Should you be the sort of person that enjoys placing bets on football matches, you will likely always be on the lookout for a wager that gives you a chance to take on the bookmakers. The majority of markets are so neatly defined by the bookies that there is often very little value there, but there are some that you can look for that give you the opportunity to find some room for manoeuvre.
One such example is the Winning Margin market, which asks you to predict how many goals the winning team will win the game by or whether it will be a draw. The specificity of the bet means that the odds will often be better than other bet types.
How the Bet Works
In simple terms, bookmakers will look to offer you various options for the Winning Margin in a football match. These Winning Margins won’t always be the same for every team, with the bookies keen to chop and change what they offer depending on how many goals one team tends to score or the other team tends to concede during matches. Here is a look at how the odds were laid out when Liverpool played Fulham at Craven Cottage during the 2023-2024 campaign:
- Fulham to Win by Exactly 1 Goal – 6/1
- Fulham to Win by Exactly 2 Goals – 9/1
- Fulham to Win by 3 Goals or More – 18/1
- Liverpool to Win by Exactly 1 Goal – 11/4
- Liverpool to Win by Exactly 2 Goals – 10/3
- Liverpool to Win by 3 Goals or More – 14/5
- Match to End in a Draw – 15/4
There isn’t a massive amount of point in betting on the draw there, given the fact that the odds are exactly the same as they would be if you bet on the draw in the 1X2 market, but it is there for the sake of completion rather than to offer you anything different that you’d get elsewhere from the bookie. The key thing to remember, though, is that it is offer you more expansive odds than if you’d just go for the Home Win or Away Win market, thanks to the specificity of what you’re having to predict will happen in the game.
In that Fulham v Liverpool game, for example, the following were the odds on the 1X2 market:
- Fulham – 9/2
- Draw – 15/4
- Liverpool – 1/2
As you can see, all of the bets on Fulham are more generous in terms of odds when you bet on the Winning Margin market than just the Home Win, with the same thing also being true of bets on Liverpool.
Do Your Research
It is true of any bet that you might look to place, of course, but when you’re thinking of placing a Winning Margin bet it is absolutely worth exploring the data around what is liable to happen in the game. There is a huge amount of information out there on most of the top teams that you’re likely to bet on in terms of how many goals they tend to score and concede. This means that you can look to weigh up the likelihood of a team scoring X number of goals in a game and their opposition conceding that number. If the information is favourable, it is worth placing the bet, whilst if it isn’t then you should avoid doing so.
The Scoreline Doesn’t Matter, Just the Winning Margin
This is a really important point that it is worth remembering: you are not betting on the Correct Score here. If you say that you think that Fulham will win by Exactly 1 Goal, that doesn’t mean that they need to win 1-0. Whether the scoreline is 2-1 or 24-23 is irrelevant, with the only important thing being the margin between the two teams when the scorelines are settled. Of course, the key thing there is that the odds will be lower for the Winning Margin because of the fact that you need to be much more specific when you’re betting on the Correct Score, whereas there is a little bit more room for manoeuvre with the Winning Margin wager.