Soccer Betting 101

When you visit a sportsbook you will see odds for a soccer match posted like:
Barcelona vs. Real Madrid 1- 2.1 - X 3.4 – 2 – 3.6

The team that is posted first will always be the home team, so Barcelona is the home team in this example.

The 1 symbolizes the Barcelona is this match and if you bet on Barcelona you will have odds of 2.1/1. So let’s say that you bet $10 on this game taking Barcelona (1). If Barcelona wins you win $21, as $10 x 2.1 =$21.

The 2 symbolizes the away team, so in this example that is Real Madrid. If you bet on Real Madrid you will take 2 and get odds of 3.6. Again, if you bet $10 on Real Madrid and they win you will win $36. The odds you get, 3.6, x by $10 = $36.

The X symbolizes the draw (tie). If you bet the draw and wager $10, you x $10 by the draw odds, which are 3.4 in this example, so you would win $34.

This example above is the most simple soccer wager and the most popular one. Some other common bets on soccer are the Over/Under totals bet, first half bet, second half bet, and predicting the final score.

At some sportsbooks you may see a line like:
Barcelona vs. Real Madrid 1 – 2.1 – X 3.4 – 2 – 3.6 – 1X -1.2 -2X 1.7 -1/2 1.20

In looking at the example above you know what the 1,2, and X are, but what are the other symbols.

The 1X is the home win or draw. In looking at this example, you will win this bet if Barcelona either wins the game or it ends in a draw. If you bet $10 on the 1X bet you will win $12, as 1.2 x $10 = $12.

The 2X is the away win or draw. In looking at this example, you will win this bet if Real Madrid either wins the game or it ends in a draw. If you bet $10 on the 2X bet you will win $17, as 1.7 x $10 = $12.

The 1/2 bet means that either team will win, as you are basically wagering that the game will not end in a draw.

As you can see the odds for these 3 bets are not very good, but soccer sees a lot of draws, so you are covering yourself if there is a draw. They are also good bets to make if you bet a pretty large amount on one game or you want to make a parlay bet.

NOTE: In soccer betting the final betting outcome of the game is at the end of regulation time and injury time. If the match happens to go to extra time or there are penalty kicks it does not matter, as the regulation time is the final betting score. For example, let’s say you bet on Arsenal against Manchester United in a Champions League game and at the end of regulation time the game is 1-1. That is the final betting score. Even if Arsenal scores in extra time you still lose your bet. Conversely, if you bet the draw in this match and Arsenal does score in extra time, you would still win the bet since the score after regulation, which is a draw, is the final betting score.

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