Some call it football, others call it soccer – this thrilling team sport may come in different variations, but there is one thing that unites all fans worldwide. No matter how we call it, football remains a king of sports for thousands of years! You won’t find a place on the planet where people haven’t heard about football. There are multiple debates considering its origin, as different countries call themselves the birthplace of this iconic ball game. China, Egypt, England initially fight for the status of the football motherland.
People’s passion for football hasn’t decreased over the years. The tech progress allows us to watch HD resolution games on our beloved gadgets and share our impressions on fans channels in social media around the world. Football betting takes No.1 priority among sports bettors in the 21c. Instead of staying in the sidelines and watching others making history, casual fans can be a part of it. With the myriad of the best football betting sites in the Internet vastness, punters receive endless privileges to bet on popular football events, enjoying their homes’ coziness. Betting on football has never been so pleasant before.
How to bet on football online
Current sports bettors have one unbeaten privilege upon old-time punters. They don’t need to stay in line to find black bookmakers to place a bet on their beloved team. They can now do it on the open web spaces as the Internet is full of platforms at any preference. Users can google ‘the best football betting sites, ‘ and receive tons of variants in milliseconds. But if you think that you can follow the first link in the search ranking and get to the best-of-the-best site, we need to dispel your illusions.
Google doesn’t rank the sportsbooks based on their trustworthiness, odds profitability, or real-money wagering experience for users. Google ranking mostly depends on the betting sites’ active position and references on the web. But as we know, many different sportsbook operators simply buy favorable reviews to create a false impression of their awesomeness. Thus, all football bettors’ integral rule is to rely on unbiased expert opinions, but not on the paid reviews published on the online sportsbook portals. Unlike Google, only real people, who are into online sports wagering for years, can evaluate a site from head to foot and provide their real-customer opinions on whether a sportsbook deserves wasting time and cash on it.
Trusted or scam? Picking up top football sportsbooks
There are plenty of planets in the football betting galaxy. Rookies can easily get lost among the plurality of sites that the Internet has to offer. Even skilled betting gurus can sometimes fall into the trap of teasing bonuses offered by sportsbooks. And imagine that you are a freshman in this niche! You can lose your head from all these teasing perks on football betting sites.
A fundamental rule to learn by heart is to trust reliable platforms for betting on football not to become bankrupt after a couple of botched bets. Experts know how to detect a scammer among top football betting sites. These hallmarks can identify reliable bookies from frauds:
Site usability
We know many sportsbooks reputable with all rights reserved, vibrant wagering options, and lavish free bet giveaways, but once you start navigating the site, you feel like a hunter wandering in the maze. A site has such terrible and puzzling navigation making you want to leave and erase this adventure from your memory once and for all. An operator can’t claim the best football betting site title if users need to spend the eternity guessing how to place a bet or check stats. And what if a punter accidentally bids on the wrong football match because he gets confused, surfing between pages and clicking on dozens of icons? Unlikely, a sportsbook will forgive the mistake and return the lost money to the punter. Thus, site usability is a paramount requirement to get a fruitful betting experience.
Richness of football bets
Online betting on football events is remarkable by a mind-blowing variety of football leagues and bet types at any taste. Football betting markets can beat any other sport by the diversity of things punters can wager on. Top-tier sportsbook operators flaunt a wide assortment of betting offers, but not just wagering on a winning team. With a bets plurality, putters can set up a football betting strategy suitable purely for them. Thus, analysts always mind this factor when inspecting the strong and weak points of an online betting site.
Withdrawal limits
The prime factor that characterizes trusted sports betting sites from better-to-avoid alternatives is wagering requirements, which they set up for gamblers. We warn all football betting fans to pay heed to this aspect firsthand, as cheap bookmakers seduce punters by promising free bets and seem-to-be gainful odds, but hide the info regarding withdrawal limits under seven locks. If you plan to turn online sports betting to a money-making occupation (but not a pastime for entertainment purposes), take a look at the withdrawing section on a betting site. Skilled punters will unlikely come in delight by the idea to withdraw $100 per month when they earn dozens of times bigger.
Premium customer service
‘Your call is very important to us. Please, hold on the line.’ A person holds the line for 30 minutes more, and nothing happens. All of us have been there. It’s so annoying when you need to get expert advice right now, and you cannot reach the help center. First-class customer support is a proven hallmark of the best football betting site. When you find yourself in a ticking time-bomb situation to place a big bet right here and right now, you don’t want to miss your chance because of some technical bug on a site. But such things may happen, as we don’t live in Wonderland. That’s when superheroes from a customer service department should come and rescue you: via instant chat, email, phone, or even magic carpet. If a sports bettor requires emergency help, he should get it in time!
Tools for customer engagement
Let’s picture such a situation: you pick up among two food delivery companies to order dinner. Both companies make delicious meals, have similar pricing policies, and deliver the orders in time. But company-a offers a generous cashback for customers, and company-b does not! What will you choose? We bet that your choice will be company-a. It is a simple logic that when we have two similar options to select from, we’ll opt for the one that offers additional bounties for clients. The best football betting sites flaunt many powerful tools for audience engagement: free bet offers, cashback, crypto bonus, perks for new customers, gifts, cash, etc. The strategy is understandable: to stimulate punters by giving them more than they expect.
