Soccer is a worldwide popular sport that is regarded as the biggest sport in terms of bet volume. With hundred of soccer matches played every week, soccer fans have immense opportunity in soccer betting. However, people interested in soccer betting need to first understand the basics to learn betting on soccer. After learning the basic skills people can enhance their soccer betting skills from pre-game betting to live soccer betting. The types of bet and the way in which they work are almost similar in pre-game and live betting, the only difference being the betting allowed to a match that has already started. The most usual type of soccer betting is quite similar to other sports betting and Handicap and Totals type of soccer betting is exactly the same as others while the 1X2 type of soccer betting is equivalent to the Money Line in baseball betting.
“1X2” Soccer Betting – “1X2” Soccer Betting is a type of bet that is placed on the match outcome. ‘1’ is selected for a home win, ‘X’ for draw and ‘2’ for an away win. There are three betting options available and the only difference to Money Line betting is the draw because standard soccer matches do not go into overtime and simply end as a draw.
Handicap Betting – Handicap betting in soccer is predicting the outcome of the match but also include a goal “handicap”, which has been applied to counter the perceived difference between the abilities of the two teams. The favorites in the 1×2 will have negative handicap to overcome while the underdog will have a positive handicap advantage. Handicap offered in soccer betting is quite low compared to NFL and NBA betting mainly because soccer is a low-scoring sport. For a handicap bet to win the team with the negative handicap should win by a greater margin than the figure set and the team with a positive handicap must win or lose by a smaller margin than the handicap figure.
Totals Betting – In this type of soccer betting, the betting is placed on the number of goals scored and whether it will be over or under a figure set by the bookmaker. In this type of betting one has nothing to do with who wins the match. The totals generally referred to total number of goals scored by both the sides. Besides, one also have the option of betting on individual team totals or on first half totals.
