Betting Soccer at Online Sportsbooks

Soccer would be considered a secondary betting sport in the US as compared to American football, basketball, baseball and hockey. However, on a global basis, this is one of the biggest betting sports in the world.

The sheer amount of leagues in a number of different countries make soccer (or international football) a year-round betting opportunity at online sportsbooks such as Vice. There are three primary ways to bet on any soccer match as follows:

• Moneylines
• Goal Line
• Total Line

Most online books will also post soccer futures for specific leagues such as the English Premier League. They will also post betting props for major events such as the World Cup.

Soccer Moneylines

The primary soccer bet on any match is with the use of moneyline odds. Regular league matches utilize a three-way moneyline. This lets you bet on the favorite, the underdog or a draw (tie).

A typical three-way moneyline for an English Premier League match would be presented as follows:

Manchester City +120

Liverpool            + 220

Draw                  + 230

The draw option in close matches, such as this one, is the reason why there is plus money for all three betting options.

Manchester City is the road team since it is listed first. It is also the favorite with the lower moneyline. A $100 bet it wins this match would return $120 as designated by the plus (+) sign in front of the odds. If these same odds had a minus (-) sign listed first, you would have to risk $120 to win $100.

Liverpool is a home underdog. You could earn $220 on a $100 bet if it would pull off the upset. Betting the draw option would return $230 on that same $100 bet.

When it comes to single elimination tournament play, online books will use a traditional two-way moneyline for betting on the favorite or underdog. Using the same matchup without the draw, Manchester City would be a -120 favorite and Liverpool would be an even money +100 underdog.

Soccer Goal Line

Soccer’s version of a pointspread would be the goal line. This is very similar to the puck line in hockey. All hockey spreads are set at 1 ½ goals with an adjusted moneyline. Soccer uses a spread that can range from a ½ goal in tight matches up to two or three goals when the gap between the favorite and underdog is much wider. The moneyline is adjusted accordingly to reflect the posted spread.

For example, betting Manchester United (-1) against Brighton would return $105 on a $100 if its wins by two goals. You would have to bet $125 to win $100 on Brighton (+1).

Soccer Total Line

The third way to bet on a soccer match is the OVER/UNDER on total combined goals scored. Since overall scoring in normally low in this sport, most total lines are set between two and three goals.

Going back to our first example, the total line for this match would be listed as follows:

Manchester City    OVER 2 ½        -130

Liverpool               UNDER 2 ½      +110

As a unique twist, the online books will add moneyline odds to the total bet as well. In this scenario, you would have to bet $130 to win $100 betting the OVER on 2 ½ goals. The return on $100 betting UNDER that same total would be $110.