Over/Under Goals Betting

21 June 2019

One of the most popular markets in sports betting is the Over/Under market, also known as the totals market in some American sports.

Over/Under Goals Betting Explained

The Over/Under betting market is where the bookmaker sets a certain amount of goals or points for a sporting event, such as 2.5 goals in a football match or 22.5 games in a tennis match. The punter then bets on whether the final outcome will be over or under this amount at pre-set odds.

Over Under Goals Betting

For example, a match in the Women’s World Cup had decimal odds of:

Over 2.5 Goals – 1.67
Under 2.5 Goals – 2.1

This means that if the bettor places a bet of 100 on over 2.5 goals they would win 167, a total profit of 67, if the match ends with three or more goals. If there are two or under, the bet would lose.

If the punter bets 100 on under 2.5 goals, they would win 210, profit of 110, if there are two goals or fewer. The bet would lose if there are three or more goals.

Some over/under or totals market may give you a whole number, for example 2. This means that if there are exactly two goals in the match, there is a push and the bettor will receive their stake money back as no money can be won or lost as there was neither over or under the amount set by the bookmaker.

Alternative Set Amount

Most bookmakers, especially actual betting shops, will have a certain set total for all of their over/under betting. This is likely to be 2.5 goals in football, for instance. But, pretty much all online bookmakers will offer alternative markets with differing odds to reflect the chances of there being over or under that amount.

How to bet on Over Under Goals

Using the above example, with odds of 1.67 for over 2.5 goals and 2.1 for under 2.5 goals, we can look at alternative set totals and see how the odds differ.

• Over 1.5 Goals – 1.2
• Under 1.5 Goals – 4.33
• Over 3.5 Goals – 2.63
• Under 3.5 Goals – 1.44

As you can see, the odds of there being one or fewer goals in this match are quite generous with a total win of 433 for a 100 stake. But, you would only win 144 for a 100 stake if you bet on there being under 3.5 goals.

Alternative Over/Under Goals Markets

Most people will assume over/under betting is just for the number of goals or points at the end of a game, but there are several different markets on offer which punters can bet on.

With the rise in popularity of over/under betting, bookmakers now take bets on half time goals over/under, each team number of goals/points, first quarter points in basketball, first set number of games in tennis, over/under the number of points per frame in a snooker match.

The markets are seemingly endless and offer punters with a fantastic opportunity to make a profit without having to predict who will win a sporting event.

It also allows punters the chance of their bet staying alive until the end of a match, if they bet on full time over/under markets. If betting on a team to win, your bet could be pretty much over if that team ends up trailing early on in a match. But, it doesn’t matter with over/under betting because who wins isn’t important. Just how many goals or points are scored.

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