Spot The Best Bet …

By | 12:56 2 comments

It’s that time of the year again … and I’m not talking about Xmas folks !  The last few weeks has been a flurry of activity – and there’s a certain kinda buzz in the air … everyone around me is glued to their TV’s (and their phones / laptops) watching Tennis, Cricket, and Football !

That’s right – it’s time to bet … !! I never quite got the hang of ‘how’ one should place bets .. when I was younger – I thought it was insane to wager huge sums of money on the outcome of a sports match.  My mum (who never does anything daring) is always game to bet on a horse race or a cricket match; my uncle in London tends to bet on cricket, tennis and football.

With the emergence of the World Wide Web people have now taken to online sports betting thanks to the mushrooming of online portals that have taken the cyber world by storm.

I came to discover that the top sport to bet on at most online sports betting portals was football (aka soccer to those in the US).  Many Americans would be surprised to know that in Europe, football / soccer betting is the equivalent of professional NFL wagering in the United States.

Now I’m not a gambler – but this year during the Football World Cup (and the Elle Derby – horse races) I did place some ‘friendly’ bets with my friends and actually managed to win =)  Here’s what I managed to learn about the types of bets that can be placed for football / soccer  …

  1. Single / Money Line / Straight up wager – one bets on which team will win the game without any regards to the margin of victory. This is the simplest type of bet: you only have to pick the correct result of one event to win the bet
  2. Match Odds - Also known as 1X2, this is the easiest and most common type of bet. You can bet on three different options: home win (1), away win (2) and draw (X).  So if you bet $100 on Spain with odds of e.g. 1.66 … if Spain wins you get your original $100 PLUS your winnings ($100 x 1.66) = $66.   Keep in mind though – if your team ends in a draw or doesn’t win – you lose the bet.

Do you have any tips on how to place a good bet ? Have you used any online sports betting portals ? I’m more familiar with the UK betting portals – but discovered  a few US based sites during my stint at university in Montreal.  Have you placed any sports bets recently – even if it was a friendly wager amongst friends ?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well hello!! Lookie who's back!! Never been a betting person, so wont comment on the post.. but must say its nice to have you around again! :)

Gimme the dope on the wedding whenever you get the time!

Dazediva said...

@ Ve ... awww it's nice to have been missed :P I'm not a betting person either so a Rs 100 friendly with friends on the Spain footie didn't do me any damage :P

Will be posting about the wedding very soon :) It was seriously insane !!