Betting On Football Cards
Best Football Betting Sites in the UK. Football Betting Sites Football, or soccer for some, is the most bet on sport in the world. It is estimated that football constitutes around 70% of sports match-betting, worth anywhere up to £600.
Bet-Football is an exclusive sports betting service that provides fast and secured access to a network of bookmakers, spread betting and exchange betting accounts – all through a single wallet. Betting on football (soccer) in 2020, the best tips from our experts on betting on soccer (football), the detailed instruction to make a profit on football betting.
Betting On Football Games With Cards
Football, or soccer for some, is the most bet on sport in the world. It is estimated that football constitutes around 70% of sports match-betting, worth anywhere up to £650 billion if we consider both legal and illegal markets. The sport attracts the most competitive margins and best odds around and shopping around can really pay off.
With so much money floating around in football there is a lot of choice when it comes to what you bet on and how you bet on it. At OnlineBetting we know people bet for a number of reasons. Here we discuss the best bookmakers and bet types for football betting. We have done the hard work so you don’t have to.
- Football:
Best Online Bookmakers for Football Betting
You can bet on most major football with pretty much every single bookie you can find. It can be very hard to see the wood for the trees in this market but some bookmakers are much better than others for certain sports. Here are some bookmakers that are particularly good for football betting covering most of the needs any punter will need.
888 Sport provide the next generation of football betting, not so much suited to those that like the traditional betting shop experience, but right up the street of anyone who wants a cutting edge modern betting experience.
Being an online-only global brand 888 are able to provide an absolute wealth of opportunities to bet on football with leagues from literally all over the world, any time of the day there are matches available. The bookie have outstanding depth of market, and not just on big Premier League games, but also what other brands might regard as minor or obscure fixtures you can find more to back with 888.
You will find all of the features needed to enhance your betting experience, including cash out, streaming of some matches, an incredible in-play suite, blogs, stats, news and a very modern intuitive interface that allows you to find your markets in no time.
888 Sport are part of a multi-billion brand that have been offering online gambling longer than almost everyone else, and while for some this may make them corporate you cannot argue the resources, experience and scope of this brand is incredible. Find pretty much every banking option you would want with high payout and withdrawal limits to go with it.
Offers are also superb and very good value, another clue to the money behind this brand. Regular bettors online will not only enjoy the depth available here but will find most often they can find the best value too.
With some of the best football odds around you cannot afford to ignore BetVictor when it comes to football betting. Claiming the “best odds on the premier league” and with 71% of football odds offered higher than the median (middle) value, this is the place to go to make sure you get maximum winnings from your single and multiple football bets. BetVictor have been verified by odds comparison sites as the bookie offering the overall best odds for the last 4 football seasons. You can get odds in 5 different formats too!
An excellent range of markets are on offer from BetVictor, covering around 50 different leagues including all major European leagues and most major global leagues - they’re particularly strong for South American football too. Depth of market is great, with a big event carrying over 150 betting lines it is unlikely that they don’t offer your bet.
BetVictor do not offer live football streaming and regular offers are few and far between, although most offers available are for football at least and when you do see an offer it tends to be high value. BetVictor are strong for footy accas too, in fact they invented acca insurance so you can generally rely on them for good accumulator promotion. The in play service for football is comprehensive, exceptionally smooth and user friendly with a full list of lines available.
Mobile football betting with BetVictor is one of the best features. The app is a particularly cool way of betting on football and one of the fasterst (which is important for live betting especially) allowing you to select the result in 90 minutes, over/under goals, an anytime goal scorer, etc., in seconds.
Payouts for football are fairly decent up to £500k and BetVictor will give you an introductory matched free bet for you to set your bets up too.
Betfred are by no means my favourite bookmaker overall but they do deserve a mention when it comes to football betting. Betfred were the first to bookmaker to offer singles on football, they also introduced many novel betting systems and types that are widely used today in football betting, the likes of the Lucky15 and others. Betfred also are famous for paying out on football bets early, getting it wrong twice in paying out early on Manchester United to win the league only for them to finish second in 1998 to Arsenal and 2012 to Manchester City.
