Football betting is one of the most exciting sports to place your bets on and there are millions of fans around the world that enjoy doing so regularly.
Over/under: A term used to describe a type of bet or betting option in which the result is determined by the final score of a game. For Example if the predicted combined score of both teams in one game is set at 42. You can place a wager on whether the game will end with a combined score over or under 42. A comprehensive sports betting glossary that explains a number of the most commonly used terms. Learn about popular phrases used when betting on sports.
However, those new to the betting scene are sometimes unsure about different football betting terms, how betting on football works and most importantly how to place winning bets.
In our detailed betting glossary you'll find a list of the most common betting terms used by punters.with expert explanations.
That’s why we wrote this football betting guide which will explain the key strategies, betting terms and other important information you need to know so you can make more profit from your football bets in 2019.
Ready? Let’s jump right in.
Football betting explained
One of the most common questions we get asked is whether you should place your football bets at a bookmaker or a betting exchange.
So to kick off our football betting guide, we’re going to look at the difference between a bookmaker and a betting exchange plus the benefits of each platform when betting on football.
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Bookmaker or exchange for football betting?
So what’s the difference between a bookmaker and betting exchange?
Bookmaker
A bookmaker or bookie as it’s often referred to is your traditional betting platform. This is the most common and popular type of betting company and one that you’ll probably use regularly.
Examples of a bookmaker include Ladbrokes and Coral. At a bookmaker, you effectively bet against the company when you place a wager.
If you win your bet, the bookie loses and vice versa.
Bookmakers offer a range of features that still makes them the most popular betting platforms in 2019.
Some of their benefits include:
- Great promotions and bonuses
- Boosted odds
Great promotions and bonuses
Bookmakers typically offer a great range of promotions to their new and existing customers. They use them to incentivise punters to place more bets. However, you should use them to increase your football betting winnings.
Here’s a great example of a football betting offer you should consider using.
Boosted odds
One of the benefits of using a bookmaker, is you have access to features such as boosted odds whereas using a betting exchange you don’t, as we’ll look at below.
Much like the promotions and offers mentioned above, odds boosts will only help increase your football winnings if you pick wisely and land your bet.
So what about betting exchanges for your football betting?
Betting exchanges
A betting exchange is another common betting term you’ll come across.
An exchange is an online marketplace which matches gamblers together. A betting exchange doesn’t take on any bets like a bookmaker does meaning you don’t bet against the company. You’re betting against other punters. It’s a peer to peer platform.
The betting exchange makes money by charging a commission on players’ net winnings rather than building a profit margin into the odds. This means you’ll generally get better value odds at an exchange like Smarkets as well as other benefits which we’ll look at below:
- Both back and lay bets available
- Bet against other punters
- Better value odds
Back and lay bets
Both back and lay bets are available at betting exchanges which is something not available at a bookmaker. For the majority of football punters, they’re only interested in placing back bets.
However, for the serious bettors who win football bets regularly, they also place lay bets.
Bet against other punters
As a betting exchange is a peer to peer platform, you’re betting against other punters rather than against a bookmaker. This adds another layer of excitement as you always want to beat your ‘opponent’ and win your football bet.
Better value odds
Due to how betting exchanges work, you’re going to get more valuable odds compared to a bookmaker who has to build their profit margin into the odds.
This is great for football bettors as it means you’ll have more winnings when you land a bet.
So, overall what betting platform should you use to place your football bets in 2019? As I said at the start, it’s really up to you and depends on your needs. The right choice for me may not be the same for you.
A mixture of both is generally a solid approach.
When it comes to opening a new bookmaker or betting exchange account, check out this guide.
Awesome, now you’ve got a better idea of the different types of betting platform, let’s look at some football betting types.
Football betting terms – Different bet types
Next up in our football betting guide, we’re going to explain the different kinds of bet you can place on football.
Single bets
Single bets are the most common and popular football bet type in 2019. A single bet simply means you place one bet at a bookmaker or betting exchange.
You’ll probably start off using these bets as they’re the most simple to understand and place.
However, you can’t write a football betting guide without mentioning the incredibly popular football accumulator.
Football accumulators explained
An accumulator is a bet that contains more than four selections. For you to win the overall accumulator, each selection in the bet must win.
Accumulators have become very popular over the last few years, especially when betting on football.
As you can imagine, the winnings can be quite profitable as the probability of all outcomes occurring is quite low.
The bookmakers usually add promotions and special offers to accumulator bets, meaning the potential winnings can be even greater.
On the other hand, accumulator bets have to be placed at one bookmaker meaning you may not always get the best odds on each selection.
For more information and how to win more football accumulators in 2019, check out this article.
Football betting explained – key markets
Next up in our football betting guide, let’s look at some common football markets you should consider betting on.
Win/Draw/Win
The most basic of football betting markets, you may also see Win/Draw/Win written as 1X2 or match betting. Don’t let this confuse you, it means the same thing.
In this market, you’re betting on the outcome of a football fixture. The first part of the market represents a home team win, the second a draw and the third an away victory.
If you’re just getting started with football betting, I recommend you stick to this market as it’s the easiest to understand and bet on. Once you’ve got this nailed, you can move on to football markets mentioned below.
Both teams to score
This football betting term is pretty self-explanatory. You’re simply betting on both teams to score at least one goal in a fixture.
You should generally expect the odds for this market to be quite low unless a fixture is likely to be incredibly one-sided.
