How to bet on the World Cup 2018?
The World Cup is the sports’ biggest and most prestigious tournament, and all the football fans across the world will be glued to their TV to watch this huge show that takes part once every four years. Whether you’re a hard-core football fanatic or a casual fan of this amazing sport, you will probably be looking for some betting value or just placing a bet on your country or favourite team. Here’s where we come in, as we believe that it doesn’t matter what type of bettor you are, there’s always an online bookmaker out there for you. There are countless betting options when it comes to World Cup 2018 betting and our goal here is to teach you the proceedings and all the info you need to know before placing a lucrative bet on this huge tournament. Follow all our World Cup Betting Tips here.
Firstly, you need to understand the structure of the World Cup 2018, where 32 countries will battle in eight groups of four, with the top two sides from each group going through to the knockout stages. Then, the winners of the round of 16 will qualify for the quarter-finals and so on until the last two teams will square off in the final round in Moscow on July 15th. Here are the World Cup 2018 groups, and here at SBAT, we have already made our World Cup 2018 bets and predictions and you can also find previews for each group:
Group A: Russia, Egypt, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia
Group B: Spain, Portugal, Iran and Morocco.
Group C: France, Denmark, Australia and Peru.
Group D: Argentina, Croatia, Iceland and Nigeria.
Group E: Brazil, Switzerland, Costa Rica and Serbia.
Group F: Germany, Sweden, Mexico and South Korea.
Group G: Belgium, England, Tunisia and Panama.
Group H: Poland, Colombia, Senegal and Japan.
Here at SBAT, we will cover all 64 games that will be played in 12 venues located in eleven cities. You can also have a look at our World Cup 2018 betting tips and predictions, including the outright winner, which can be found here.
Betting strategies and key factors to consider before placing a World Cup 2018 bet
While many people will be tempted to place a bet immediately, there are a few factors to consider before doing that. You need to understand the football betting phenomena, the odds fluctuation, team’s form in friendlies or some pre-tournament injuries.
If you are planning on betting on the World Cup 2018 and you want to maximize your winning chances, you need to keep an eye on the players’ form at their clubs and also on what players are doing well at the International stage. In addition, you need to take a closer look at the groups, especially if you are planning on placing a couple of bets on the group winners.
Some national teams have a great record of winning at the highest level, sides like Germany, Brazil or France. Meanwhile, there are teams that have an amazing squad of talented players, but they always seem to underperform at the major tournaments, sides like Belgium, England or Argentina. However, placing a bet on the strongest teams such as Brazil or Germany to win the World Cup 2018 isn’t particularly a lucrative bet, but it definitely have a bigger probability to happen than placing a bet on Saudi Arabia to win the World Cup.
Apart from staying up to date regarding the team selections, players’ form and injuries, you need to know that there are some betting strategies that you can use to bet on the World Cup. The best betting tip ahead of this huge tournament is to find the best value so that when your bets come in, you maximise your return.
Finally, you need to know your budget and how much you can afford to lose before you place a bet. Even if you win a couple of bets, you need to plan the next ones carefully and don’t get carried away.
What kind of World Cup 2018 bets can I make?
Betting on the World Cup 2018 can be a little bit tricky, especially due to the multitude of betting markets:
Outright winner: An outright winner bet is a bet placed on the outcome of an entire league or tournament rather than on an individual game. This means that the outright bets are usually placed before the tournament starts, and in this case, you need to name the team that will lift the World Cup 2018 trophy on July 15th.
Group Winners, Group Forecast, Group Tricast – these type of bets allows you to predict who will be the group winner, who will finish second and third respectively. You can choose between dual forecast or straight forecast as well. Dual forecast means that you need to pick the top two teams that will qualify further in any order. Meanwhile, straight forecast implies picking the top two sides that will qualify in the correct order.
Name the Finalists, To Reach the Quarter-finals, To Reach the Semi Finals, To Reach the Final – The first one allows you to predict the two teams that will be fighting in the final round. The last three betting options imply naming the teams that will feature in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and at least one team that will reach the final.
World Cup 2018 top goalscorer – this one is a simple one, as you just need to predict which player will top the scoring charts at the end of the tournament.
All these markets allow the punters to bet on them at the moment of writing until the start of the tournament. In addition, you can place bets on the normal markets for each individual game as most of the bookies have already released the odds for all the World Cup group fixtures. This means that you can wager on all the popular betting markets for each game, such as winner market, draw no bet, over/under, both teams to score, handicaps, etc.
Match result (1X2) – This is the most common market in sports betting, as you basically need to place a bet on the outcome of the game (home win – draw – away win).
Draw No Bet – this is actually a variation of the match result market, as you practically place a bet on a team to win or draw, but if the game ends in a draw you will get your stake back.
European Handicap – this betting option means that one of the teams receives an advantage before the game. For example, -1 on the home team means the game will start with the 0-1 scoreline for the away side. This means that you need the home team to win 3-1 in order to get the winnings from your bet.
Asian Handicap – the Asian Handicap is kind of similar to the European Handicap, with the only difference being that it reduces the outcomes in a game to two only. For example, placing a AH -1.5 on a team, means that they have to win with at least two goals or more, as the starting score is 0:1.5.
Half-Time result: this one is similar to the match result market, but only the first half outcome counts.
Half-Time / Full-Time: this one combines both half-time and full-time betting markets, as you need to predict the outcome of the game in both halves.
Over/Under goals: the most popular line is usually set at 2.5 goals, and it means that you are betting on the number of goals scored by both sides.
Both teams to score – this one is simple and as the name says, both teams need to get on the scoresheet for this outcome to be true. Alternatively, you can also place a bet on Both Teams to score – No, which means that it won’t be goals at both ends of the field in that one.