The limitless possibilities of in-play betting markets offered by bookies is a way to make some serious dough.
If you are like us, you find football fun and you also like the prospect of making money from the football betting market.
Here is a cold fact- statistically speaking, the football betting markets that offers the best odds are none other than In-Play bets. This is because punters and traders don’t have time to set their stakes and prices based on days or weeks of research, like they do with pre-match markets.
In this post, we will take a look at:
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You see, the world has gone digital, football bettors have gone digital too, its only right for bookmakers to meet them where they are. Bookies are aware of this and with the advancement in technology, in play betting, which is sometimes known as “live betting” now accounts for a significant amount of bets placed daily.
Consider this post as The ultimate guide to In-Play football betting.
We will be covering everything from In play betting strategies, what in-play markets are available for football matches, how in-play bets work and how to play and make more money from in-play betting
So, there are two types of bets that can be placed on a football match.
They are – Pre-match bets and In-Play bets.
Just like the name suggests, pre-match bets are the bets you place before the match starts. For example, I am writing this post on the 5th of April 2021, and there is a match by 8pm between Barcelona Vs Real Valladolid. 
Now, on Bet356.com, I can place stakes on different markets and outcomes for the match above even before it starts.
The bookmakers create these odds based on numerous statistics and reasons, one of the biggest influence on the odds is the team at play and their recent form. Barcelona is 3rd on the table and have won their last 5 games and they are playing against a team that is 16th on the table that has only won 1 out of their last 5 games.
So, its obvious that Barca is a huge favourite for this game. This is clear from the odds. So, punters around the world will place bet on this match before it starts. This is Pre-match betting.
In-play betting on the other hand is the opposite. In-Play betting or “live betting” involves placing bets on live matches as they are happening.
These bets are placed based on what has happened in the match, what is happening or what they believe will happen, based on how the match is unveiling.
As the game progresses, the likelihood of these outcomes can increase or decrease, so in-play betting comes with rapidly-changing odds. Here is a screenshot of the Barca match now at Half time.
As you can see in the above match between Barcelona Vs Real Valladolid.
The match is now live and the odds has changed drastically and In-play bettors can see better ROI in certain markets compared to them placing those bets pre-match.
For example, the pre-match odds for Barca to Win was 1.11 and now at half time with no goal scored, the odd is now 1.36. The Over 2.5 Goals pre-match odds was 1.36, at half time with no goals, its now 2.62.
As you can see, the odds for in-play matches changes drastically based on events happening in the match. What this means is that if the Home team scores a goal, the odds for that team winning will drop, and the odds for the away team will increase, also, the odds for any Over / Under Goals markets will either go up or drop.
Another reason that odds can change is because of the live actions and events in the game.
For example, if a team is conceiving a lot of corners and has a lot of shots on target, the odds of them winning might drop because the bookies’ algorithm sees their dangerous attacks as a sign of them scoring goals soon. Also, most bookies and betting exchanges temporarily suspend in-play markets at certain times in a game.
The most common scenario in which this happens is during a penalty. If a team is currently taking a penalty, then the Match Odds and Over/Under markets will be paused until the penalty has been taken.
For In-play punters, live game stats are very important. These stats helps you understand what is happening in a live match if you are not watching it live on TV.
Most bookies offer the feature for you to watch some live games and some offer the feature where you can see real time events as they occur in a match. (Be careful with this though, some live match stats might be delayed on some bookie website., Bet365 is very accurate from personal experience.)
A dangerous attack is an attack from an opponent in a live match where there is a real threat of a goal being scored. The penalty area is where almost all goals are scored, so when the attacking team comes into penalty area with the ball, such an attack can be deemed a “dangerous attack”. The more often a team attacks in this area during a match, it will have a greater chance of scoring a goal.
The more a team shoots shots, the more chances of them scoring right? The total shots in a live match accounts for the shots taken by a team but there are different types of shots and each type says a lot.
Footy Amigo for example provides live match stats such as “On Goal”, “Off Goal”, “Shots Blocked” , “Shots Inside Box” and “Shots Outside Box” Even though all these are shots occurs in a match, you can easily see which one is of higher threat.
Shots On Goal (a.k.a Shots on Target) is a clear attempt to score that would have gone into the net but for being saved by the goalkeeper or is stopped by a player who is the last-man with the goalkeeper having no chance of preventing the goal (last line block).
If you are betting on the corner market; the live corner stats is a stat that might interest you. Corner kicks are fairly straightforward. As the match goes on, teams conceive corners on each others half of the field.
The corners can be for a team or against the team and there is a total corner tally for both of them.
As players collect cards such as yellow, 2nd yellow or red card, these might say something about how the game is going and how aggressive either team is playing. A red card for example gives the opposite team a huge advantage.
Goals are what makes football matches interesting! Goals can change the outcome of a match. Knowing when goals are scored in-play helps an in-play bettor make smarter decisions.
In order to be a successful In-play punter, you need to have a strategy. As you have seen from this post, in-play betting requires special type of skill compared to pre-match betting.
You have to be quick, on your toes and ready to take action before a market is closed, before the odd drops or even before the odds are increased. Before placing In-Play bets, paying attention to a brief 15-20 minutes can be very helpful, making mental notes of what’s happening in the game.
