How To Bet on Football and Win – 12 Tips and Strategies

  • Post last modified:March 26, 2023

You can find many guides about football betting strategies teaching you how to win football bets, and many of these are sharing useless information. This article with a list of 12 tips and tricks for football betting includes at least six strategies that I used personally.

How to win at football betting?

I’ve been betting on football and many other sports since 2013. The one and most important thing I want to share with every one of my readers is to stop following the crowd. 

The bookies are thriving in their massive profits. So, no matter what most bettors do, if you want to win in football, betting by doing the complete opposite might be the best choice.

This article is the only source you will need to find out how to win bets every day. Just make sure to read all of the strategies I mention below.

12 Tips and Strategies to win in football betting

1. Follow only trustworthy tipsters

Beginning the list with this advice might seem trivial. But choosing the best tipster sites will have a significant impact on your results. Many bettors follow fake betting gurus and tipsters on various social media platforms. 

I was surprised when I figured out how easy it is to manipulate a bookmaker’s betting history or photoshop a bet slip. Still, many newbies can be scammed by these simple tactics.

best football tipster tipstrr

These days the only natural way of winning on football bets with the help of tipsters is by using trustworthy tipster platforms. I mean websites like Tipstrr, which proved their importance in this industry.

Tipsters to follow to win in football betting

They offer a place for every professional betting expert to share their knowledge. Based on my experience and research about sites that predict matches correctly, they are the best because every prediction and pick they offer is saved in a betting history that the tipster cannot manipulate. So, if they are profitable in the long run, the track of their bets will mirror it.

best tipster site service

On Tipstrr you can find many Free and the best paid tipster services too. Some of them are very successful, realizing profits of over 15000 euros with stakes of 10 euros. But it would help if you were cautious because many of them had a big success only in the past 1-2 months. 

You can also check my Tipstrr Review.

2. Use a detailed football statistics database

The bookies have their football statistics databases, and they are calculating and generating football odds based on these statistics.

Why would you miss the opportunity to use similar databases for your strategy? Making money by betting on football is not an easy task, and without the right tools, it’s almost impossible.

I tried three different strategies at good Asian handicap bookies and I noticed that most of them are offering too high corner odds.

In most cases, the bookies are not taking every stat and change into consideration. Just by watching a match, I noticed many cases like dangerous free-kicks that ended up in corners. With the right bookie and statistic tool, you can forecast the real value of odds.

Back in 2019, I found a website with a detailed football statistics database. PlayThePercentage is analyzing data from tens of thousands of football matches each year. They are statistics and predictions based only on mathematics and statistical probability. 

The data they provide will not include any personal opinion, only pure data. Based on my experience, this way of getting data for your football bets will consistently outperform the average tipsters.

Your task is to find matches with a long enough history in their tools (more than 9-10 matches in the current season).

play the percentage football betting strategy

After subscribing to their service, you will get access to their betting strategy, which:

  • has generated 18 thousand Pounds sterling profits in 8 months
  • based on 4000 bets
  • it’s based on statistics from their site
  • proved with a complete history in an excel file – matches + stakes)

On their private Telegram group, they post the potential matches and target odds daily.

Check my detailed review of PlayThePercentage and one of their biggest competitor -> football betting database.

A very similar tool is ZCodeSystem. They have a different and advanced way of approach to statistical sports betting. They also get data from each football betting event.

zcode system betting software

The system at Zcode System is capable of backtesting your football betting strategy. It will check if your football betting strategy for first-half corners, goals, etc. would be profitable in the long run. This test is based on tens of thousands of matches and odds.

ZCodeSystem is also offering in-play signals based on your pre-selected filters. You can get notified about matches that have many corners, many goals, many dangerous attacks, etc.

3. Use matched betting for bonus offers

The best tip for betting on football I can give is to take advantage of free bets and even bitcoin betting bonus offers. I’m surprised that so few bettors are taking advantage of this free money. Every bonus you don’t withdraw is free money left on the table.

The bookies are offering these with bad intentions, and they are not giving gifts when offering them but keeping you active in losing money.

