couldn’t predict the accurate score.

Half Time/Full Time Bet

This is also known as a ‘Double Result Bet’. This involves predicting the result at the end of the half time and the result at the end of the football game in the same bet. This is not always easy because the team that is struggling to win at halftime may eventually win at the end of the game. If however you believe that one of the two teams is head and shoulders above the other team and is going to be a clear winner you can bet on it to be a winner at halftime and full-time both and get better odds than you would for just predicting the final result.

First Goal Scorer

There is also money to be made if you can predict which player will be the first goal scorer in a football game. If the player you have predicted scores the first goal then you get the payoff. If some other player scores the first goal then you lose the bet. You need to check the policy of your bookmaker about his bet. With some bookies if the player of the team scores an own goal this is not taken into account. With some others this is taken into account. If you bet on a player to be the first goal scorer and he waits it out on the subs bench or enters the game after the first goal has been scored you will usually get your money back as this is usually the policy but check with the bookmaker.

Another spin on the first goal scorer is the each way first goal scorer. In this case half the money you bet will be applied to the first goal scorer while the other half will be applied to the player being the first, second or third goal scorer of the football game.

Last Goal Scorer

This works similar to the first goal scorer bet but you're predicting who would be the last player to score a goal in the game.

Half Time Result

This is similar to the full-time result except that you have to predict the result at half time. This includes the first-half injury time and is the time in which the whistle is blown. They can be three possible outcomes with either of the teams winning or a draw between the two. If you think that the competition will be fierce and both teams are equally good you can bet money on a half time draw.

Draw No Bet

This is the same as betting on a full-time result except that there is no option for a draw. There are only two possible options with either team winning. If there is a draw you're entitled to get your stake back. The odds you'll get on this will generally be lower because of this. If you think that both teams are equally strong but are not sure that it will draw, this is a bet you could go for

The Scorecast

This is a bet which usually has very long odds. In this you have to predict the first quarter of a football game and also predict the correct score at the end of the game. If you're able to predict both accurately you were right about the first goal scorer and your team won but with a different score than you predicted, you still lose the bet. You need to predict both accurately - the first goal scorer and the exact score at the end of the game. You can sometimes get odds as high as 1:100 or more for this bet but it’s not a bet that is easily won even by those experienced in betting on football games.

There’s no better way to learn about betting on football games than by betting a few pounds and keeping track of results. There’s an exhaustive help section on Bet365 to help you with understanding how betting on football games works.