Best football betting sites in 2020
We realize that each bettor has his preferences and goals when picking up football betting platforms. What has value for one gambler may seem non-essential for another. Starters usually search for sportsbooks with a juicy welcome bonus and free bets. More skilled punters monitor valuable football odds to find the best solutions on the market. Some gamblers bet purely on a winning team or a top scorer, while other football punters build multi-level strategies to beat a bookie’s forecast and hit the jackpot even at the seem-to-be modest odds.
When betting on football, consider your personal expectations, i.e., decide what is important primarily for you in football wagers. Eminent online betting sites (licensed and operating according to the gambling laws) always tend to propose more to loyal customers than their competitors. It’s the only way to preserve a leading status. On their sites, punters can learn useful betting tips by experts, check the latest football betting stats, and receive early betting lines to wager mindfully.
Frontrunners in the niche can boast of the top-notch live betting functions and large-scale markets for different football events, including the iconic Super Bowl, Champions League, La Liga, and many others. Finally, world-recognized football betting companies are remarkable for their regular bonus promotions for loyal customers and adaptable payment methods, including credit cards, e-wallets, and crypto. A reputable bookmaker is not the one that takes a bettor’s deposit at lightning speed, but delays payouts for eternity. All these factors helped us rank the football betting sites to detect the real stars from cheap replica.
Upscale sites for football betting:
- William Hill
- Bovada
- 1XBet
- Betway Sports
- Paddy Power
- bet365
- 888sport
- Unibet
- Ladbrokes
- Betfair
Overview of football bets for valuable wagering
Sports bets diversity makes punters prefer one sport over another. As for football betting options, gamblers receive a cornucopia of bets types that none other sporting events have. To discover what bets types are best for starters and pro-bettors, we prepared a short guide-introduction:
Prop bets
Prop or proposition bets are beloved among more skillful bettors because they can bid on diverse outcomes within the same match. Punter can forecast a first player to score, or they can bid on the number of touchdowns or predict a top goalscorer by the match’s total results. What gamblers love about prop bets is that it’s a funny and thrilling way to earn fair coin on wagers because there are plenty of cool things they can bet on amid the football game. However, experts advise to be careful with prop bets because some of them are less predictable and require a specific background and knowledge to forecast prosperous outcomes within the same event.
Moneylines
If you are a newbie in sports betting, moneylines bets are the best for a start. Your goal is to predict a team to win the game. No pitfalls, no complicated calculations! There are only two teams on the field, and you need to forecast which of them wins by the end of the confrontation. Sure, it will be useful to make at least little research to bet on the winning team, such as monitoring the previous statistics of each team’s losses or checking the rosters to know who plays in this particular match.
Spread bets
Spread bets are another favorite option among football betting fans. Ahead of a game, sportsbook operators release a spread featuring the number of points each team may score or lose. In such a manner, bookies tend to balance teams as there is always the favorite and underdog in each confrontation. Punters’ goal is to predict if a team covers the spread, i.e., they need to evaluate both teams’ chances and try to beat a bookie’s prediction.
Parlays
Experts don’t recommend rookies to start their path on a football betting site with parley bets. Parlays are also known as mixed or combo bets. Punters place several wagers at once, and the successful outcome depends on how many right guesses they make. In simple language, you shape one bet from several other mini-bets. The unbeaten advantage of parlays is that they allow gamblers to earn a good profit, but at the same time, a risk is too high. To succeed with a parley bet, you need to come up with a strong betting strategy that requires good technique and profound market analysis. Thus, parlays are more suitable for skilled bettors, who are 100% competent in football betting.
Over/Under bet
These bets work equally well for starters and high rollers. The goal of over/under bet (also known as totals) is to guess whether a final score is higher or lower than the total line (indicated number of goals). Similar to spread bets, over/under wagers require a mix of pre-game analysis and intuition. Totals are suitable for punters who don’t want to choose a frontrunner in a match, but are more engaged in the overall game run. With over/under bets, the main focus is on the total (summed-up) score of the event rather than on wagering on a favorite.
Futures
The bet names says for itself. Futures are bets placed ahead of an event. As a rule, bookmakers release betting lines in advance, especially on the eve of major events of the football league. For instance, some operators already accept wagers on the World Cup 2022. Futures are the proper choice for those who don’t want to hunt for the most lucrative offers, monitoring the bookie’s sites day and night. Future bets fit more relaxed bettors who enjoy gameplay first, and don’t bother themselves, hunting for creamy odds or free bets that bookmakers offer.
In-play bets
Unlike futures, in-play bets are the ones placed amid the ongoing event but not ahead of it. Live betting has made a colossal hype amid football fans because nothing can beat that thrill and anticipation when watching a game and wagering on it simultaneously. The advantage of in-play bets over futures is that a bettor follows the gameplay in real-time and adjusts his predictions as the game runs. Football is an unexpected sport, where injuries and roster changes are inevitable. Thus, with live betting solutions, you don’t need to address crystal-gazers to forecast a match outcome, but instead, you can adjust your prognosis underway.
