Soccer (or football) is a dynamic sport with lots of action taking place on the field. This is one of the reasons why football betting is so exciting. Any single game provides countless opportunities to try your luck and predict who will win, how many goals will be scored, will anyone will receive a red card, and so on.
Parimatch offers you numerous types of bets for a great variety of football matches every day. On top matches, there might be literally hundreds of betting options. This surely makes your football viewing more inspired but at the same time you might feel lost in all these opportunities.
In order to help you feel reassured about football betting, we prepared this rundown of betting types available on Parimatch and the way they work for soccer punters.
However, if you want to start with the basics, you can first refer to our guide on soccer betting.
Also, the best way to understand soccer bet types is to follow them on real-life examples. On Parimatch website or in our mobile betting app, you can easily see how football wagers work.
Now let’s have a look at the most popular soccer bet types, also known as betting markets.
1X2 Bets (Three-Way Bet)
Perhaps one of the most popular betting types on Parimatch online betting app, this type of bets is known by many names. “Three-way bet”, “three-way moneyline” or “1X2 bet” all refer to this betting option. A three-way bet is named as such because there are three potential outcomes.
When betting on a three-way moneyline, you are wagering that either the home team wins, the away team wins, or there is a draw. These bets are also called 1X2 bets, as the three outcomes are referred to by these numbers and symbols when placing the bet. “1” refers to the home team winning, “2” refers to the away team winning, and “X” refers to a draw.
It is important to remember with three-way moneyline bets, that the draw skews the odds of the bet. While the favourite is clear from the odds, there are three outcomes and not just two. This means that you have two chances of losing your money and only one chance of winning. If you were to bet on Germany, you would lose your stake if the result is a win to Spain or a draw.
Do you feel unsure about understanding the meaning of the odds? Have a look at our guide on how to read soccer odds.
Double Chance Bets
A double chance bet is exactly what it says in the name. It gives you two chances of being correct out of three. In a football match, the outcome can be a win, lose, or a draw — three chances.
This means you can either select for Team 1 to win or a draw, 2 or a draw, or 1 or 2. In the example that you choose 1 or draw, if Team 2 wins — you lose. If Team 1 wins or there’s a draw, you get paid out. As there are much higher chances of you getting a reward in this scenario, the odds are usually lower.
Take this example:
The odds of either Fulham winning or a draw are 1.93. If you choose this option and Fulham wins, you get paid 19,300 TZS on a 10,000 TZS bet. If there’s a draw, you also get paid 19,300 TZS. If Everton wins, you win nothing and lose your 10,000 TZS stake.
Total Bets (Over/Under)
If you are not sure which team to bet on, you could always bet on totals. This type of bet can also be referred as goal-lines, soccer spreads, or over/unders.
This is one of the most popular forms of soccer betting, especially if there is no clear favourite or if you don’t want to bet against your own team when they are the underdog. Instead, betting on totals means that you can bet on the total number of goals scored in the match, per half or per team.
In goal-line betting, you are betting on the total number of goals scored by both teams (unless specified). This means that if the total final score of the match is 3-2, the total would be 5. If the final score of the match was 2-2, then the total score would be 4.
The idea of over/under betting is that you are placing a wager on whether the total number of goals is over or under the figures that the bookmaker gives. The bookie will give a range of different numbers with varying odds, and you can bet whether you think both teams will score more or fewer goals than stipulated.
Let’s look back at the same example of Germany versus Spain:
Totals
| Under 0.5 | 8.00 | Over 0.5 | 1.06 | |
| Under 1.5 | 3.15 | Over 1.5 | 1.33 | |
| Under 2.5 | 1.74 | Over 2.5 | 2.02 | |
| Under 3.5 | 1.28 | Over 3.5 | 3.50 | |
| Under 4.5 | 1.09 | Over 4.5 | 6.60 | |
| Under 5.5 | 1.02 | Over 5.5 | 11.00 |
As you can see, you can place goal-line bets on scores over or under the total number of goals given by the bookmaker.
You may notice that the scores are given as half numbers, such as 0.5, 1.5, 2.5. This is to avoid confusion. If you were to bet on whole numbers, it would be hard to determine over and under. For example, if you were to bet on “over 2 goals”, would 2 goals count or not?
To avoid this mix up, the numbers are written as half numbers. In this way, bookmakers and punters are certain that “over 2.5” would mean 3 or more goals.
Looking at the example of Germany and Spain, if you believed that the total number of goals would be 3, you could bet on under 3.5, under 4.5, and under 5.5 or you could bet on over 0.5, over 1.5, over 2.5.
When you look at the odds in this circumstance, it seems that both Germany and Spain are expected to be relatively good scoring sides. The odds show that the chances of the total number of goals being below 2 are very slim, as the odds are quite high compared to other scores.
The odds also start to rise when we look at the number of goals over 2.5. This means that the bookmaker thinks that there will likely be two goals in total in this game.
There are a few forms of total betting in soccer. The most common form of totals betting is to bet on the total number of goals in the whole match by both teams. This includes additional time appointed by the referee.
Other types of goal-line betting include the total number of goals at halftime, as well as the total number of goals scored by each team separately. You can also place bets on the total number of goals scored by each separate team in each individual half.
For those who like to place combination bets, you can combine totals betting with 3-way bets and double chance bets.
Exact Goals and Correct Score Bets
If you like to try and guess the results of football matches, exact goals betting or correct score wagers may be for you. These are two different kinds of bets, with varying risk levels. While the exact number of goals is difficult to predict, the correct score is even harder to guess.
