Live Betting Online
But these days, most online sportsbooks offer what are called live odds. Live sports betting odds give people a chance to place bets on point spreads, money lines, under/overs, and more while games are still going on. In-game betting has turned into one of the most exciting ways to bet on sports. Learn more about live odds and how you can use them to your advantage below. What Is Live Betting? Team Spread Money Line Total Points Team Points; Sunday, Feb 07, 2021 - NFL Football Game 06:30 PM: 101: Kansas City Chiefs.
Placing bets on live sports is not something of a new tradition, live betting has been taking place in local betting shops (bookmakers) for many years however, the evolution of the Internet and the impact it has had on sports betting has opened many doors for the industry.
betting live, now its live betting on mobile too
Over ten years ago, live betting was limited to just a few sports, one of which, was the most popular sports for live betting; horse racing, some bookmakers allowed punters to place bets during the running of the race, this quickly proved very popular as it gave bettors a different angle on betting.
So rather than using knowledge and statistics to place a bet before the horse race began, people could wait and see how the race was shaping up before wagering money on a potential winner.
Enter the Internet, the live betting explosion
During the birth and rise of the Internet, many bookmakers expanded their business online.
With the idea of live betting already in place in offline bookmakers, the phenomenon quickly expanded and evolved in to other sports.
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So what is live betting?
Live betting, also known as ‘betting in-play’, is the method of placing a wager / bet on a sporting event once it has started, instead of the traditional method of pre-match (such as a football match) or pre-event (such as a horse race) betting.
As the game / event time runs down, tensions and adrenalin run high. Some say much higher than pre-event.
It is during this point of the clock starting and stopping in which bets are placed.
Difference Between Live Betting & Pre-Match
When it comes to live betting, there are only 2 main differences from pre-event betting:
1. The betting markets available
2. Your mental state
Betting Markets
With pre-event betting, depending on the event you are betting on, bookmakers often list tens, sometimes hundreds of betting markets to place a wager on.
Whereas in-play live betting often has reduced markets.
Therefore, if you are the type of bettor that prefers a lot of choice on common and obscure markets, make sure you get your bets in early, before the event starts.
Betting Mindset
The other major difference live betting brings is the effect on your state of mind.
For example, if you set your mind on a preferred betting target before a football match, once your bet is placed you can relax and wait for the outcome.
If you were correct in your prediction, you will win the bet and return a profit. If you were incorrect in your prediction, you will lose the bet and lose the stake you wagered.
In live betting, the situation is completely different. You tend not to relax and have to watch the event carefully.
You can place your bet on the same match, but whilst it is in progress (in play). Therefore, people tend to be nervous waiting for the right moment to place the bet, then watching carefully to see if it’s worth cashing out.
Real Time Live Odds
Usually a bookmaker’s betting website has many markets available for you to bet on, and all odds are calculated live, at that exact point in play.
Odds can change from minute to minute and second to second with live betting, this is due to the fact that events are constantly taking place in real time.
Bookmakers have betting experts and pundits in place ready to update odds in real time as each event happens during a game.
Events can include anything from conceding a corner, to mounting a counter attack, to scoring a goal.
Therefore, each betting market where odds are available are constantly shifting up and down.
It’s also not uncommon for certain betting markets to be temporarily suspended at various points within a match whilst odds are updated.
During a temporary suspension, no bets can be placed on the particular betting market.
For example, in-play correct score prediction markets may be suspended after a goal is scored. This is because the event (goal scored) affects the odds significantly.
In addition, bettors have the chance to end (or close) their current bet if they decide to change their mind at any point during play. This means that even though they may have placed a bet in the first 10 minutes of a football match, they do not have to wait the remaining 80 minutes to find out whether their bet was successful.
Instead they can close their bet and ‘cash out’.
What Is Cashing Out when live betting?
When a bettor ‘cashes out’ a bet, it means that they are collecting their money early – at the exact point they choose, before the end of the event.
There are 2 reasons why people choose to cash out a bet:
- To cut their losses (reduce a liability).
- Or to guarantee profit.
Cashing out is available at almost all leading bookmakers and they usually all provide the same method for doing so.