Best sites by football leagues
Fans of any other sport may feel jealous of football fans because nothing can outshine football by the leagues’ range. The largest leagues for football wagering around the world are NFL, NCAA, XFL, and English Premier League. Traditionally, football betting platforms try to outrun each other by releasing early lines and offering teasing odds to the most demanded punters. The critical hallmark that identifies the best football betting sites from alternatives is the presence of more than one league to bet on in their offerings menu.
Eminent bookies realize that current bettors have particular preferences and try to feed their hunger by diversified content portfolio. For instance, leading sportsbook operators accept millions of Super Bowl wagers long before the championship start. No wonder, as it’s a kind of a season culmination, and each football fan wants to get his piece of the pie by placing a bet on one or several favorites. These football betting sites flaunt the most flawless in-play betting options along with robust free bet offers, cherry-pick odds, and prompt withdrawals for betting on major football leagues:
- Bovada
- Ladbrokes
- Betway Sports
Where you can legally wager on football
Despite the football’s tremendous popularity globally, some countries put a ban (fully or partially) on football betting online. European punters are the luckiest ones in this regard as they can enjoy all types of football wagers with less harsh restrictions than punters from African territories (except for South Africa and Kenya). Residents of most EU countries, including the UK, Italy, France, and others, can bet on football online with no fear of getting in trouble with cyber police. The paramount condition for European betting companies is to get a license from the authorized bodies that establish gambling regulations for each particular vicinity.
Asian bookmakers face more stringent restrictions from the regulating bodies than their European brothers. China is the region with probably the harshest attitude to betting providers. Thus, local bettors often lean to foreign operators and tend to place online wagers on global sites.
A similar situation was with American betting companies before 2018 until the Supreme Court made a fundamental decision to unban sports betting. US punters now can wager on football events both online and in brick-and-mortar gambling establishments. However, not all 50 states can boast of equal rules considering live betting and physical wagers. Thus, it will be a wise thing to monitor the legal statistics by state, as well as to make a license-check before picking up football betting sites. Talking about US bookmakers, most of them accept wagers on college football, which is super popular among American folk. College matches gather thousands of spectators nationwide, while the college teams’ players have excellent chances to continue their football careers in the eminent FCs.
How football betting changed in 2020
Tech progress and mobile innovations put their mark on the sports industry in general. There have been many mind-blowing things that football fans can take advantage of in 2020:
Live streaming
The dominant share of football betting sites flaunts HD live streaming broadcasts on their online channels. It’s rather convenient and time-saving for current punters to watch LIVE-streams and wager on games in one place. Such providers as Ladbrokes and Betway are notable for their top-notch game broadcasts in high resolution. Now bettors can watch a match, monitor stats, bid on teams, and even receive cashback on the sportsbook platforms from any part of the globe.
Mobile solutions
Punters of the 21c cannot imagine their existence without dozens of mobile apps living in their phones. Each reputable football betting site has its upscale mobile app that allows bettors to keep both ears open not to miss a bountiful offer. More than 80% of up-to-date gamblers confess that they prefer a handy app for mobile wagers to the desktop. Following the mobile revolution, we can now enjoy unbounded betting on international and domestic football games and flawless live streaming via smart and practical gadgets.
Virtual games
VR football has become colossally popular among bettors in 2020. Such a fantastic success of VR football games can be explained by the events shut-down caused by the COVID pandemic. Current bettors found a perfect alternative to traditional events in virtual games. VR matches last less than 10 minutes with no real people involved, meaning that you don’t have to wait days to bet on a match and earn quick cash. Another breakthrough in the sports wagering is fantasy football, where anyone can become a virtual team’s boss and supervisor. Football betting sites that accept FF and VR wagers move with the times and deserve their leading positions in the expert rankings.
Crypto integration
First-class football betting sites tend to stay on the edge of innovative software technologies in 2020. Operators want to amaze new customers not only by the diversity of bets and leagues, but by the non-conservative approach to payment options. Some of the global sportsbooks already allow bettors to deposit and withdraw funds using their crypto wallets. Analysts note that next year, we’ll observe a rise of crypto tech, meaning that more and more operators will integrate BTC payment methods to their websites. The benefit of such integration for bettors is the anonymity of operations and the absence of annoying routine with banks and credit card companies.
Summing up
The first step to succeeding in football wagers is to set up your primary goal. What do you look for on a football betting site? Some seek for an opportunity to test their skills and intuition; others hunt for bountiful bonuses and creamy odds, third plan to earn a stable coin on football wagers. All these missions are possible if you choose the right sportsbooks ready to satisfy your demands and highest expectations.
Football wagering requires explicit skills and strategy. A rookie can’t grow to a professional bettor, relying purely on blind forecasts. Monitor the market, learn what bet types are suitable for newbies and gurus, read the betting stats, and compare bookmakers’ prognosis to know the most favorable place for valuable football wagers. When you bid on the best football betting sites with a solid reputation and unbeaten odds, you are already on a halfway to success.
