How to place your first online bet on a football match
The Premier League is up and running for the 2015/16 season and there’s an exciting few months ahead with the Capital Cup already well into the mid-term rounds. The anticipation of the FA Cup is building with it starting in earnest over the winter and then Euro 2016 will be held across France where all eyes will be on the fortunes of the home nations.
If you’re already following the fortunes of your own team and chewing your nails waiting for a last minute goal to save them from another away fixture draw, you may want to explore placing a bet on them to add to the excitement.
If betting on football is new to you but you’ve always wanted to know more, then this guide to online sports betting will give you all the basics of how it works.
Getting started
You’ll need to open an online betting account to be able to place a bet. There are many different companies to choose from so find one where you find the site navigation straight forward and you’re comfortable with using the on screen betting slips.
Registration will mean a user name and a password and then registering a credit or debit card plus perhaps a few details about yourself. Once you’ve reached this stage, you can credit your account with your first amount of funds and you’re ready to place your first bet.
Placing your first bet
If you aren’t familiar with the multitude of bets available on a football match, the place to start is choosing a team to win. Find their next match on the list and there will be odds placed next to the team name as to how likely it is they will win. Click to choose the team and depending on the layout of the site, an online betting slip will display. It will show you the choice you’ve made, the odds and the kind of bet; to win outright. You then type the amount you want to bet and click, bet, OK or Enter – again this will differ from site to site. You’ll be shown how much you will win if your bet is successful. That’s all there is to it – all you now need to do is wait to see the outcome of the match. If your side wins then the winning money will be credited automatically to your betting account – congratulations!
Other bets you can progress to
Once you understand how to place a basic bet to win, you can progress onto other options. There are many to choose from including:
– The match being a draw
– Who will be ahead at half time
– Who will be the first scorer
– Predicting the correct score
These are all known as single bets. It’s one bet placed on one outcome. With a little more experience you can begin to place combination bets such as who will win and which player will be first to score. The betting sites will have all the options clearly displayed on the screen so it’s a case of spending a little time getting to know the site and ensuring you understand what you are betting on.
Unusual bets in football
You can not only place a bet on who will win a football match from the outset. With an online site you can bet at any time up to the last couple of minutes of the match as to the winner or whether it will be a draw. The odds will change every few minutes depending on the score and the amount of time left.
You can also bet on slightly more obscure events such as the number of penalties, who will take a penalty, how many corners (overall or in a particular half) and even the number of yellow or red cards the referee will issue. It’s probably a good idea to start with a basic bet though until you’re confident with how the site works and your level of knowledge of betting.
The most important thing with placing a bet online is that it should be fun and that you never bet more than you can afford. Once you’ve mastered how football betting works, you can begin to explore other sports but there’s plenty of time during this season to make this progression so start small, enjoy predicting an outcome and use your knowledge of your favourite team to help make your selections.