A bet that is cashed out is not affected by the final outcome of an event because the bet has already ended.
For example, if a ‘correct score’ bet is placed during a football match, the punter can often cash out before the final whistle if their chosen result is met during the game, rather than waiting until the end and ‘risking’ another goal being scored.
Another example is, if a match is being played between Manchester United versus Juventus in the Champions League. You place a bet in-play on Man Utd to win, and they’re winning 2-0 at half time. But you get to 60 minutes of the game and Juventus score to make it 2-1.
Therefore, it is likely that, as Juventus are on the up, they may well score another goal or two. So cashing out your bet will guarantee a profit, albeit it smaller than if you were to wait until 90 minutes, but the risk that you will lose your bet completely is eliminated.
Less Risk when live betting on mobile or desktop
In a live betting cash-out situation, the return (profit) from a bet is often not as much as the ‘complete’ bet would be at the final outcome of the game, but it will be a guaranteed return on your stake.
The benefit of live betting is that you can react to events during the game, which alter circumstances and odds.
Cashing out is a way of limiting losses and giving you a better chance at returning a profit.
It’s also a way for you to get the edge over the bookmaker, especially if it’s a sporting event that you are very experienced or knowledgeable on.
For those that are fans of live betting, it’s also useful to watch or listen to the event on radio or TV so that accurate live bets can be placed.
Sports Betting Online Betting
Benefits Of Live Betting
There are many benefits to live betting compared with placing bets before an event begins.
These include:
- More accurate judgement
- More entertaining
- Different betting markets
- More generous odds
- Betting live on mobile
When betting, a bettor has to take in to account a lot of information, especially with markets such as football.
Analysing and researching data can be the key to success when it comes to live betting.
Arming yourself with as much useful data as you can will help you make an informed betting decision during play.
For example, in a football match; a known goal scorer may be injured. So you can be ready to bet on who you think will be the next goal scorer based on how the game is going in the absence of a key target man.
Betting live on an event can be more entertaining because firstly; you watch it, and secondly you watch it more closely.
Rather than placing a bet then forgetting about it, and looking up the outcome later. In-play betting provides real time entertainment that can have you on the edge of your seat within seconds.
Furthermore, online bookmakers usually provide accurate in-play real time stats, some of which are shown with eye catching graphics, such as a football pitch with icons moving around that makes watching the clock ticking a lot more fun.
With live betting, there are a range of different betting markets that are not available pre-event.
Additional options can bring about many advantages and opportunities to wager the right bet for profit, such as next goal, next yellow card, next corner and so on.
Lastly; often the punter can take advantage of more generous odds when betting in-play.
This is because a bookmaker has to react in real-time and make very quick decisions on market odds.
Quite often, not all factors are taken in to considering when making split decisions.
This allows bettors to take advantage of softer odds, especially if they are knowledgeable and following the event closely.
Live Betting Tips & Strategies
Whilst not easy to make a profit with any form of betting, live betting can be profitable.
Some people prefer live betting to standard betting. However, the same challenge exists in either form; consistently return a profit.
There are a number of tips you can bear in mind when betting on live markets, these include:
- Look for a quality betting market over quantity. Ensure the bet is worth focusing on, that you have background knowledge on the event and that it will give value for money.
- Study the event in advance, such as a football match or horse race. Look for player injuries or a drop in form.
- If possible, watch or listen to the event yourself to ensure real time data. Some bookmakers often delay relaying information and even a few seconds can make a big difference.
- Watch closely for changes. We’ve all heard of the super sub. Watching closely for changes that can enhance a betting market considerably, especially with options such as next goal-scorer.
When it comes to strategies, there are very few that can be applied to live betting due to the real time factors and unpredictability.
Betting strategies that require you to double up on losses usually fall at the first hurdle, So it is best to steer clear of the likes of Martingale, Instead, punters tend to focus on live bets with low risk and high probability.
These live bets with low risk and high probability include, ‘cert’ bets that are ‘almost guaranteed’ to produce the outcome you imagine, such as backing a football team winning 2-0 at half time going on to win the game. Or a horse that is 5 lengths in front with little running time remaining and little chance of being caught.
