The notion of soccer betting in the traditional sense is that players get to make their predictions on the outcome of a match/game before its commencement. While this perfectly sums up sports betting in the traditional sense, in the modern sense, it only tells just one side of the story. Besides making predictions on the outcome of a match before its commencement, sports betting in the modern sense is much more comprehensive. How so, many are probably wondering? Well, the answer to this comes in two forms which are as follows:
Sports punters in days gone by only placed bets on the outcome of a match. Simply put, this means that they would pick the side that they think would likely win the match. For team sports, this would entail picking if either the Home Team or the Away Team would win. For individual player sports, this would entail picking the name of the player to come out tops.
This however is no longer the case in today’s sports betting world. Nowadays, punters do have the opportunity of placing bets on other occurrences in the match without necessarily predicting the outcome/match winner. Take for example soccer, punters may simply predict the team to commit the most fouls and place a bet – nothing at all to do with the match outcome! Some bookmakers have even gone a step further to give punters the room to choose the betting markets they are comfortable placing bets on. This meaning punters can formulate their own betting markets, approach the bookmaker to calculate the odds for the betting market and they proceed to place their bets!
In days gone by, punters would rush to beat the deadline on placing bets. They knew once the betting window has been shut, it’s all done – no more bets could be placed. This has totally transformed though thanks to the genius of various software developers who have made it possible for punters to place bets even when the match has already commenced. This type of sports betting is referred to as live betting. Thanks to live betting, punters can place bets even when the match has just 5 minutes remaining before its end! Live betting is possible both in land based sports betting halls as well as at SA online betting sites.
The transformation of sports betting as highlighted by the two points above has led to the emergence of new sports betting markets. It is in light of this that today; we take some time to explore these emerging betting markets. The hope being to impart punters with knowledge on all sports betting markets and to help them make better informed decisions when looking for betting markets to choose from.
Home/Draw/Away Live Betting
First and foremost, it’s just good to highlight the longest running and arguably, the most popular of all betting markets that is, Home/Draw/Away. This market is also known as the 1X2 or Match Winner market. Simply put, this market entails picking a team that is going to win a match between the team that is playing at Home and the team playing Away. In the same vein, it’s also a market which allows the player to predict if the match between the Home Team and the Away Team is going to end in a stalemate. Owing to its simplicity (of just picking the likely winner), this market is the most desirable and advisable for all beginner punters.
Over/Under Live Betting
When one walks into a sports betting hall, odds are, the words ‘over’ and ‘under’ are the two words that will be spoken most. This is simply necessitated by the fact that there exist a betting market known as Over/Under and it happens to be highly popular. Another name given to this betting market is Handicaps. Whenever punters here the term Handicaps, that will simply be referring to the Over/Under market.
The Over/Under market is a betting market in which the player picks a team that is going to win/lose with a handicap. Suppose a superior strong team is going head to head with a depleted and weak team, it will be quite clear who the winner is going to be. In that case, the Home/Draw/Away market will have very low odds for the clear favourite hence making it unprofitable to play. In light of this, punters may boost odds by playing the Handicaps market. Here, punters will predict the margin that the superior team will win with. If the punter says the team will win with a margin of ‘over’ 2.5, it means the winning team has to win with a three-goal margin. If it wins the game with a 3 –nil score line or by 5 goals to 2, then the punters scoops a payout. If it wins by a 2 goals to nil, the punter loses as the 2 nil margin is under 2.5.
When the punter says a team is going to win with a margin of under 2.5 goals, it means the winning team has to win with a margin of 1 goal or at most 2 goals. Anything above that margin will see the punter lose. The punter may choose any margin of his choice ranging from 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, and so on and on.
Goal/No Goal Live Betting
Sometimes, the punter may be confident that the teams going head to head are full of goals. This maybe necessitated by the fact that both teams have weak defenses but very clinical and effective strike forces. If this is the case, the punter may choose the ‘Goal’ market. The Goal market simply entails predicting that both teams going head to head will score during the match. This does not matter which team wins or if it ends in a draw, for as long as both teams score, the market will payout. The Goal market can also be termed BTTS that is, Both Teams to Score. The opposite of the Goal market is the No Goal market. What this entails is the punter predicting that both teams will not score or that one team only will score and the other will not score.
Next Goal Live Betting
During the match while assessing how the action is unfolding on the pitch, the punter may have a gut feeling that the pressing team will score the next goal due to the immense pressure it is giving the opposing team. In this case, the punter may place a Next Goal bet. The Next Goal betting market simply entails picking the team that is going to score the next goal.
Halftime Over/Under Live Betting
We have already explained what the Over/Under (Handicaps) market is all about. However, it’s important for punters to note that this market is not only available for players placing bets on the entire match. It’s actually possible for punters to predict the team to win with a handicap in the first half of the match only.
Halftime – 3 Way Live Betting
The 3 Way market is the same as the Home/Draw/Away (1×2) betting market. Essentially, this means the player is predicting the team to win between the Home Team, Away Team or if the match is going to end in a draw. While this is the case, it’s important for punters to note that they may pick the side to win the match in the first half only without looking at the entire match as a whole.
Double Chance Live Betting
There is no doubt that sports betting is a risk adventure – something which actually makes it quite entertaining and fascinating. Though this is the case, there are some punters who do not like taking huge risks. As such, they do have an opportunity to spread the risk. This is possible when one chooses the Double Chance betting market. The Double Chance market is a hybrid of the Home/Draw/Away market. This market allows the punter to fuse two bets into one bet. In practice, this means the punter can pick the Home Team to win or to Draw. If the match ends in favour of the Home Team or in a Draw, the player’s bet returns a payout. In the event that the punter chooses the Away Team or Draw, the bet will return a payout if the Away Team wins or the match ends in a Draw.
Halftime-Fulltime Live Betting
The Double Chance spreads the risk increasing the player’s chances of winning. Its direct opposite is the Halftime-Fulltime market. The Halftime-Fulltime market is a high risk betting market (and of course high paying) which entails predicting the results of the first half and the results at the end of the match. If the player’s predictions for the first half are correct but the second half result is incorrect, the punter loses. All the predicted results have to be correct for the punter to win. As a high risk market, the punter can expect some great rewards if this market returns a payout.
Correct Score Live Betting
Another high risk market is the Correct Score market. The Correct Score market entails predicting the results of the match. In practice, this means if the punter predict the US team to defeat the Canadian team by 3 goals to nil, the match has to end 3-0 in favour of the US for the punter to win. Anything other than that is a loss. As a high risk market, this means punters who pick it and win will collect some handsome payouts.