What is Live Betting & How Does it Work?

What is Live Betting & How Does it Work?

What is Live Soccer Betting?

The basic concept of live soccer betting is very simple. In many ways it’s the same as betting in the traditional way. You choose a selection, put your money down and then get paid out at the appropriate odds if you win. However, traditional betting involves placing wagers prior to games kicking off. Live soccer betting is a little different.

Live soccer betting is placing wagers on soccer games AFTER they have started.

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That’s the fundamental difference between the two forms of betting. With one you place wagers in advance of a game. With the other you place wagers while a game is actually being played. This creates a ton of additional betting opportunities.

Most online bookmakers offer live soccer betting markets for the vast majority of professional games: even games in obscure leagues and competitions. There tends to be a greater range of wagering options for the more popular leagues though. For example, here’s a screenshot of the markets available online for a Premier League game.

A screenshot of some live soccer betting markets available online.

As you can see, there are a plethora of different kinds of bets to choose from. Pretty much all of the main types of soccer wager are covered here.

Each of the headings on the bottom half of the screen can be expanded to show the available selections. So you could expand “Next Player to Score Goal” for example, and see the following.

A screenshot of the next player to score live betting market.

You’ll see that, just like a normal betting screen, there are odds displayed next to each of the available selections. What’s different here is that these odds are constantly adjusted by the betting sites, according to what’s happening on the field of play. They’ll have at least one person watching the game and making these adjustments based on their assessment of what’s likely to happen next.

Please note that live betting markets sometimes get suspended throughout the duration of the game. This typically happens following a major incident such as a goal or a send off. Incidents such as these will affect virtually all of the markets, so they’re basically shut down for a few seconds to allow time to make all the necessary adjustments.

That’s essentially everything that you need to know to start betting in-play on soccer games. It’s all pretty straightforward really.

What are Live Betting Advantages and Disadvantages?

In-game betting has revolutionized the way online sportsbooks work, making it among the most popular betting options. You can use your expertise to get an edge over the bookmaker. Plus, the live betting odds change in real time, giving you a chance to win money before the game has ended.

There are four primary advantages that are particularly worth mentioning. These are as follows.

  • Additional chances to bet

  • Wider selection of betting options

  • More information to work with

  • Greater chance of finding value

Let’s explore these advantages in detail.

Additional chances to bet

The first advantage is a blatantly obvious one. Being able to wager on games while they’re being played clearly creates new opportunities for having a bet. This is a good thing as you want as many opportunities to choose from as possible. The more betting opportunities that exist, the easier it becomes to identify good opportunities.

We should point out that this is NOT an excuse to go wild and start placing a ton of wagers for the sake of it. It’s still important to be selective. We expand on this point later in next article.

Wider selection of betting options

As well as creating additional opportunities to bet, live soccer betting also offers a much wider range of betting options. There are certain wagers that are simply not possible when betting before a game starts, but that work just fine when betting in-play. Here are some examples.

  • Next team to score

  • Next player to score

  • Time of next goal

A lot of the extra wagers that can be placed in-play are a bit “gimmicky,” and primarily targeted at those who bet for fun. If your goal is to make money, these should probably be avoided. Don’t get us wrong though; they can definitely be profitable with the right approach. Take the next team to score wager, for example. If you’re paying close attention to game, it’s not unreasonable to think that you can make a measured judgement about which of the teams is likely to score next.

So these extra betting options are well worth exploring. Some of them will take a little getting used to, but none of them are especially complicated.

More information to work with

More information is always a good thing when betting on soccer: or any sport for that manner. The more information you have at your disposal, the easier it is to make informed judgements. And when you’re betting in-play, you have a ton of extra information available to you.

You get to see how the players are performing individually, and how they’re performing collectively as a team. You get some insight into how they’re approaching the games, and what sort of style they’re implementing. All of this is very useful when it comes to making betting decisions, and it’s all readily accessible too. You can listen to games on the radio, watch them on the TV or even read live updates on the internet.

Greater chance of finding value

The fourth advantage we’re mentioning here is basically a combination of the three advantages already discussed. Each one of them contributes to the fact that live soccer betting offers a greater chance of finding value than the traditional method of betting before games start. Seeing as though finding value should be the ultimate goal for any bettor, this is clearly the most significant advantage of all.

Now, this doesn’t mean live soccer betting is only for the serious bettor. It’s a great option for the recreational bettor too. We’ve already mentioned how exciting it is, and this is enough reason alone to give it a go. But there are even more reasons for live soccer betting if your goal is to make money.

Of course, you also need to know what you’re doing. That’s exactly why the We expand on this point later in next article of this page is dedicated to providing strategy tips and advice that should help you approach live soccer betting in the right way.

A short answer here is there are solid advantages and just a few disadvantages. On the negative side, live betting can be addictive and that can lead to players spending extra cash and time at a sportsbook. It can also be costly if you go on a losing streak during any particular match.