Matched betting is the surest strategy for winning your football bets.

oddsmonkey matched betting win on football banner

It requires a few simple steps only:

  • Find a betting market where the bookie is offering overpriced odds
  • Place your first bet on that outcome
  • Cover/hedge the other outcome at another bookmaker (most of the time at betting exchanges like Betfair)

You can complete the rollover requirement with these simple steps without risking losing your money and the bonus itself.

Finding these betting opportunities and choosing the right stakes and odds is not as simple as it sounds here. Matched betting services like OddsMonkey offer a complete guide for this.

Don’t know how to win at football betting with matched betting?

Most matched betting software is taking care of:

  • Scanning the bookies for overpriced markets
  • Forwarding you to the bet slip with one click (to exchanges)
  • Offering Stake Calculators
  • In-depth guide about matched betting and their services
  • Free trial – that will allow you to earn more than a one-month subscription for their tools

There are no easier bets to win money on football than with matched betting. 

Take a look at my: OddsMonkey Review for more info.

best tipster site service

Hot topic: more and more bookies are getting launched in the USA & Canada with great bonus offers. Check my articles about matched betting in the USA and matched betting in Canada and start profiting from these bonus offers.

4. Arbitrage betting for a guaranteed win on football bets

Arbitrage betting is the second strategy that allows you to always win on your football bets. It is very similar to matched betting. 

Finding sure bets on football requires the following factors:

  • There has to be a big enough odds difference between bookmakers
  • In most cases, you need to use an arbitrage bet finder: free or paid – it depends on your goals
  • Calculate the proper stakes
  • Place a bet on both outcomes so that you can generate a guaranteed profit
arbitrage betting software

Arbitrage betting in the USA got easier with the help of OddsJam. At the moment they are the most affordable odds comparison site for US & Canada.

This football betting strategy has been working since there was more than one bookmaker. It’s almost impossible for them to offer the same accurate odds as every competitor.

Smart bettors have been using these easy bets to win money on football for many years. I started arbitrage betting back in 2013, and I was surprised by how easy it was to make a daily 30-40 euros with low stakes.

Successful football betting should be based on mathematical betting strategies or long years of experience to work correctly. 

You can read the following articles if you are interested:

5. Best football betting strategy: Value betting

I’ve been using many football betting systems, but value betting is the most profitable by far. If you are not covering every outcome of your bets, then winning on football is not easy. 

I don’t want to make this topic too long because I already have many articles about this strategy. 

oddsjam arbitrage betting software usa

Value betting is the most profitable proven football betting system for the following reasons:

  • You need to place bets where the bookies offered an overpriced outcome
  • By not covering the other outcome, you are taking a risk
  • When winning a bet, you are saving the bookmakers commission on the other outcome (by not hedging your bet)
  • Based on my betting history, value betting is 40%-50% more profitable in the long run than arbitrage betting
  • You can face winning and losing streaks too, but picking the correct odds every time will guarantee long-term profits

Finding value in football betting manually requires an experienced bettor. Fortunately for us bettors, there are many value betting software on the market. They scan the major bookies and compare their lines with sharp bookmakers (like Pinnacle). 

pinnacle sports arbitrage friendly bookmaker

These bookies can define the true probability of almost every outcome in football and other major sports. Comparing odds between softer, slower bookies and these sharp ones will show us the best markets to bet on.

my basketball value betting history
My value betting results on basketball: ~ three weeks of betting

If you are interested, you can learn more about value betting here:

Value betting guide

Value betting software

6. Betfair trading and scalping on football

Many intelligent bettors can figure out how to win in football with the previous strategies. But sooner or later, every smart bettor will face limitations and account closures. The majority of bookmakers don’t like winning players. Is it strange right? If you want to use your account, you need to lose your money.

Betfair traders or scalpers, on the other hand, have figured out how to use betting exchanges for guaranteed income from football bets.

Successful traders can forecast small odds movements by watching the match or knowing specific strategies. These platforms take a meager fee from the winning bets, so even the slightest odds-dropping can generate a small profit.

This way of winning in football is based on small profits that can add up in the long run. I have a dedicated article about Betfair trading and scalping. If you are interested, you can take a look at it.

7. Try courtside betting

Courtside betting is an unorthodox football betting strategy, and it is based on exploiting that you can get some information faster than the bookies. 

