How to Bet on Soccer: Complete Betting Guide for 2022

The Inquirer’s soccer betting expert is here to teach you exactly how to bet on soccer when wagering on soccer games online in the U.S. in 2022.

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There are a whole number of huge soccer events still yet to take place in the 2022-23 season, including the likes of the World Cup, Champions League knockouts and Premier League final day.

Ahead of the the remainder of the season taking place between now and May, these are the biggest events taking place this season going forward:

Soccer fans will get to experience the pinnacle of the sport this week with the World Cup Final taking place on Dec. 18 between France and Argentina.

France are given the slightest edge in the odds race in comparison to Argentina according to the major USA sportsbooks. But both teams are relatively evenly matched, making it a must-watch game.

The most intriguing storyline will be the individual matchup between Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe. Messi and Mbappe have five goals each this tournament, but Messi has tallied one more assist. The Golden Boot award is completely up for grabs, with both players looking to put out their best efforts in an attempt to win it Sunday.

Elsewise, Morocco and Croatia will duke it out on Dec. 17 int he third place game, a game that goes under the radar in comparison to the rest of the tournament. Nonetheless, it should be an exciting game between two teams nobody expected to make it as deep into the World Cup as they did.

Odds for soccer markets are displayed in the form of a number, with the lowest number the odds of any market being +100.

This number will always have either a positive (+) or negative (-) sign beside it, with these symbols being used to decipher which option is the favorites for each market, and which is the underdog.

The underdog option for a market will be accompanied by a positive sign, with the number itself showing how likely it is for this to occur, with the bigger the number, the less likely it’ll happen.

This also goes for favorites, with the odds then being accompanied by a negative sign, with a higher number implying how likely it is to occur.

The odds themselves will inform bettors how much they will win if the bet is successful.

If the odds have a negative sign beside them, this tells bettors how much they need to bet in order to make a $100 profit.

For example, if USA are -200 to beat England at the World Cup, this means you’ll need to bet $200 in order to make a profit of $100.

If the odds have a positive sign beside them, this shows how much you’ll win for every $100 you wager.

For example, if Brazil are +300 to beat Argentina, this means that you will make $300 profit on this bet if you wager $100 and Brazil go on to win, with you making $300 profit for every $100 you bet on them.

There are a whole range of markets you’ll need to understand in order to successfully bet on soccer going forward, with the likes of moneyline, handicap, totals, goalscorer and game prop markets just some of the options offered.

We’ve gone though all of the most common markets and offered explanations and analysis as to what they mean and how you can wager on them.

Moneyline markets are without a doubt the easiest markets to understand and bet on when wagering on soccer games.

You are simply betting on the result of the match when wagering on the moneyline, with you being able to bet on whether either team will win, or whether the game will be a draw.

It doesn’t matter how many goals are scored or what the scoreline finishes, with you just needing to correctly guess the outcome of the match to win your bet.

The result of your bet will be determined by the result of the game after regulation time, with this being 90 minutes.

This market is very simple and proves to be one of the most popular markets around, with the betting looking something along the lines of this:

Here, if you’ve bet on the USA to win, you’ll make $170 profit for every $100 wagered, with you just needing the US to win during regulation time for your bet to win.

For certain fixtures, such as the knockout stages of the World Cup or Champions League, there will be variations of the moneyline market offered.

You will be able to bet on the team that advances to the next round, with you just having two options to bet on, with this coming in the form of either team.

These markets will often be labelled as ‘To Qualify’ or ‘To Advance’ markets, with the betting looking something like this:

With this market, you just need to correct bet on the team that advances to the next round to win your bet.

Handicap markets, otherwise known as the ‘Spread’, is another easy market to understand, with these being used to even out the playing field between the favorite and the underdog.

The favorite for each game will start the match a certain number of goals down, with the underdog being a certain number of goals up.

For the favorite to win, they must be the game by more goals than their handicap, with the underdog winning if they avoid losing by more than their handicap, or if they just win the match altogether.

The market for soccer handicap betting will look something like this:

In this instance, if you’ve bet on Spain, you will need them to win by more than one goal for your bet to come in, with those betting on Argentina needing them to either win or draw the game.

If you’ve bet on Spain with a -1 handicap and they win the game by one goal exactly, your bet will lose, with a bet on Argentina also losing if they lose the game by exactly one goal.

There are other versions of handicap betting, such as the ‘Asian Handicap’, with the market for this looking something like this:

Here, a bet on Spain will win if they win the game by two or more goal, with a bet on Argentina winning as long as they win, draw or lose by just one goal.

Similarly to the two previously mentioned markets, totals markets are easy to grasp. Here, you are simply betting on the amount of goals you think will be scored in the match.

You will be given a predetermined line by your sportsbook, with you then betting on whether you think the total amount of goals scored in the game will be over or under this line.