Betfred cover all the major leagues including some such as the Egyptian and Korean leagues that are not too widely available. The depth of market is great offering around 100 lines on even minor matches and the in play service with betstream is nice to use on both desktop and mobile versions. Live streaming and Cash Out is available and football commentary is excellent.
Football odds are decent with Betfred but their enhanced odds promotions are particularly nice with features not offered by others. For example the double delight and hat trick heaven are a must for those betting on first goal scorer. If your man scores the first goal and then goes on to score another or even a hat trick Befred will double or treble your winnings. Betfred are always changing their football promotions and have great ideas that some others bookies simply can’t match. A fantastic accumulator builder is also available through Betfred
Payouts are high for football with Betfred, up to £1 million and you can get a really nice sign up offer to play with.
Coral are the best around for their offers on big football matches and major tournaments. Coral cover most of the major leagues throughout the world, from the Latvia to Hong Kong to Iceland, with excellent depth of market, a full in play service, Cash Out offered, live football streaming and a nice mobile betting app.
The odds on offer at Coral are generally competitive, especially on UK football. Coral try to offer the best odds around on high profile markets such as outright premier league and cup winners. They are particularly good at providing enhanced odds promotions on big football events making the overall package more profitable for these bets compared to the bookie with the best odds alone.
With Coral you can get the usual types of acca offers and money back deals. It is however the Coral bespoke promotions that are the best, for example free bet offers are generally given to customers around all major matches and tournament events, such as the champions league. If you bet regularly on the big footy events you have to get a Coral account, you won’t be able to match their offers elsewhere.
Payout limits for football are huge with Coral, up to £1 million. It is also worth noting that Coral offer an integrated betting service through online, phone and in store giving you more options to bet on football than online only bookies. Combined with all of this is a nice sign up offer, see the full review for details.
There are a lot of football offers around but Paddy Power top the list for variety and regularity. For weekly and even daily football betting you really are not going to get any better service than that from Paddy Power. Raw odds are not that great but the enhanced odds packages are so attractive this often doesn’t matter when betting on high level footy. In addition Paddy Power offer a similar level of live football streaming to Bet365, have a great live betting service, large depth of market with around 150 lines/match, Cash Out, a nice mobile app and cover around 70 different leagues.
Paddy Power are brilliant at interacting with customers and push out offers daily through adverting and an excellent social media package. You can get the usual money back football accumulator insurance with Paddy Power as well as enhanced odds around big events. It is however the daily offers that are unique to this bookmaker, each and every day they will offer free bets on footy, usually linked to in play such as ‘bet 20 quid pre-match and get a tenner in play’. Remember you can also bet in store too. A must have bookie for regular football betting.
Payout limits are also high for football betting at Paddy Power at up to £1 million and a there is a superb initial welcome offer too don't forget.
Unibet might be a European focussed bookie but they have some of the best prices around on Premier League, Champions Leaage and other major European Leagues. For basic match betting markets (W/D/W) Unibet claim to give a 97.5% payback (i.e. just a 2.5% cut for them) and this allows them to give punters some of the best odds going.
Not always listed on UK odds comparison sites so definitely worth a visit to check. That's not all, Unibet cover tons of leagues especially more obscure Euro leagues. The betting site also streams a huge amount of high level football from leagues such as Serie A and La Liga as part of their 40,000+ live steamed events. Finally there are always existing customer promotions available for football year round and Unibet have one of the highest payout limits for football.
Football Maximum Payout Limits
A Brief History of Football betting
Football betting first became an obsession in the UK with the advent of the Football pools in the 1920’s. The first fixed odds football coupon was launched by William Hill in the 1940’s but it wasn’t until many many years later that Betfred became the first bookmaker to offer singles betting on football following the abolition of the “minimum trebles” stipulation.
The advent of the football accumulator combined with legislation to allow high street betting shops in the 1960s allowed football betting to really take off. Suddenly you could walk down to your bookie on a Saturday morning and put your money down on your own football predictions and win a few quid without having to go to a track or a dingy illegal den.
