As the planet’s most popular sport, it should come as no surprise that football is also the most popular sport for punters to bet on. There are thousands of games every week, each offering hundreds of markets for players to to bet on. All of this can be a bit overwhelming for a new player, especially when factoring in things like odds, multiple bets and spread betting. In this guide we will break down every facet of football betting and share in-depth explanations so that you can make informed decisions before having your first strike.
Opening A Betting Account
First things first! You’re going to need a betting account before you can start your football betting journey, and you just so happen to be in the right place. Click here to sign up for your Hollywoodbets account.
Fill out your personal information, set a username and a password and submit. We will then run some automated verification checks to make sure you are who you say you are. This process generally takes up to 30 minutes.
If you still aren’t able to log into your account, your account may not have passed this automated verification. Fortunately, you can send through some documents so we can manually verify you. Check out our FAQs page and refer to the following sections:
- How to register with Hollywoodbets
- I have just opened an account, why can’t I deposit?
- How can I verify my account?
- What documentation do I need to upload?
- How long long will it take to verify my account?
This FAQ page contains a whole host of other useful information that can help get you on your way. Scan through it, especially if you are a new player.
Understanding Odds
Before you can start betting, you need to understand what odds are and how they work. Odds exist to highlight the ratio between your stake (outlay) and your potential winnings on your chose market or outcome.
The first thing to understand is that there are two ways that we interpret odds here in the United Kingdom: fractional and decimal.
Fractional Odds
Fractional odds can be slightly more difficult to understand than decimal odds. They are represented as 5/1, 9/2 or 5/10. The easiest way to understand these is “how much can I win”/”how much I must wager”
With this in mind, if you take a £1 bet at odds of 5/1 and your selection wins, you will win £5 and you will get your £1 stake back too! If you stake £1 at 9/2 you will get £4.50 along with your £1 outlay.
Fractional odds may appear to be the wrong way around – 1/5 or 5/10. These are what we refer to as “odds-on” selections. You’ll see these sort of odds when a heavy favourite takes on an underdog – think Liverpool vs Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup. The Reds might be 1/5 to win the game. This means you will need to wager £5 to win £1 profit.
Finally, let’s break this down the same way your primary school maths teacher might have done:
((Stake/denominator) x numerator) + stake = winnings
So, £10 wagered at 5/1
((£10/1) x 5) +10 = £60
Decimal Odds
You’ll be pleased to know that decimal odds are far easier to deal if you’re a new player! One thing to remember is that your stake will always be included in decimal odds. So decimal odds of 2.0 is the equivalent of even money (1/1) while 3.0 will be the same as 2/1. When it comes to decimal odds, you’ll never see anything less than 1.00. The lowest you’ll see is generally 1.01, which is the same as 1/100. Pricing like this is reserved for massive favourites – think the All Blacks vs Portugal in the Rugby World Cup!
Converting Fractional Odds to Decimal
If you’re ever in a situation where you need to convert fractional odds to decimal, all you need to do is divide your fraction and add one (remember that +1 represents your stake). For example, if you want to convert 9/2 to decimal odds, you would do the following sum: (9/2) +1 = 5.5.
Single Bets vs Accummulator Bets
Now that we’ve covered odds it’s time to look at two of the most common types of football bets: singles and multiples. We’ll take a look at each of these types of bet below using examples from the Premier League.
Single Bets
Probably the easiest bet to understand, a single requires you select one outcome from an event. If your choses outcome materialises, you will win your bet. These are normally bets you take if you feel an outsider has a chance against a top team.
Let’s use the example of Crystal Palace vs Manchester City. Palace – although nowhere near as strong on paper as City – have been Man City’s bogey team for a while. You reckon the Eagles could sneak a result at a bouncing Selhurst Park. Let’s have a look at the match betting:
Crystal Palace 7/1 | Draw 15/4 | Manchester City 1/3
Having read over the football betting odds section above, you will notice that City are massive favourites heading into this. Palace, meanwhile, represent big value at 7/1. You decide to spend £10 backing Palace to win and they duly deliver. You’ve won yourself £70 + your £10 stake back!
Accumulator Bets
Accummulators, also known as accas, combine several selections into one bet. These have the potential to deliver massive payouts. So how do they work? In the case of an accumulator, every one of your selections needs to win for the bet to pay out. Fortunately, we offer something called Acca Insurance on football betting. This offer affords you the opportunity to get up to 5x your stake back as a free bet if one match in your 5+ fold accumulator loses. Learn more about this offer by clicking here. Let’s take a look at an example below using some fixtures from the EFL Championship. Check out the match betting below. We’ll be looking at Stoke and Bristol to beat Blackburn and Blackpool respectively.
In-Play Betting
In-Play betting on football has certainly grown in popularity over the last few years. As the name suggests, in-play bets are placed during a game. Here prices will be determined by the game’s state. For example, you might only get odds of 1/100 on Liverpool to beat Crystal Palace if the Reds lead 3-0 in the 80th minute. There are also other exciting markets available when betting live including the next goalscorer, who will win the rest of the match and more!
What are the Best Football Betting Strategies
Unfortunately there are no sure-fire ways to every bet that you take. Players all have different strategies. Some players like to build weekend multiples focussing on two or three games, others like to zero in on one game. The most important thing when it comes to a football betting strategy is that you understand the leagues and markets that you’re betting on. If you only really watch the Premier League, you don’t really want to be betting on Empoli vs Bologna in Serie A. It’s much safer to stick with what you know.
You should also stick to markets that you understand. If you’re new, keep it simple and stick with markets like the Match Result, Both Teams to Score or the Double Chance. Once you’re a bit more comfortable you can start tinkering with Handicaps and Outcome and Both to Score.
Betting on football is a great way to augment your enjoyment of the beautiful game. With so many games on the go every day, there are always opportunities to find a bit of value.
Remember, football betting is meant to be fun. If you start getting frustrated and irritable when your bets don’t arrive, it’s probably time to take a break. Never play with money you can’t afford to lose and make use of our deposit and bet limits if need be.