This might include which team are looking the most dominant, having the most dangerous attacks, shots on target and the players that are looking the most likely to score.
It is also sensible to watch or play close attention to the in-play markets and the changing odds to understand how the online betting traders react to different events on the pitch.
Using the Barca match for example, even though Barca only managed to score 1 goal at the 90th minute, it was kind of obvious that they would score a goal if you compare the shots on target and dangerous attacks they had against Real Valladolid.
So, I personally make use of this strategy a lot and it can be very profitable.
What you are basically doing is betting in the “Over” or “Under” goals market, this can be over/under 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5 or whatever but you place this bet in-play based on some key events in the match. A key event for betting the goals market is the Shots on Target.
So, the first thing to do is to decide if you want to play the Over or Under Market. Once you’ve done that, for the Over goals market, you will place Over goals bets based on high shots on target in the match.
Example: If the time of the match is still early (lets say less than 25 minutes) and there are over 4 shots on target by one team, this tells me that I can come into the game and place a stake in the Over goals market because the team is showing clear signs of scoring soon.
(I can even increase my confidence by looking at some of their pre-match stats, I might check their Points Per Game (PPG) or Average Goals per game)
What is the thinking behind this strategy? Its simple – Goals can only be scored when there are shots on target and a team is pressing hard.
For the Under goals market, you will do the same thing but instead of betting based on high shots on target, you will do the opposite. You will place an Under goals bet when you can clearly see there aren’t a lot of shots on target in that match.
Example: If the time of the match is still early (let’s say less than 30 minutes) and there are less than 1 shots on target, this tells me that I can come into the game and place a stake in the Under goals market because the teams are showing clear signs of a low scoring match.
(Don’t forget, even though you can use the above strategy on its own, you can boost your confidence by paying attention to previous teams stats to see if these teams usually score the bulk of their goals within 60-80 minutes for example)
There you have it, instead of betting in-play just based on the number of goals scored, you can use the “Shots on Target” metric as an added layer of confidence.
If you’re quick with your wits, your edge will become extremely profitable.
This strategy is fairly straight-forward and can be a profitable system but a lot of punters might not be aware of it because data such as “Shots on Target” or “Dangerous Attacks” are not readily available and even if they are, its hard work having to scout through the 10s and 100s of live matches to find games that meets those criterias.
Let me just get this out the way from the beginning, in order to be successful at In-Play bets, you need to 2 things:
That’s it. We can end the blogpost now. Really, it comes down to those 2 things. As you know by now, In-play betting odds are quick to change based on live actions and events occurring in the match, this means for you to make profit and find value, you also need to be quick with your stakes.
This is where the problem lies.
How can you place smart bets when you don’t have the right data in front of you and the only thing you have in front of you is the live matches on your bookie’s website or app? The mere fact of spending time on your bookie’s live match page alone is enough to push you to make bets that are not smart.
Have you ever just placed bets on a live match just because of the urge to? I sure have and this has made me loose a lot of games.
This is where “In-Play Stats” comes into play. What if you could have an in play football scanner that sends you in play betting alerts only when certain conditions are met in that match?
Would this make you place smarter bets?
In the in-play betting strategy I gave above, I talked about placing an Over goals bet when a team has certain amount of shots on target, but checking the shots on targets of 10s and 100s of live matches is not an easy task, it’s hard work and its prone to human error.
So, what if you could get live football shot on target stats? Say for example, you get a text or an alert when there is a Live match where the shots on target at 25mins game play is more than 5 and there is zero (0) goals scored.
This way you only log into your bookie’s app to place bets. You do not need to spend time looking at any data or stats whatsoever, you just decide what market you want to place a stake on. In this case, an Over goals market would be a practical one because of the events that has happened in that match and the current score.
This is where Footy Amigo comes into the play.
Let’s face it, you are only human.
You can’t spend all day looking for matches, but Footy Amigo can and we scan 1000s of in play football games around the globe as they happen and then send matches that fits your criteria and conditions directly to you, this way – you save hours and do not ever overlook any match or league!
Heck you can even get in play dangerous attacks alerts and use that information to place smart bets.
You can tell Footy Amigo to send you alerts when there is an In-play match that fits certain conditions and criterias.
Hint: When there are lots of shot on target in a match in the first half, this usually means that the match will most likely have goals in the second half
So, a smart punter can use such alert information to place bets in the Goals market whilst the match is in-play.
Hint: When there are low corners and low shots on target at half time, this usually indicates a potentially low scoring game!
A smart punter can use such information to place bets in the Corner or Goals market whilst in-play.
These are just quick Alert examples that can be created and used along side your in-play football betting strategy.
You have full control to create as many conditions and criterias as you want and Footy Amigo will scan hundreds and thousands of matches being played across the world at any given time and then send you alerts when matches meets your criterias.
This way you will never miss any opportunity and You will save a lot of time and brain power.
PS: We also have some high quality winning pre-set in-play betting template alerts you will be able to import into your account for free.
In-Play betting can be very lucrative if done right, with the right strategy and if you have the right stats at your finger tip.
We hope you’ve been able to learn something from this post and enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed putting it together.
Footy Amigo is currently being developed and we plan to make this accessible to millions of punters around the world so they can place smart bets and win more.
Let us know your in-play betting strategies in the comments or your in-play betting experiences.
You can read more about Footy Amigo here
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