Live betting was introduced by online betting sites several years ago now. Initially, many people thought it was a just a gimmick. They figured it might be interesting for a while, but that the novelty would soon wear off. To say these people were wrong would be an understatement. Live betting was a huge success right from the outset, and has continued to grow in popularity ever since.
In fact, it has gone on to become the default way to bet for many sports gamblers. This is partially because it’s tough to beat in terms of sheer excitement. It also has the potential to be very profitable with the right approach. That’s obviously appealing too.
Also known as in-play betting, this form of wagering is available on many sports. Some examples include football, tennis, basketball and cricket. It’s especially popular for betting on soccer, and it’s live soccer is the focus of this article.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with live betting, we start by explaining exactly what it is and how it works. We then look at the main advantages of betting on soccer in this way. Then we address the strategy involved. We end with our top live soccer betting strategy plans, and provide some additional tips too.
What is Live Soccer Betting?
The basic concept of live soccer betting is very simple. In many ways it’s the same as betting in the traditional way. You choose a selection, put your money down and then get paid out at the appropriate odds if you win. However, traditional betting involves placing wagers prior to games kicking off. Live soccer betting is a little different.
That’s the fundamental difference between the two forms of betting. With one you place wagers in advance of a game. With the other you place wagers while a game is actually being played. This creates a ton of additional betting opportunities.
Most online bookmakers offer live soccer betting markets for the vast majority of professional games: even games in obscure leagues and competitions. There tends to be a greater range of wagering options for the more popular leagues though. For example, here’s a screenshot of the markets available online for a Premier League game.
As you can see, there are a plethora of different kinds of bets to choose from. Pretty much all of the main types of soccer wager are covered here.
Each of the headings on the bottom half of the screen can be expanded to show the available selections. So you could expand “Next Player to Score Goal” for example, and see the following.
You’ll see that, just like a normal betting screen, there are odds displayed next to each of the available selections. What’s different here is that these odds are constantly adjusted by the betting sites, according to what’s happening on the field of play. They’ll have at least one person watching the game and making these adjustments based on their assessment of what’s likely to happen next.
Please note that live betting markets sometimes get suspended throughout the duration of the game. This typically happens following a major incident such as a goal or a send off. Incidents such as these will affect virtually all of the markets, so they’re basically shut down for a few seconds to allow time to make all the necessary adjustments.
That’s essentially everything that you need to know to start betting in-play on soccer games. It’s all pretty straightforward really.
Advantages of Live Soccer Betting
Not sure if live soccer betting is for you? That’s understandable. If you’re used to betting in a certain way, the idea of trying something new can be a little daunting. We urge you to give it a go though. You might not like it, but we’re fairly confident that you will. We see some clear benefits for choosing to wager in this way.
There are four primary advantages that are particularly worth mentioning. These are as follows.
- Additional chances to bet
- Wider selection of betting options
- More information to work with
- Greater chance of finding value
Additional chances to bet
The first advantage is a blatantly obvious one. Being able to wager on games while they’re being played clearly creates new opportunities for having a bet. This is a good thing as you want as many opportunities to choose from as possible. The more betting opportunities that exist, the easier it becomes to identify good opportunities.
We should point out that this is NOT an excuse to go wild and start placing a ton of wagers for the sake of it. It’s still important to be selective. We expand on this point later in this article, in the section on strategy tips.
Wider selection of betting options
As well as creating additional opportunities to bet, live soccer betting also offers a much wider range of betting options. There are certain wagers that are simply not possible when betting before a game starts, but that work just fine when betting in-play. Here are some examples.
- Next team to score
- Next player to score
- Time of next goal
A lot of the extra wagers that can be placed in-play are a bit “gimmicky,” and primarily targeted at those who bet for fun. If your goal is to make money, these should probably be avoided. Don’t get us wrong though; they can definitely be profitable with the right approach. Take the next team to score wager, for example. If you’re paying close attention to game, it’s not unreasonable to think that you can make a measured judgement about which of the teams is likely to score next.
So these extra betting options are well worth exploring. Some of them will take a little getting used to, but none of them are especially complicated.