The concept behind exact goals betting in soccer is pretty easy. You simply have to try and guess the exact number of goals that will be scored in the match by both teams.
Exact goals
| 0 | 9.80 | 1 | 4.20 | |
| 2 | 3.30 | 3 | 4.00 | |
| 4 | 6.00 | 5 | 12.00 | |
| 6+ | 18.00 |
As you can see, the odds are very high on these wagers as it is very tricky to guess the exact number of goals. As a rule of thumb, there are rarely more than three goals in a game and the most common final score is 1-0.
The Parimatch betting app also gives you the option to place wagers on the exact goals by team. If you are looking for a quicker bet than the full 90 minute run, you can also place wagers on the exact goals by half.
Correct score soccer bets are even harder to predict. Not only do you have to try and guess the exact number of goals, you also have to consider their distribution. In correct score betting, you are trying to work out how many goals are scored by each time precisely. In other words, you are betting on whether a match will end as 1-0, 2-3, 2-2, and so on.
Correct score
| 1:1 | 5.20 | 1:0 | 6.40 | |
| 0:1 | 7.40 | 2:1 | 7.80 | |
| 0:0 | 8.00 | 2:0 | 9.00 | |
| 1:2 | 9.20 | 2:2 | 12.00 | |
| 0:2 | 13.00 | 3:1 | 17.00 | |
| 3:0 | 19.00 | 1:3 | 23.00 | |
| 3:2 | 29.00 | 0:3 | 30.00 | |
| 2:3 | 35.00 | Other | 35.00 | |
| 4:1 | 50.00 | 4:0 | 60.00 | |
| 3:3 | 70.00 | 4:2 | 80.00 | |
| 1:4 | 80.00 | 0:4 | 101.00 | |
| 2:4 | 101.00 | 3:4 | 101.00 | |
| 4:3 | 101.00 | 4:4 | 101.00 |
The odds from the example of Germany and Spain show just how difficult it is to guess the correct score. The odds are high because so many things can determine the precise score of a match, making these types of bets mainly guesswork.
You can also find other exact score soccer betting options on the Pairmatch website. You can bet on the correct score at halftime and the correct score in the second half. One of the trickiest bets that pays off very well if you get it right, is to bet on the correct score both at halftime and at full time.
Handicap Bets
Handicap betting is one of the more advanced betting strategies. The idea of a handicap is to try and level the playing field. Most often, people play handicap bets in two different scenarios.
Firstly, if there is no clear favourite, handicap betting enables you to add a little distance between the teams, making it easier for one to win.
The other reason for handicap betting is when you want to bet on your own football team, but they are the underdog. By using handicap betting, you can level the playing field and give your bet a fighting chance of winning without having to bet on the opposition.
Handicap betting works by giving one team a handicap. This means that when the game is finished, you either handicap one team by removing goals from their final tally, or you add goals on to the other team’s score.
The idea is that you are betting that one team will be victorious while still applying this handicap at the end of the match.
In other words, in the example of Germany versus Spain, if you were to handicap Germany by two goals, you would virtually take two goals from Germany before the match starts.
So, imagine that you bet on Germany with a (-2) handicap and the final outcome was 3-2 to Germany. While Germany would have won in real life, you would still lose your handicap bet. This is because you would remove two goals from Germany’s final total, giving you 1-2 to Spain.
Halftime/Fulltime Bets
Halftime/fulltime (HT/FT) betting in soccer is when you are attempting to work out who will be leading the match by halftime and at full time. In order for the bet to pay out, you must have both outcomes correct.
Halftime/fulltime bets take into account all the possible outcomes. This means that you can bet that either the home or away team are winning at halftime and at full time, or that there is a draw.
The possible options for this bet are:
- 1 / 1
- 1 / 2
- 1 / draw
- 2 / 1
- 2 / 2
- 2 / draw
- Draw / 1
- Draw / 2
- Draw / draw
Remember that if the home team is leading by half time, there is over an 80% chance that they will win the entire match. In this case, if the home team looks like a strong favourite, then a 1/1 bet is a good idea.
Odd/Even Bets
Odd/even betting is a fun soccer bet to place. While lots of other soccer betting strategies require that you have a level of understanding of gameplay and club histories, odd/even betting is basically guesswork.
The idea behind these bets is that you lay a wager on whether the final total score will be an odd number or an even number. This final score takes into account both teams’ goals and doesn’t include extra time or penalties.
For example, if the final score was 3-2, the total number of goals would be 5. This is an odd number so the bet would pay out if you wagered against odds. If you wagered against evens, you would lose your stake.
Parimatch loves to offer customers variety. That’s why the betting app has various odd/even betting options for soccer matches. You can place odd/even bets on the whole game with both teams’ scores included, or you can place a wager on one team or the other’s final score. Alternatively, place odd/even wagers on each half.
Other Types of Soccer Bets on Parimatch
Parimatch offers users the widest variety of soccer betting types in all of Africa. Providing unparalleled access to online football betting, not only will you find all your favourite soccer bets as outlined above, you’ll also find a many special extras. Check out a match you’re interested in to see what you can bet on in this exact game.
Parimatch sports betting platform is the top betting platform for soccer bettors looking for an incredible range of betting opportunities. With a diverse array of bet types, soccer fans can enjoy taking pre-match, live, and virtual punts on all the available games on Parimatch. And our mobile betting app is here to make your soccer betting even easier.