Football betting went from strength to strength as new betting types came in, the likes of first goal scorer, half time results and correct score. The market further increased as the profile of home and foreign leagues improved as more money entered the sport and TV coverage rose dramatically. Telephone betting exchanges added further flexibility to football betting potentiating the market. Today you can bet on hundreds of leagues worldwide and there have never been as many football matches to bet on as there are today.
The launch of online betting in the new millennium created another boom in football betting. Suddenly you could place a bet wherever you had an internet connection, you could bet on midweek events from the comfort of your own home and receive your winnings without needing to put your coat on and go outside. The English Premier League alone is watched by over 5 billion people year in 212 countries to give you an idea of the size of this market.
Today you can bet on football every day of your life through hundreds of different bookmakers in thousands of different ways. See our football guides for more on the history of football betting.
How To Bet On Football
Football really is the beautiful game. The simplicity of it allows it to be played anywhere, simply mark out a set of goals with any objects and you have yourself a pitch - jumpers for goalposts! The low scoring nature of the sport means the underdog wins more often than in high scoring sport which is great from a viewing and betting perspective.
Look at any pre-event and or in play football market and you will see sometimes nearly 250 betting lines and tons of associated offers. We explain some of the common types of bets and promotions here to help you decide the football bet for you.
Outright Result Betting
An outright bet is simply a bet on a given result, West Ham to beat Stoke for example. These are the easiest types of bets to get good value on by comparing between bookmakers with major odds checking firms that should cover all outright betting.
Bookies often offer headline grabbing outright bet offers to get you to bet with them – they are hoping you will go to place other bets at the same time on which they have better margins. If you are disciplined you can place excellent value outright bets.
Be careful with outright betting in cup competitions and in matches where the game can go beyond 90 minutes. When betting on the FA cup final for example you can bet both on the result in 90 minutes and on who will win the trophy. These are two different types of bets, if you bet on an outright win result in 90 minutes and the game finishes as a draw at this stage then you have lost your bet.
Accumulators
Predicating a series of outright results to all win together is an accumulator bet. This is one of the most common types of bets you can place on football and also the bet type most commonly associated with regular offers and promotions such as accumulator (Acca) insurance or % bonus enhancement. A full accumulator will require all of your predicted results to come in to get a return. The best accumulator to place is one that balances the best odds you can get on your selections against the best odds enhancement offers around. In general football accumulator betting is a good value bet as Bookies use these to attract customers and so operate lower margins.
Accumulators can be on any fixed market not just the overall result of the game. You can often place accumulators on markets such as both teams to score and your selection to win. You could place an accumulator of half-time results, an accumulator of correct scores, etc., etc.
It is very common to find fixed odds accumulators that offer better odds than the accumulator should do on odds alone. An example would be “Belgium, Germany and England all to win 5/1”. Be careful though not all fixed odds accumulators offer better odds than you could get if you just placed a normal accumulator.
Full cover betting (Trixies, Yankee’s etc.) and full cover betting with singles (Lucky’s, patents, etc.) is common in football. These types of bets are rarely associated with specific offers, for placing full cover bets it is generally better to go with the bookie that offers the best odds.
Goal scorer, Correct Score, Cast betting
Correct score and goalscorer betting are one of the most common types of predictive football bets. We all have that conversations along the lines of “I think they are going to win 3-1 and Salah is going to score first” and a lot of people bet on these predictions.
Correct score is simple, you can predict correct scores in 90 minutes, at half time, in extra time and even at specific intervals during the game. You can also predict who is going to score either as a first goal scorer, last goal scorer or to score any time in the game. Odds to score any time are lower than either first or last goal scorer. Some firms now offer each-way first or last goal scorer where half of your stake goes on the first/last part of the bet and the other half on any time goal scorer.
A scorecast is a linked bet, here you are predicting the correct score and the goal scorer (either first, last or anytime), both of these must win for you to get a return. You can often find enhanced offers on scorecasts.
Timecast is a similar bet but here you are predicting the first/last goal scorer and the time of the first/last goal. Finally with a Wincast you are predicting the goal scorer (first/last/anytime) and the result in 90 minutes. Odds on casts are not great value and rarely reflective of the true odds. If you want to bet on a cast then odds will be very different between bookies so it is worth shopping around.