More information to work with
More information is always a good thing when betting on soccer: or any sport for that manner. The more information you have at your disposal, the easier it is to make informed judgements. And when you’re betting in-play, you have a ton of extra information available to you.
You get to see how the players are performing individually, and how they’re performing collectively as a team. You get some insight into how they’re approaching the games, and what sort of style they’re implementing. All of this is very useful when it comes to making betting decisions, and it’s all readily accessible too. You can listen to games on the radio, watch them on the TV or even read live updates on the internet.
Greater chance of finding value
The fourth advantage we’re mentioning here is basically a combination of the three advantages already discussed. Each one of them contributes to the fact that live soccer betting offers a greater chance of finding value than the traditional method of betting before games start. Seeing as though finding value should be the ultimate goal for any bettor, this is clearly the most significant advantage of all.
Now, this doesn’t mean live soccer betting is only for the serious bettor. It’s a great option for the recreational bettor too. We’ve already mentioned how exciting it is, and this is enough reason alone to give it a go. But there are even more reasons for live soccer betting if your goal is to make money.
Of course, you also need to know what you’re doing. That’s exactly why the rest of this page is dedicated to providing strategy tips and advice that should help you approach live soccer betting in the right way.
Our Top Live Soccer Betting Strategy
We’ve tried several different strategies over the many years that we’ve been betting on soccer in-play. Some of these have proved to be successful. Others have not quite worked out for one reason or another. And some have been nothing short of disastrous. We’ve learned a lot from all our experimenting, and there has been one strategy in particular that regularly works out really well for us.
The basic idea behind this strategy is simple. We look for games where there’s a clear favorite to win, and then wait and see what happens in the early stages of the game. If the underdog happens to take a lead, we give serious consideration to betting on the favorite to overcome that setback and go on to win the game.
The main reason we like this strategy is that we’ve found that bookmakers have a tendency to overcompensate when adjusting the odds in these scenarios. A single goal deficit is not that difficult to overturn, and the top teams are often very good at coming from behind to win games. Despite this, it’s not at all uncommon for bookmakers to significantly lengthen the odds on a favorite if they fall behind. This can mean there’s a lot of value in then placing a wager on the favorite to win.
Yes, if used correctly.
The simplest strategies are actually often the best ones. You don’t need to devise some super complicated system to beat the bookmakers. You just need something that helps you to identify where value generally lies in the betting markets, so you can full take advantage of that value when the time is right.
In our experience, a favorite going behind to an early goal is a scenario that regularly creates value. Finding these scenarios is the easy part, as they happen quite frequently. The next step is the more difficult one. Knowing when to bet, and when not to, is the real challenge. Because although this is a simple strategy, it’s not as simple as betting on the favorite EVERY TIME they go a goal behind. You need to be more selective than that, and use your judgement to decide when it’s appropriate.
We’ve offered some advice for this below.
When to use this strategy
There are no definitive rules about when to use this strategy. As we already stated, you have to use your own judgement. The main goal is to try to make an accurate assessment about how likely the favorite is to overturn the goal deficit. This means taking a number of factors into consideration. It obviously helps if you’re familiar with both the teams playing, as you can better gauge how the game is going to play out.
Once you’ve made your assessment, the next step is to study the odds and determine if there’s any genuine value in backing the favorite after they’ve fallen behind. There is one rule you should try to stick to here.
This is the key to making this strategy work. You basically have to decide whether or not your bookmaker has adjusted the odds correctly. If you think the odds have moved more significantly than they should have, that’s when you look to get your money down.
This strategy typically works best when the favorite is playing at home, or at least that’s what we have found so far. Conceding a goal can often encourage the home fans to really get behind their team, and this in turn can inspire the players. It also helps when the favorite is in a good run of form, and not suffering from any lack of confidence.
When not to use this strategy
There are no definitive rules about when NOT to use this strategy either. There are some general guidelines that we recommend following though.
