In the world of football betting, there is no simpler wager to place than the Match Odds bet. It asks a simple question: what do you think the result of the match will be? You can bet on the home team winning, the away team winning or the game ending in a draw. Whilst you can look to make it more complicated, thereby increasing the odds of your bet, by adding other potential outcomes into the equation, in its purest form it is nothing more than a bet on the overall outcome of the 90 minutes of a football game. For that reason, it is one of the most popular bets that punters will look to place on football matches.
It’s a 90 Minutes + Stoppage Time Bet
Arguably the most crucial thing that you need to know about the Match Odds bet is that it is a wager on 90 minutes of football, plus the time that is added on for stoppages by the referee. This might seem obvious, but many people might not realise that their bet will not rollover into extra-time in cases when they’re betting on a knockout match. That is to say, if you are betting on, say, the FA Cup, Champions League knockout stages or the quarter-finals of the World Cup, as an example, then there is a chance that your match might go to extra-time or penalties. If that happens, your Match Odds bet will not last until then.
Instead, you are betting on the outcome of the 90-minutes plus stoppage time of the normal match. If you bet on Liverpool to Win against Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Champions League, for argument’s sake, and the full-time whistle goes with Liverpool having won 4-0, you will win your bet. If, however, the match ends 2-2 and goes to extra-time, your bet will be a loser. That remains the case even if Liverpool go on to win on penalties at the end of the match. If you want to bet on Liverpool to make it through to the final then you’d need to look for the bet that is called ‘To Qualify’ or similar, rather than the Match Odds.
The Scoreline is All That Matters
Bets on Match Odds are wagers on the outcome of the game overall, so the scoreline is the only thing that matters at the end of the match. That is to say, it doesn’t matter whether all of the goals are own goals, nor whether one team wins 25-0. It is irrelevant if the losing team had most of their players sent off or if there was a streaker that resulted in the stoppage time being for 20 minutes, which was when all of the goals were scored. The only thing that the bookmakers are interested in is the final score at the end of the 90 minutes plus any time that the referee has decided to add on. If it ends in a draw then Draw bets will win, if the home team wins then Home bets will win and so on.
In terms of what the bet looks like, it usually appears something like this:
| Brentford | The Draw | Brighton & Hove Albion |
|---|---|---|
| 7/5 | 13/5 | 13/8 |
It is often referred to as 1X2 betting, with 1 representing the home team, X being the draw and 2 being the away side. That is because some bookies will print it as 1 X 2 rather than the team names as shown in our example.
Things to Think About
If you’re lining yourself up to place a Match Odds bet then there are a few things that you will want to think about first. As with any other bet, the most important thing that you can do is as much research as possible. Whilst this is true of any level of football that you’ll be able to bet on, it is especially true of football at the higher end of the spectrum. There is so much information about the Premier League, Championship and Champions League clubs that you’d be remiss not to at least make sure you know whether any of the key players are missing from either side, for example, or if one of the managers has been sacked.
Ultimately, all you’re betting on is the overall outcome of the match, so you don’t need to get caught in the trap of looking at the likes of who will score the first goal or how many corners there will be. Teams can have a huge amount of possession and still lose a game, for example, so just try to look at the form of both teams and any other important information that might influence the overall result.