Half Time / Full Time
Here you are making a double prediction on the game basically what will be the result at the end of the first half and the end of the second. You can bet on half time results as an outright bet or as a double bet with the full time result. These types of bets can enhance the odds of an overall result, if you think Arsenal will win but get off to a slow start you may bet on Draw/Arsenal at higher odds than an outright Arsenal win.
A word of note, you will rarely get offers on this type of bet and bookies build in quite a nice profit margin here. Quite often you can bet on teams to win the first half or win the second half, this offers more ways to win in a given game.
Goals and To Score Bets
Another common football bet is the Over/Under goals prediction. Here you are betting on a specific number of goals to be scored either by one team or by both teams in the game. An example would be Over/Under 2.5 goals, if you bet on over 2.5 goals then there would need to be 3 goals in the game for you to win, if you bet under this would require 2 goals or less for a return. This type of bet is generally good value especially if you shop around. Handicaps are often applied to this type of betting too.
Most bookies will offer lines such as ‘both teams to score’ these are often linked to accumulators and offers too and so can offer good value, especially if you think it will be an open game with an unpredictable result. Variation around this theme include, first/last team to score, to score in first and/or second half. You can even get these linked with other markets such as result/total goals, both teams to score/total goals and more.
Goal time bets are fairly self-explanatory, you predict the time at which the first of next goal will be scores, for example between the 61st and 70th minute. Goal method is another line available to bet on, simply predict how you think the first, or next, goal may be scored, shot, header, penalty, etc.
Win to nil is another type of bet offered by some bookmakers. Here you are not predicting the correct score but rather predicting one team to win with a clean sheet. Again odds are not always the best with these type of bets.
Cards, Corners, Offsides and Substitutes
Not so common even ten years ago cards and corners betting represents a significant proportion of the football betting markets particularly in play. With most bookies you can bet on number of cards/corners, time of the first or next card/corner, colour of first/next card, next team get a card/corner, etc. You can also bet on race to a certain number of cards/corners.
Betting on offsides and the number of or next substitute is less common and not offered by all bookies. A good type of in play bet odds on this type of bet will vary massively so we suggest you check out a few bookies before making this bet.
A word of note, this type of betting has attracted controversy in the past around football match fixing. You can’t bribe 22 players and both managers but syndicates know if you can bribe one player let’s say get to get booked or be offside in a certain time frame then you can win a lot of money. For this reason these types of bets are heavily screened and limits controlled. If you want to place a large bet on a market like this please check terms in advance.
Draw No Bet and Double Chance
Football is a low scoring sport and as a consequence on average 25-30% of all games are drawn, however the amount of money wagered on draws represents far less than 25%. Bookies love a draw and make a lot of their profits in this way.
Draw no bet will mean your bet is voided if the result ends in a draw whereas Double Chance gives the option for the game to end in two ways, such as Newcastle and draw. While these bets can ‘beat the bookie’ by avoiding the draw as a consequence odds are usually a poor reflection of true odds.
If predicting a 0-0 draw it is usually better wager your money on the ‘no goal scorer’ line rather than correct score. This way if there is an own goal this is usually excluded from the ‘no goal scorer’ market but not from the correct score line. Different bookmakers offer different terms around this so do check individual terms
Asian Lines
Asian handicap betting is described in detail in the betting guide section and in coupons below. Basically Asian lines remove the change there will be a draw. An Asian handicap may be something like +/-0.5, +/-1.5, +/-2.5 goals in outright betting. You can have Asian lines on corners, cards, pretty much anything that has a defined scoring system.
Specials
Football specials vary so much between different bookies. Specials bets usually have a novelty element and as a result the odds value is generally poor unless they are part of an enhanced odds offer. Maximum bets/payouts can often be quite low for specials so make sure you check with larger wagers. Some common types of match special betting on football would be things like player Ronaldo to score and team Real Madrid to win, Bayern Munich to win from behind, etc..