We’ve already touched on the first one, as it relates to the movement in the odds. Remember that the bookmakers won’t always lengthen the odds on a favorite by enough to make this strategy worthwhile. It’s very likely that they’ll still be confident in the relevant team winning even after conceding a goal. When this is the case, they may not make much of an adjustment at all. And when the odds don’t move much, this strategy isn’t particularly effective.
The other two main guidelines relate to specific circumstances where it’s probably best to avoid this strategy. This can be found below.
- If the favorite is in a run of bad form and/or the underdog is in good form.
- If the favorite appears to be playing very poorly and/or the underdog appears to be playing especially well.
This strategy is unlikely to be appropriate if the favorite is going through a patch of bad form. Although top teams are often made favorites even when their form isn’t particularly good, there’s a less likely chance of them recovering from going behind when they’re not performing well consistently. Equally, if the underdog is in good form then there’s a strong chance that they will hold on to their lead. They’re less likely to let the favorite back into their game if their confidence is high and they’re playing well.
It’s also important to recognize that there will be times when even the best teams underperform on the field. There will also be times when the weaker teams over perform. You need to watch out for these times, for obvious reasons. If the favorite is simply not playing very well, or the underdog is playing especially well, then this strategy is very risky.
A final point to mention is motivation. If the favorite doesn’t have much to play for, you have to question how likely they are to dig in and hit back after going a goal behind. By the same token, if there’s a lot riding on the game for the underdog, then they’re going to fight as hard as they can to hold on to their lead.
We’re very confident that you can effectively use this strategy just by following all of the above advice. We’ve had enough success with it to know that it works for sure. You just need to be selective about when you use it. One more important tip is to avoid making a bet when you have doubts as to whether it’s the right thing to do. It’s always better to miss out on an opportunity that might prove to be profitable than it is to waste money on an opportunity that proves to be costly.
More Strategy Tips for Live Soccer Betting
Regardless of whether you choose to use the above strategy or not, there are also some other strategic considerations to bear in mind when betting on soccer in-play. So we’ve put together a small collection of simple tips that we strongly recommend to anyone interested in learning more. We’ve listed them below, and then explained each one in a little more detail. Please note that none of these tips will instantly bring you success on their own. They can certainly improve your overall chances of winning though.
- Watch the games
- Use previous data
- Avoid guessing
- Consider hedging
- Factor in motivation
- Experiment
Watch the games
We mentioned earlier that one of the main advantages of live soccer betting is the fact that you have more information to work with. This is only really the case if you actually watch the games though. Certain information is available even if you don’t, but the real benefit is in watching the action and then making judgements based on what you see.
Watching a game on TV enables you to make more informed judgments about how it’s likely to play out.
Always remember that the people setting the live odds for a soccer game will be paying close attention to what’s happening on the field. If you’re not doing the same, then you’re instantly handing them the advantage. You need to try to notice things that they might not, and make better assessments about what’s likely to happen next. This is possible, but you HAVE to really focus your attention.
Use previous data
Remember the live soccer betting strategy that we outlined earlier? Why do you think we first tried implementing that? It wasn’t just a random idea, it was the result of extensive research and analysis. While studying previous data, we noticed quite a few occasions where favorites came back from going a goal behind. We then did a little more digging, and found that this was especially common after the favorite conceded early on. From there we developed a theory, and then put it to the test.
This is precisely what YOU should be doing too. Soccer data is widely available, and studying it can be so beneficial. Specifically, you want to look for any trends or patterns that might be worth exploring further. These can be general trends, or trends that apply to specific teams.
For example, you might discover that Manchester United typically score a lot of goals in the second half of their games when they’re already leading at half time. Or that West Bromwich Albion tend to lose quite heavily if they’re playing away from home and concede early in the game. Or that Bundesliga teams generally concede very few goals in Champion League games after taking the lead.
You can easily use this kind of information to your advantage. By analyzing it properly, it can help you find suitable betting opportunities when wagering in-play. If you have some idea of how a team is likely to perform in a particular situation, you’ll also have a good idea of where to put your money when that situation arises.
Avoid guessing
Okay, okay, this is probably obvious, but we’ve decided to mention it anyway. Too many bettors rely on “their best guess.” They feel like they HAVE to place lots of bets during a soccer game, to take full advantage of all the opportunities. So rather than actually give some thought to the wagers they place, they basically just pick things at random. This is a big mistake, and one we really don’t want you to make.