This strategy was famous for a long time when many bettors visited sports events (mainly tennis), placing bets from there.

Sometimes these bets are a guaranteed and instant win. If you can watch an event on a faster stream than the bookies or be present at the match, you can take advantage of these.

best software for betting

For example, a team is scoring a goal, and you instantly place an over bet for that team or on similar markets. After 4-5 seconds, your bet will be evaluated as a winner.

Courtside betting is not the best strategy for football betting because of many reasons. You can read more about this in my following article: courtside betting. 

8. Use a proper staking system

I have many articles where I’m writing about the importance of staking systems in sports betting. Question for those not following one: how do you want even the easiest football bets to win if you can’t even use a proper staking method?

It can make or break every strategy, even the best one. Unfortunately, I know it from experience.

Some basic staking plans that work: 

  • Flat staking
  • Kelly criterion
  • Using a % of your actual balance

9. Track your bets in a spreadsheet

I have not tracked my bets for many years. If you have deep knowledge and experience in a sport, you can skip this betting tip.

best tipster site service

But tracking your bets even in a simple spreadsheet can help you find errors, mistakes, and bad-performing markets or odds ranges.

A simple example of this is my last year’s basketball betting activity. I couldn’t figure out what I was missing or why am I underperforming even in the long run. It was a lengthy task to complete (several hours), but I made an excellent betting history in a simple excel file.

I filtered my bets based on markets, odds, and leagues, and I figured out certain leagues were useless for my strategy.

The situation is the same with football if you want to win in the long run. Using a matched betting spreadsheet for example is not essential for everyone. But in value betting, you can increase your profits drastically.

10. Use trustworthy bookies with high odds

Many bettors don’t place enough energy on finding and using the right bookies. Some of them have a massive amount of promotion on the internet, and you might think they are trustworthy. But I suggest using only the ones that have a good reputation.

I also mentioned using bookies with high odds, it is a crucial part of every betting strategy. If a bookie is offering odds with a profit margin of 8%-9%, they have to make a massive mistake to open the possibility of winning your football bets.

Some of the best bookies for football betting are Pinnacle (lowest profit margins) and Betfair.

11. Know a betting market inside out

While using one or more of these betting strategies, you will notice some patterns. In football betting, the bookies make the most mistakes on handicap or corner markets, and some of them can’t offer a match without making some mistakes on these markets.

arbitrage betting software

If you are following a bookie for a more extended period, you can notice and almost forecast these mistakes. Becoming an expert in football betting requires patience and experience, but it can be a gold mine for many strategies.

12. Take breaks after significant losses

This last part is important football betting advice from me. I’ve been betting for many years and made the mistake of not stopping when I should have many times.

Facing a longer losing streak or a big mistake in arbitrage betting can force you into bad decisions or even bigger mistakes.

Taking a short pause and getting calm will pay off in the long run.

13. Use crypto bookies with bonus offers

Using cryptocurrencies as payment methods could seem very complicated. But based on my experience many crypto bookies are trustworthy and offer way higher bonuses and odds than their normal competitors.

For bettors who prefer anonymous betting sites for various reasons, these are the perfect solution. Many countries have strict (and sometimes stupid) gambling laws. I know some countries that have a monopoly gambling law applied.

Offering only one bookie for a whole country with garbage odds is what makes people start looking for crypto betting sites without verification.

In the EU most bookies are offering welcome bonuses below 100 euros and odds with a house edge of 8%. I don’t think they can be in real competition with bitcoin sports bonuses up to $1000 and high odds.

Is sports betting profitable?

Sports betting can be profitable not only for bookmakers but for punters too. Probably you already heard about famous bettors who made fortunes, hundreds of millions of dollars.

You could think about this performance as impossible to replicate. Well, most probably you are right. Their case included a lot of experience, knowledge, and even luck.

But can you be a profitable sports bettor without these? The answer is a strong YES.

I’ve been betting for more than 6 – 7 years with highly profitable strategies. All of them are based on mathematics, and most of them are excluding a big part of the luck factor.

football statistics database

Professional bettors are investing a lot of time in learning and getting experience. This knowledge can guarantee them profits even in the long run.

You could ask now: but how could I make profits from sports betting as a beginner?

