What are the Soccer Betting Pros & Cons?

Soccer Betting: Pros / Cons

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Soccer is, without a doubt, one of the biggest sports on the planet, if not the biggest, but it’s not just huge from an overall popularity standpoint. Soccer is arguably the world’s biggest betting sport. 

We’re going to look at why soccer betting is so popular, highlighting the several pros, while we’re also going to cover the cons of soccer betting so that you have all the information necessary to become a smart soccer bettor. 

Understanding the Pros & Cons of Soccer Betting

All forms of betting come complete with their very own pros and cons. Some betting types have more pros than cons, while others have more cons than pros.

If you want to bet on soccer, especially if you wish to stand a chance of being a smart soccer bettor who turns a profit in the long run, it’s important to understand what the pros and cons are. Before we tackle whether soccer is a betting sport that has more pros than cons, we’re first going to outline exactly what the pros and cons are. 

Soccer Betting Pros 

There are several pros to soccer betting, which we will look at below, but first, a quick summary:

  • Year-round action 
  • Wide range of betting markets
  • Very liquid markets
  • Less likely to get restricted compared to many other sports 

Year-round action 

There’s top-level soccer taking place all year long, which means that you'll have the opportunity to search for viable soccer bets throughout the year. 

From August right through until May, there’s weekly action in the top European leagues such as the English Premier League, Serie A (Italy), Bundesliga (Germany), LaLiga (Spain), as well as competitions such as the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League. When those leagues aren’t in action, there’s Major League Soccer, Serie A (Brazil), Liga MX (Mexico) and Liga Professional (Argentina). 

Wide range of betting markets

The range of betting markets available to soccer bettors is about as broad as it gets, which means that you won’t be short of options. 

With some sports, the markets are quite limited, allowing you to bet on little more than the outcome of the event, but that’s not the case with soccer. Even compared to the likes of basketball, tennis and NFL, all of which offer solid market choices, soccer rates as just about the best sport that there is when it comes to the number of markets on offer. For the big competitions, such as the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League or the EPL, it’s common to find well over 200 markets available for every game. 

Very liquid markets

Given that soccer is the biggest betting sport in the world, the markets are far more liquid than you’ll find for lots of other sports. What does this mean? Basically, there’s simply more money being bet, which means that it’s much easier to place your wagers successfully. 

For example, if you want to bet $500 on a soccer match, you’ll be able to do this with ease most of the time. However, if you wanted to bet $500 on one of the many more niche sports available at the best sportsbooks, you may have a harder time getting your bet accepted. 

Less likely to get restricted 

Tying in with the above, you’re much less likely to be restricted as a bettor when betting on a hugely popular sport such as soccer, especially if you focus on the bigger competitions. 

In contrast, if you’re betting on niche sports, such as volleyball or sumo wrestling, and encounter any sort of success, it won’t be long before your sportsbook account is hit with restrictions, such as stingy betting limits. 

Soccer Betting Cons

It’s not all positive, though; there are some cons to be aware of when it comes to soccer betting. These are: 

  • Often too much choice 
  • Easy to be swept along by the bet-builder/parlay hype 
  • Markets are more efficient than many other sports 

Often too much choice

While the fact that the wide array of choice is an overall positive, it’s worth remembering that, sometimes, too much choice can be a bad thing. 

Given that there’s so much choice, both in terms of leagues/number of games and markets, it’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to cover too much. 

Rather than attempting to bet on everything, it’s better to specialize and focus on a select few leagues/tournaments, as well as focusing on a limited number of markets. Doing so will prevent you from falling victim to this particular soccer betting con. 

Easy to be swept along by the bet builder/parlay hype

It’s very easy to be swept along by the bet builder/parlay hype that is becoming more and more prevalent in the soccer-betting world. 

Bet builder and same-game parlays may seem like great fun, or even a great way to increase returns, but the truth is that these bet types are pushed so heavily by sportsbooks because they bring in the most profit. The margins built into bet builders and same-game parlays make it virtually impossible for bettors to win long-term by regularly placing these bets. 

The lack of education around high-bookmaker-margin products such as bet builders and same-game parlays is a clear soccer betting con. 

Markets are more efficient than many other sports

As soccer is such a popular and liquid betting sport, naturally, sportsbooks put lots more emphasis on efficient pricing, especially when it comes to the biggest competitions. 

Utilizing the best in terms of software, modelling, and traders, sportsbooks can price a lot of soccer bets far more efficiently than they would for many of the more niche sports, which is far from ideal for would-be sharp bettors looking to find value bets. 

It certainly isn’t impossible to find value when betting on soccer, though it would be wrong to claim that soccer is anything other than one of the more efficient sports from a pricing/odds point of view. 

In Summary: The Soccer Betting Pros Outweigh the Cons

No sport is 100% perfect from a betting point of view, and to say anything else would be a complete lie. There are clearly some soccer betting cons, though the pros outweigh the cons, so much so that all round, soccer is one of the best sports to bet on. 

The fact that there are so many top soccer leagues and tournaments to choose from means that you should easily find areas to specialize in, while you’ll almost certainly encounter far fewer problems in terms of getting your bets on than you would with many other sports. 

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