Prediction or foresight has been baffling us since the early days of civilization. In ancient times, prophets or seers were revered because of their future predicting capabilities. While most of the foresight dealt with either gods or kings, some of them also predicted weather, tides, and such natural phenomena.
As time forwarded towards technological and cultural developments, the art of prediction evolved into the calculation of probability. One of the primary driving forces for the development of probability as an important branch of mathematics is to determine the win in gambling, which has been with the human race since the Paleolithic era.
Football betting as a form of gambling
It is a common notion to associate some things like dice and a pack of cards with the term gambling. However, betting money on any kind of even with a probable outcome is also considered as a form of gambling. One of the most common forms of betting is sports betting since the choices of predictions are quite easy and can be segmented into binary results.
Football betting is a form of betting that is covered under the umbrella of sports betting. Needless to mention, sports betting is still banned in many countries of the world. However, in countries like the UK, football betting is legalized with the capped amount.
Popular Labels of Football Betting in the UK
Even though football betting is now legalized in the UK, it was not until the 1960s. The Gambling Act of 1960 paved the way for the famous betting shops and punters to have their licenses and open their doors freely for the public to deal with. Some of the most popular sport betting brands in the UK are Ladbrokes, Betfred, Coral, and William Hill to name a few.
Understanding the Football Betting Fabric
It has been mentioned in the aforesaid discussions that football betting is quite popular because the usual choices of predictions are quite easy and segmented into a simple yes, no, or draw category with some complex ones like goal scores. Nevertheless, the simplicity of the prediction choices must not be confused with the prediction types. It is because the ample volume of prediction types makes football betting quite a lucrative market for gamblers.
The range of football betting markets becomes wider depending on the type of league the teams are playing. The maximum types of betting markets are available in the case of Premier League Matches like Bundesliga Odds. The football betting market has multiple categories for wagering.
Some of the most important categories include:
Double Chance
It is the most common and easy form of football betting. In this case, a wager can be placed on three predictions – win for either one of the teams or draw. The chances of winning are quite high with a 2/3 probability.
Correct Score
This wager deals with the prediction of the scores at the end of the game and does not necessarily include the win or loss of the teams directly. The winning factor is quite marginal since predicting the exact scores can be a bit tricky.
Over/Under Score
This is a more relaxed version of the previous wager, where you predict the overall number of goals that would be scored in the match would be above or under a certain number and not equal to it. This bet has a great winning range irrespective of the teams’ performances.
BTS
A simpler alteration to the double chance wager, this stake is to predict if both the teams would score goals or not. The chances of winning are quite high in this case.
Half Time/Full Time
This bet is one of the most complex predictions in football betting. Here, the prediction has to be done for both half time and full-time results and if any of the results do not match with the prediction then the whole bet is lost.
Draw No Bet
This wager is kind of a safe bet because you bet on winning of either team or the stake money is returned in original if the final score of the match is a draw.
One by Two Bet
It is the most common form of football betting where the prediction is related to the winning of either team without any clauses.
Handicap Betting
It is the most complex form of football betting where it is important to understand and interpret the odds. The wager is placed by providing a tentative advantage as well as a disadvantage towards certain teams in the game.
Cast Betting
It is one of the riskiest forms of football betting because the stakes need to be placed correctly on the winning predictions as well the goal score prediction of individual player (score cast) or the winning predictions and goal score (win cast).
Cards
The betting on cards is loosely categorized as to which team or the individual player would endure what cards during the game. This stake is again risky as predicting the exact number can be daunting.
Win or Nil
Another risky form of wager, the win to nil involves two simultaneous bets where one bet is to predict the winning team and the other bet is for the opponent team to score zero goals. The bet would be lost if either of the predictions goes wrong.
Does the football-betting market affect the sportsman spirit?
Given the nature of the money rolling in the betting market, it is quite easy to sway and give in to temptations. There have been several instances where betting has tampered with the match outcome. Besides, the involvement of AI in predictions has sometimes a catastrophic effect on the market and game outcome as well. The use of real-time data by the AI for predictions has more accuracy when compared with the experts. Nonetheless, the individual players for the sake of the game and sportsmanship must not involve in such malpractices and ensure an entertaining and healthy match for the millions of worldwide fans for the game.
