You might have heard of the phrase ‘match betting’. For those of you who aren’t familiar, match betting is when you make wagers on the outcome of athletic competitions (e.g. football, tennis, golf, etc.).
In the United Kingdom, for example, you might place a 3.00 bet on a football match, meaning you’ll win £3 if your team wins the match.
While this might not seem like a lot, multiply this by the number of football matches each week and it adds up quickly. In the 2019–20 season (the most recent season available at the time of writing), you’d need to bet £13.80 ($16.75) on each of the 380 Premier League games just to break even.
The Growing Popularity Of Match Betting
With the ever-changing world of sports betting becoming more accessible online, it’s no surprise that match betting has become a popular way to gamble. Between January and October 2019, in the United Kingdom, 11.9 million sports bets were placed, a rise of 14% from the previous year.
Along with this rise in popularity, the number of people actively engaged in match betting has doubled. In October 2019, 1.2 million people in the UK placed bets on football matches, up 27% from the previous year. Interestingly, the most popular teams to bet on are the Manchester teams — either Manchester United or Manchester City. This could be because those are the two Manchester teams that currently play in the Premier League. Or it could be because those are the two Manchester teams that regularly attract the largest crowds. Whatever the reason, it speaks to the popularity of match betting and the increasing accessibility of sports through live streaming. With so much information available online, it’s no longer necessary to spend hours at a bookmaker’s trying to accumulate the correct statistics for each game.
Match Betting Has Big Benefits
Not only does match betting provide a fun and exciting way to gamble, it also has many benefits. Some of the biggest benefits of match betting are detailed below.
Access To More Leagues
One of the biggest draws of match betting is the ability to bet on a much wider range of leagues and competitions than you might normally get access to. In the UK, for example, you can place bets on both the English Premier League and the English Football League, as well as numerous smaller leagues and cups. The same is true in many other European countries.
This means that if you want to follow a competition you can do so without having to limit yourself to just that competition’s results. In the UK, for example, you may follow both the English Premier League and the English Football League, as well as numerous smaller leagues and cups.
This is a big advantage for those who want to keep an eye on more than one competition at a time. If you’re a fan of both Real Madrid and Barcelona, for example, you may be able to get access to both the La Liga and the Copa Del Rey, which are the two most prominent competitions in Spain. This means you’ll be able to bet on both teams playing in those competitions.
No Time Limitations
With traditional bookmakers, you might have to wait a while before your bet is settled. This can sometimes be up to an hour or more. Although this might not seem like a long time, when you’re waiting for the result of a big match it can feel like an entire day has gone by.
With online sportsbooks, this wait is generally no longer necessary. If you place a bet before the end of the match, it will be settled immediately, with odds updated as soon as the final whistle is blown.
This means you can follow a sport you love without having to worry about missing important information because it’s taking a while for the results to come in. In today’s world, information is constantly being updated and placed upon request. Naturally, this makes sports fans very wary of missing out on any information that might influence their betting decisions. With online sportsbooks, you can rest assured that you’ll always have up-to-date odds and statistics, no matter when and where you place that bet.
Odds Are More Accurate
One of the other big benefits of match betting is that the odds are generally much more accurate than they are at traditional bookmakers. This is largely thanks to the information that’s available online. In order to keep the integrity of the odds, fewer bookmakers are allowed to participate than in other sports, so they have to pay more attention to detail.
Additionally, a lot of the information that goes into the odds is provided by actual bettors, rather than just a few people at the bookmaker’s. So, while you might encounter some oddities when placing a bet at a traditional bookmaker (e.g. the team you’re backing sometimes loses despite being a favorite to win), you’ll generally have much greater confidence in the odds you find online.
These are just a few examples of the many advantages of match betting. Even if you don’t gamble, following sports is great for increasing your entertainment factor. Many fans will follow their favorite team or athlete to every single game, creating an atmosphere of excitement and tension. Plus, by following more than one competition at a time you increase the possibility of seeing something new. These are the kinds of things that make sports fans very unique.