Specials are more common on non-match markets. Things like next permanent manger, next manager to be sacked, next club a player will transfer to, what hairstyle will Paul Pogba have next week, etc. Some bookmakers like Paddy Power and Coral are much better than other at offering these types of bets than others like BetVictor. You can usually find offers on specials markets so shop around
In Play and Pre-event
Some bets are only available before the event starts, such as a bet on a player to be in the starting line-up for example. Most bookies now offer a comprehensive football in play service allowing you to bet on pretty much anything in running. Some bets naturally lend themselves to the live betting markets such as the next substitute and next corner markets where you want to see how the game is flowing before placing a bet like this.
Online bookmakers are trying very hard to get their customers to play more using their live betting services. As a consequence many offer offers to use the system, you can commonly get linked in play offers such as bet £10 before the event starts and get a risk free £10 bet in play.
Live Betting, Results and Stats
All online bookmakers reviewed on this site offer a live in play betting service for football. Some offer more markets or better interfaces than others.
Live betting is fantastic with football, the 90 minute game time is perfect for placing in play bets and the low scoring nature of the sport gives you time to think about your next bet. You can literally bet on anything in football from the number of minutes added in injury time to the method of the next goal.
Odds can vary between betting sites a lot more in play compared to pre-match as operators do not have as much time to compare prices. By having multiple accounts you can compare live prices directly yourself and simply go for the best terms and returns on a bet by bet basis.
News, Results and Statistics
Many bookies now offer comprehensive stats and live results services as well as news and blog services. Used correctly these can really enhance your betting experience and more importantly enhance your winnings.
Lots of these services are free and don't require you to bet or even sign up. I recommend you find the best news and stats service for you even if you choose to place your eventual bet with another bookie, cheeky but as a punter you need to take every advantage you can get
Live Streaming and Commentary
Live streaming of sports varies massively between bookies. Some like Coral, Ladbrokes and others will steam thousands of football games a year whereas others such as NetBet do not stream at all. Most offer now offer live audio and text commentary where streaming is not available.
You are not going to be able to stream any English Premier League football in the UK due to TV rights but you can often stream Scottish PL, Championship and lower league and most foreign football online. My favourite for streaming are William Hill but you will find a lot of other football streaming around with other bookies and this is one reason we recommend you keep several bookmakers in your online betting portfolio
To find the online bookmaker with the right football in play, statistics, news and streaming services for you see our bookmaker reviews.
Betting On Football Cards
Major Football Competitions
International Competitions
- World Cup – The FIFA World Cup is the pinnacle of international football. This occurs every four years and consists of 32 teams (48 from 2026) who qualify regionally in each confederation in the three years prior to the competition. The tournament consists of group stages followed by knockout matches. There have been 20 World Cups since the first was held in 1930 when Jules Rimet created the international tournament, it was hosted and won by Uruguay.
- European Championship – The UEFA European Championship is held every 4 years, 2 years out of sync with the World Cup. Teams are required to qualify, at the tournament proper there is a group stage followed by knockout matches.
- Africa Cup Of Nations – Similar format to the Euro Championship for CAF African countries. This competition is held every two years in January and February.
- Copa America – This is the South American confederation (CONMEBOL) championship, similar format to the other confederations. The tournament has been held intermittently with no fixed interval.
- Gold Cup – This is the confederation consisting of North America and Mexico, CONCACAF. There are also no fixed intervals for this competition.
- Confederations Cup – Every four years consists of the winners of each confederation tournament, the winners of the world cup and the hosts.
- UEFA Nations League - First run in September 2018, and due to be hosted every 4 years, this is a competition between UEFA's 55 member states. Teams are divided into four leagues (A-D) based on coefficients, each league is then divided into four 3 or 4 team groups, in Leagues B-D the group winners get promoted and in Leagues A-C the group losers get relegated. In League A the four group winners go on to the Nations League finals. This is a knock-our format (semi-finals, third place play-off, and final) with the winner becoming the UEFA Nations League champion.
Club Competitions
- World Club Cup – The FIFA World Club Cup, formerly known as the intercontinental cup. This competition is fought out each year between the best clubs from the 6 confederations.
- UEFA Champions League – Europe's top club football competition. Played each year with 32 teams who qualify from the best European Domestic Leagues. There is an initial group stage followed by knockout matches.
- Europa League – Europe's second tier club competitions, a similar format to the Champions League, takes teams who either win less prestigious leagues or finish lower in top leagues.