An example of a totals market for a soccer game will came across like:

If you’ve bet on the Under here, your wager will win if two or less goals are scored, whilst a bet on the Over will win if three or more goals are scored.

You will also be able to bet on the amount of goals each team scores in the game, with the market looking like:

Much like with the normal totals market, you are wagering on whether you think the France will score two goals or less, with your bet winning if you wager on the correct market.

Prop markets are some of the most popular markets to bet on when it comes to wagering on soccer matches, with these letting you bet on a different element of matches besides the final result or the number of goals scored.

Both game and player props fall under ‘Prop’ markets, with a wide number of options available for both of these types of markets on all major soccer matches.

Player prop markets allow you to focus on specific players when wagering on soccer matches, with the likes of ‘first goalscorer’, ‘last goalscorer’ and ‘player shots on target’ just some of the options available.

When betting on soccer player props, these are some of the options that’ll be available with all the best sportsbooks:

Game prop markets are similar to player props, with game props seeing you bet on specific events regarding the game as a whole, rather than focusing on certain players.

All of the best soccer sportsbooks will offer a range of player props for you to bet on, with these some of the markets that should be on offer:

Parlay markets are only slightly more complicated than regular markets, however it must be said that they are still somewhat easy to get your head around.

In short, parlay bets allows you to combine a number of different picks together to form one bigger bet with larger odds.

For regular parlay bets, you will be able to include picks from multiple different games. with some sportsbooks offering pre-selected parlay bets, with you also being to make your own with the best betting sites.

In terms of parlay bets, this is what an example may look like:

Here, you will need all of France, Germany and Argentina to win their respective matches, with you winning your bet should this end up being the case.

You’ll also be able to make ‘same-game parlay’ bets, with this seeing you include a number of picks from the same match to make up a larger, higher odds bet:

Regular and same-game parlays are both an excellent way to wager on soccer, allowing you to add a level of creativity to your wagers when betting on soccer.

Live betting, sometimes also referred to as in-play betting, implies placing bets on games that are currently taking place, with the range of markets on offer proving to be fairly different in comparison to the options offered before the game.

You can bet all throughout the game up until the very, with the odds and markets available reflecting how the game is playing out.

All of the best sportsbooks will offer live stats regarding the match itself, ones you’ll be able to use when placing your live bets.

Futures markets are excellent for those looking to place long-term bets, with these markets available covering events that take place in the mid-to-long-term future.

Futures wagers allow you to bet on events taking place far in the future, with this allowing you to focus on short term bets in the meantime.

All markets will be available before the season/tournament starts, however most markets will continue to be available as they progress.

These are some of the soccer futures markets you’ll be able to bet on:

There will also be futures markets available that revolve around specific players, with these the markets that’ll be offered between all good sportsbooks:

Placing a bet on an soccer game online is very simply, with you needing to follow a few steps in order to get your betting started:

There are 23 different states in which you’re legally allowed to wager on socer games online, with there being 32 total states that allow legal soccer betting in some capacity, with these the states in question:

Yes. As long as online sports betting is legal in your state, you’ll be able to bet on soccer online as long as you’re wagering with a legal, licensed sportsbook.

It’s always important to check whether you can legally bet on soccer online in your respective state, with yuo also needing to be at least 21 years of age to place any bets and collect your winnings.

Absolutely. There are wide range of soccer markets for you to wager on, all of which can prove to be very profitable when wagering on them.

It’s vital you do your research before placing any bets, as well as assess which markets are available at your given sportsbook, with this giving you the best chance possible to turn a profit on your soccer wagers.

There are a whole host of top sportsbook to choose from when deciding which site you use for your soccer bets.

The likes of BetMGM, FanDuel and Caesars are some of the outright best betting sites to use for soccer betting.

It’s always worth signing-up with multiple sites when wagering on soccer online, as this not only allows you to ensure you’re not missing out on any markets, but also allows you to take advantage of their welcome offers.

Three-way bets are almost exclusive to soccer, with you only being able to bet on a three-way market with a handful of other sports.

In short, teams can tie games in soccer, with this meaning that game either ends in a draw and both teams get one point each (league games only), or penalties are used to decide the winner (knockout competitions only).

Here, you can bet on either team to win, or the game to end as a tie, with this being the most common form of market when wagering on the moneyline, with your bet winning if you wager on the correct outcome.

Depending on your sportsbook, you will be able to wager on a whole host of soccer markets when placing your bets, with the likes of moneyline, handicap (spread) and totals all available.

In addition to this, you’ll also be able to bet on futures markets, player/game prop markets and live betting markets, with the number of markets available for each of these depending on the sportsbook you’re with.

The Inquirer is not an online gambling operator, or a gambling site. We provide this information about sports betting for entertainment purposes only.