This makes complete sense. If you’re just randomly deciding what to bet on, you’re not going to have any edge over the bookmakers at all. You might get lucky from time to time, or even quite frequently, but you’re almost guaranteed to lose money overall.
So remember that you don’t ever HAVE to bet. If you’re watching a soccer game with the intention of live betting, but no suitable opportunity arises, then it’s fine to not place any wagers at all. An important rule of sports betting in general is to only ever bet for the right reasons. This is especially relevant when live betting because of all the additional wagering options. It can be very tempting to bet on loads of different things during a game, but this is simply not the right approach.
Consider hedging
Live betting on soccer can be a great way to hedge existing wagers. If you’re not familiar with the term hedging in the context of betting, this is something you should look to learn about. We have an article dedicated to the subject of hedging, and we strongly recommend reading it.
We won’t go in to too much detail here, because everything you need to know is covered in the above article, but the basic idea of hedging is that it can be used to manage your exposure to risk. Let’s use a couple of quick examples to illustrate how this can work when live betting.
First, imagine that you’ve bet on a team to win a soccer game. You then decide to watch that game, and after 20 minutes you realize that the team you’ve picked really aren’t playing well. At that point, it might be sensible to hedge by placing another wager on the opposing team and/or the draw. This is obviously going to cost some additional stake money, but it can be the right thing to do if you’re initial opinion has changed significantly. There’s nothing wrong with taking a small loss in order to prevent yourself from making a much bigger one.
For the second example, imagine that you’ve bet on an underdog to win an upcoming game. For whatever reason, you’ve decided that they have a good chance of causing an upset. And, sure enough, they take a two goal lead in the first half. At this point, you could use hedging to make a guaranteed profit. The odds on the draw and the opposing team would have lengthened somewhat, so a small wager on each of those could ensure that you stand to come out ahead regardless of what the final outcome is. You’ll have sacrificed some potential profit, but it’s absolutely fine to play it safe sometimes.
Factor in motivation
We touched on motivation earlier, when discussing our top live soccer betting strategy. It’s relevant to live soccer betting in general too. The performance of any team is always likely to be affected by motivation to some degree, so it’s definitely something to bear in mind. Try to think about what’s riding on a game for each team, and what kind of impact that may have on what’s going to happen next.
For example, let’s say two teams are drawing after half an hour’s play. The home team is playing a little better, and passing the ball about nicely, so you consider backing them to go on to win. Then you realize that their opposition absolutely HAVE to win this game if they’re going to avoid relegation. On the other hand, the home team has very little riding on this game.
Would this change your opinion about what’s likely to happen? It certainly should. There’s obviously no guarantee that motivation alone will be enough for the away team to win the match, but it’s something that needs to be factored into the decision making process for sure.
Experiment
Our final tip here is straightforward to say the least, and it doesn’t really need much in the way of explanation. Basically, we’re just advising you to try out new systems and strategies. You should always be looking to formulate new ideas and come up with potential ways for making money. The best route to success for any form of sports betting is to develop your own strategies. And, with the number of options and opportunities available in live soccer betting, some degree of experimentation is absolutely vital.
So if you have a theory, don’t be afraid to put it into practice and see how things go. It’s the only way you’ll know for sure if it has any merit or not. If doesn’t work, move on to the next idea. And if it does work, fine-tune it until you maximize its potential. Then move on to the next idea anyway. You can NEVER have too many ideas.
Summary
We highly recommend trying live soccer betting. Watching games and placing wagers based on what you see has the potential to be very profitable. Especially if you’re very knowledgeable about the sport. It’s our firm belief that this is actually one of the easiest ways to gain an edge over the bookmakers. It’s still a challenge of course, as the bookmakers know their stuff too. However, it’s undoubtedly possible to regularly identify good value opportunities.
Last but not least, live soccer betting is fun! Watching a game of soccer and placing a few small stakes wagers in-play can greatly enhance the entertainment at very little cost. It might not even cost anything if you win!