Both teams to score + win
This football betting market is the same as the one above apart from you’re also selecting a certain team to win the fixture. You’ll get better odds than the market above as the outcome is slightly less likely.
Correct score
Poker Betting Terms Explained
Another self-explanatory market, in this scenario you’re simply selecting what you think the final score of a football match will be. Guessing the correct score can be quite difficult so you can expect large returns if your bet wins.
Draw no bet
A draw no bet is a football betting market that is voided if the fixture ends in a draw. In other words, your wager is returned if the game finishes level.
However, if your selected team wins or loses, the bet still stands. These markets are great for bettors who think a team may win but there’s also a chance of a draw.
Double chance
A double chance bet allows you to bet on a team winning or drawing a fixture. It essentially has two parts to the bet meaning you have two chances at winning. However, you should expect much lower odds than in the Win/Draw/Win market.
Half time/full time
A betting market where you bet on the outcome at half time as well as the outcome at full time in the game.
Football betting explained – goal markets
Next up in our football betting guide, we’ll look at some common goal markets you can expect to find at different bookmakers and betting exchanges.
First goalscorer
In this market, you’re betting on who you think will score the first goal of a game. You may find several promotions available on these markets, especially if leading goal scorers are in action.
Anytime goalscorer
Similar to the previous betting market, except you’re selection can score at any time during the fixture. The odds will be lower than in the previous goal market.
Handicap
A betting market that levels the playing field between strong and weaker opponents. The underdog is usually given a head start in terms of goals.
Team to score Yes/No
In this scenario, you’re betting on a certain team to score a goal at any point during the game. If you wish, you also usually have the option to select which half you think the outcome will occur in.
Scorecast/wincast
In this football betting market, you’re staking money on who will be the first goalscorer as well as the outcome of the fixture. As you can imagine, winning outcomes are quite unlikely meaning large returns if you land your bet.
Over/Under
Another popular betting market in the online football betting world. There are many different markets that the Over/Under category can be added to. However, here are some of the most common ones you’ll come across.
Over/under Goals
In this football betting market, you’re betting whether you think the actual number of goals will be over or under a certain number.
Over/Under Corners
Similar to the market above, you’re betting on the total number of corners during a fixture. You can select whether you think the number will be higher or lower than a certain figure.
As I mentioned earlier, the Over/Under market can be added to a huge range of categories meaning the potential options are endless.
You can also bet on other types of football market including outrights and specials. However, these markets are pretty self-explanatory.
Football betting terms
Here are a few more key football betting terms you may come across once you begin your betting journey.
Back bets
When you stake money on a certain outcome happening.
Bankroll
The amount of money you have in your theoretical betting balance.
Cash-out
A popular betting feature which enables punters to close and settle their bets before an event has finished.
Football betting explained – overview
That’s it for our football betting explained article.
Betting on football is one of the most exciting sports to place your wagers on. I hope this guide has helped explain the main key terms and information you’ll need to place winning bets in 2019.
Are we missing some key football betting information? Leave a comment below and we’ll update the article.
A common question from new or casual sports bettors is “What is a unit?”. A popular term in sports betting is “unit” and below I will explain what bettors mean they refer to a unit, and examples of it being used.
A “unit” in sports betting is a measurement of the size of someone’s bet. Because everyone has different sized bankrolls for sports betting, using the term unit is a way for us to show your profit or loss in universal terms.
Someone who is betting $10,000 per bet against the spread in NFL and is up $18,000 on the season isn’t nearly as impressive as someone who bets $10 per bet against the spread and is up $180 on the season. Using units gives us a tool to keep track of profits and losses without the dollar value.
Because basic sports betting strategy tells us that you should be betting somewhere between 1-5% of your bankroll on each wager, it is generally accepted that a unit is equal to approximately 1% of your bankroll. Nothing is set on stone with this, but that is an easy way to calculate a single unit.
Betting Terms Defined
Using the above formula, someone who has a $1,000 bankroll would be betting $10 per unit, while someone with a $50,000 bankroll would be betting $500 per unit.
Using the bankroll management strategy that recommends 1-5% of your bankroll on each bet you would essentially want to bet between 1-5 “units”.
Many sports handicappers will release their plays with units, with the most common being 1-5 units or sometimes 1-7 units. The 1,2, and 3 unit plays are more of the average plays, while the 4, 5 and sometimes 6 and 7 unit plays are the big plays where the handicapper feels they have found a lot of value on a play.
If a handicapper released a 5 unit play and you had a $1,000 sports betting bankroll you would be risking 5% (5 units) or $50 on the play.
When a bettor says he is +25 units on the year what does that mean?
This would be a measurement of his success on the season so far. Referring to being +25 units means he is “plus” 25x whatever 1 unit is to him. This could be +$25 for someone, while it could be +$25,000 for another.
How can a handicapper with a 25-32 record be +15 units?
It is possible to have a sub .500 record but still be up units if you are betting on underdog or “plus money” selections. For example, picking only NFL underdogs on the money line could lead to a negative record but profits on the season.
Football Betting Jargon
Can a sports bettor actually be +1546 units?
There is a lot of ways you can inflate your numbers to make yourself sound good. Like I said earlier a unit = 1% is just a general guideline and everyone has their own way of doing things. Read the fine print. 1 unit to that bettor could 0.001% of their initial bankroll for all we know.
Football Betting Terms
Below is a video basically going over what was said above…
Football Betting Terms Explained
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