- Confederation Club Cups – Each confederation has their own pinnacle club competitions, we won’t cover each one here. Another example would be the CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores the world's second biggest club completion to the Champions League, played between the best teams from South American domestic leagues. The CAF Champions league is played between top African club teams but is not as prestigious.
UK Football Competitions
- Premier League – The Barclays Premier League is the top English football professional league. It is the worlds biggest league in terms of viewers, money, player value, wages and TV rights. The league consists of 20 teams and each team plays 38 games a season. The top teams qualify for the Champions League, some lower teams qualify for the Europa League.
- English Leagues – The Championship, League 1 and League 2 represent the lower professional English leagues, teams are promoted and relegated from these divisions each year. The Football Conference represents the highest amateur football league and promotion from here feeds into the lowest professional league, League 2.
- Scottish Premier League – Scotland's biggest domestic league with teams such as Celtic. Similar format to the English League but with 12 teams, teams play each other 3 times and then the leagues splits into the top and bottom 6, these teams play each other twice more in this miniature leagues. Scotland also has three lower professional divisions similar to the English system.
- The FA Cup – The FA Cup is the oldest national club cup and highly prestigious in England. First held in the 1871-1872 season this is a knockout completion with all 92 clubs in the English professional divisions competing from round 1. Preliminary rounds exist for qualification of clubs from lower amateur leagues. Teams from the top league, the premier league, enter at round 3. The Final is usually after the end of the season and is seen as the highlight of the season end. The winner of this competition also gets qualification to the Europa League. The Scottish Cup follows a similar format for Scottish club teams.
- The League Cup – Very similar to the FA Cup, this knockout cup is not an amateur competition and is only fought out between the 92 professional teams. The final is earlier at the end of February. Teams from the top league enter at round 2, unless they are playing in European Competition where they enter at round 3. Less popular that the FA cup but still a top trophy to win. Scotland have their own Scottish League Cup.
Odds and Payouts
Odds
Odds vary vastly for UK online bookmakers. Some bookmakers are generally very good for raw odds on football, such as BetVictor whereas others only push special odds for the bigger events like Coral. Our advice is sign up to several bookmakers and place your specific bets between those offering the best terms or service for that given event. A quick scan using an odds checking service will tell you who is best to bet with based on odds alone.
Enhanced odds offers are a great way to boost your winnings through football betting. Most bookies provide money back offers, football accumulator insurance, in play specific offers and guaranteed odds on big football games and leagues. Don’t always get sucked into the offers though, some bookmakers like Paddy Power set their general odds quite low making enhanced odds promotions seem better than they actually are.
In general you can excellent odds on major football if you shop around. Most bookies push their main offers through football and supplement this through their taking on other sports. 97% of punters lose in the end but if you are disciplined and only place bets on the best odds/offers then this is the best way to beat the bookie. See our betting guides for how odds are set and how bookies make money.
Payouts
Major Football and horse racing offer the highest maximum payout limits from all the online bookmakers discussed on onlinebetting.org.uk however these limits vary massively between bookies so check in advance.
This is an important consideration especially for football multiples and accumulators. Accumulators with lots of selections can start to reach very high odds and even a few quid staked could take you over maximum payout limits so always check before placing these types of bets. For example William Hill offer up to £2 million on major football whereas at the lower end some cap their winnings at £50k, or less. Even some of the big bookies don’t offer as high a payout as you may expect, for more see our maximum payouts by sport tables.
Payout limits on more obscure leagues and matches tend to be lower and are often classed as second grade football. If you are placing an accumulator on the Ethiopian league check your maximum payout limits in advance.
Finally you might want to consider payout turnaround times for football betting. If you are like me and you like to place cumulative bets in play then you are relying on your bookmaker to pay you out quickly so you can get your next bet on. Some, like Coral, are much better than others. Customer services are generally happy to give you this type of information.
Types of Football Bet
For information on types of coupons and bets and how they work see our betting guide for full descriptions and examples
Betting Football Cards
Singles
When placing a single bet on a football game, whether on the outright result or specific line such as correct score, always have a look at an odds comparison website and have a scan of the latest promotions offered as these change daily, you can use websites like our sister site, www.latestbettingoffers.co.uk, to find the best promotions around.