A lot of betting strategies are beginner-friendly and easy to learn. On this site, you can learn almost every crucial aspect of these profitable betting techniques.

You can follow the same strategies that professionals do, with the help of some free betting software.

Most common profitable betting strategies:

The first three are based on finding events and overpriced markets. Bookmakers are making mistakes very often, and they are offering odds that are wrong.

Every outcome in sports betting has a real probability. No matter how hard they try, new information about every event can appear so fast that bookies can’t react with the appropriate speed.

Most smart bettors are profitable because they can spot these loopholes and can generate profits on them.

By clicking on the strategies mentioned above, you can learn almost every aspect of them for Free.

How profitable sports betting can be?

For beginners, I would say that it depends on a lot of aspects, but in the first year, you can make between 500 – 2000 euros a month.

This profitability can vary based on your location, knowledge, starting capital, how strictly you can follow the rules, and a little bit of luck too.

Is betting on football profitable?

Football is at the top when speaking about sports betting. A lot of sports are offering good profits and possibilities for professional bettors. Soccer is attracting a lot of investment and attention.

These factors are helping the leagues to get top-performance teams and players.

The number of matches played and the data about them is helping the bookmakers to offer fairly accurate odds and betting lines.

A sharp player can take advantage of this situation by betting on overpriced markets. These wrong odds are appearing before the start and in play too.

Betting techniques based on mathematics will always generate money in the long run.

Football is a very profitable source for smart bettors, because:

  • You can find a lot of wrong odds
  • Football is a famous sport, so smart betting techniques won’t get that much attention from bookmakers. Betting on table tennis for example will lead to faster limitations
  • Maximum stake limits are high
  • The losing streaks are not that long, so you will experience less variance if you place bets on odds between 1.40 – 2.50 for example

It is known that betting on football is very profitable. But can it be an investment? Well, it depends on what kind of investment you are looking for.

Learning about the word if investments will make it clear, that a lot of opportunities are available in the world of the internet.

First of all, most people who speak about investments, are thinking about passive income without too much implication. Sports betting is different from these.

Tipstrr Review

Most techniques require you to stay in front of the PC, analyze possibilities, and take action when the odds and lines are right. If you start this kind of activity, you will invest your time and your money too.

So basically, it will become a job for you, that can be made part-time and full-time too. Some betting strategies like using automated software or bot can offer partially passive income.

These programs are not easy to buy and they require coding knowledge to maintain and run. They can offer a very high ROI with a fairly low time investment.

Interesting article: Best horse racing tipsters

Conclusion: How to bet on football and win?

  1. Follow only trustworthy tipsters
  2. Use a detailed football statistics database
  3. Use matched betting for bonus offers
  4. Arbitrage betting for a guaranteed win on football bets
  5. Best football betting strategy: Value betting
  6. Betfair trading and scalping on football
  7. Try courtside betting
  8. Use a proper staking system
  9. Track your bets in a spreadsheet
  10. Use trustworthy bookies with high odds
  11. Know a betting market inside out
  12. Take breaks after significant losses

FAQ

What are the best football betting strategies?

Matched and arbitrage betting are the best football betting strategies for a guaranteed win on every bet. Betting techniques like value betting, trading, and using databases of statistics are more profitable strategies in the long run.

Best way to bet on football?

If you focus on football bets with a sure profit on each choice, matched betting and arbitrage betting are the best techniques. Value betting is riskier, but it is generating significantly more profits, and many bettors think it is the best way of sports betting.

Best tips for betting on football?

For winning in the long run, you should follow a betting strategy based on mathematics or deep football knowledge. Using the proper staking strategy is also a key element in football betting.

How to bet on football and win?

Stop following fake betting gurus and start learning from experts. Many betting blogs are offering valuable information, even for free. Betting on football and winning is not possible with every strategy. But if someone teaches the techniques mentioned above, you will have healthy profits.

What are the easiest football bets to win?

Matched betting is the easiest betting strategy that can be applied to football, and it can be learned in 1-2 hours with each of its aspects.

Sam @ Sportssmartbetting

I have been a professional sports bettor for almost 8 years. I have the most experience with matched betting, arbitrage betting, and learned the most about value betting. Each betting software and betting strategy I promote was tested or used for a longer period by myself.