Odds vary massively on individual football bets and this is why we recommend you sign up to several online bookmakers through onlinebetting.org.uk and do your own comparisons if you have the time.
Multiples
Multiples betting is a little more involved. Many online bookies offer acca football insurance where you generally get your money back if one leg lets you down. The terms around these offers vary widely and finding the best accumulator offer for you can be difficult. Acca insurance offers tend to sound something like this “Money back on both teams to score and your team accumulators if one out of a minimum of 5 legs lets you down”. Money back is usually provided as a free bet
Acca insurance is different to accumulator bonus and accumulator guaranteed odds. Accumulator bonuses offer a percentage enhancement for a certain number of selections on a given coupon. Guaranteed odds accumulators will provide you with a fixed payout even if your selections don’t cumulatively add up to that value. These odds tend to be restricted to specific coupons however.
Multiple betting on football can also have a lot of restrictions. You generally cannot place multiple bets where the outcome of one event can adversely influence the outcome of another event, for example, Middlesbrough to beat Bolton and Bolton to be relegated would usually not be allowed. This is known as a related contingency.
You may also find that odds on certain multiples are fixed and this isn’t always for the better. For example you may be offered 1000/1 for picking the outright winner of the 4 major professional English football divisions. While this sounds good this is generally less than you could win if it was a genuine accumulator. For example the 4 outright winners you pick have odds of 3/1, 8/1, 11/1 and 5/1 to win their respective leagues, this gives cumulative odds of closer to 2500/1 much higher than the 1000/1 on offer. It is worth shopping around in this instance to find the bookie that will allow you to place a traditional accumulator at real odds.
Be careful when combining multiple bets between different sports or even between events, leagues and competitions within sports. Multiples bets are usually capped by the market with the lowest payout limit so even if major football has a maximum pay out of £1 million and you have a tenfold accumulator with 9 football games and Germany to win the Hockey your maximum payout may be capped at that for hockey rather than football which could be as low as a few thousand.
Full Cover Betting
With Football you can pretty much place any full cover bet (e.g. Lucky 15) you like, most online bookmakers will offer this too. Full cover bets are bets that cover all the possibilities from your selections, for example if you have three selections a Trixie would be 1 treble and 3 doubles (4 bets) from those selections. For details see our betting guide section.
You generally do not get specific offers when placing full cover bets so it is usually best to go with the bookie with the best odds for your selections and payout limits that will give your bet the full potential. There are a few exceptions to this though for Lucky15/31/63 promotions especially.
Handicap Betting
Handicap and Asian handicap betting is common in football and again offered by most online-bookies both prevent and in play. Handicap betting is a simple, by applying a handicap you change the odds of a given football match and these are used generally when you have strong favourites where you want to get better odds.
For example, Arsenal to win may be 1/5 odds on but with a +2 goal handicap may be 2/1, much better odds for sure but requiring Arsenal to win by 3 clear goals to get a return. For full details on all handicap betting type see our betting guide.
Spread Betting
Spread betting on football is certainly more common now than it used to be although you will generally need to bet with specific spread betting firms to get this type of bet in full. Initially a tool for betting on financial markets effectively this is a non-fixed odds form of betting where you are rewarded based on the accuracy of your predictions. It is even regulated by the FCA not the Gambling Commission.
This type of betting is not for the uninitiated and can result in high loses as well as high gains. It is important to know that you can lose more than you deposit and stake, so bear this in mind when gambling this way.
Forecast and Conditional Betting
Twenty years ago or more you would only see forecast betting in horse and dog racing but it is now becoming more common in other sports including football. A typical type of forecast bet may be something like who is going to finish first and second in the premier league, Manchester City followed by Arsenal for example. This would be a straight forecast and requires the league to finish in that order for you to win. There are many types of forecast bets, see out betting guide for details.
Conditional betting, or any-to-come betting is not very common in football but can be found on occasion. These bets are two separate singles but if one selection wins then the initial stake is placed on the second selection and vice versa, giving you the potential to win twice, however if one selection lets you down you will lose your stake on both selections. A full explanation in our betting guide.