No one sport can quench the betting thirst of all punters. This is because the definition of best is different for different clusters of fans. For instance, ask a fan sold on cricket to bet on football instead and he would look at you as if you have requested his kidney. Likewise, a football fan will always go to lengths to convince you on why football betting is the only option. Also, there is a growing fraternity of tennis fans who are increasingly becoming the second most valuable wagering community behind association football.
Today, with technology rapidly enhancing and the gambling market now valued at an estimated £36 billion, the industry is now too prominent to be ignored. Furthermore, in August 2017 when Google would be lifting its ban on gambling content, a lot more revenue is expected to change hands among iGaming operators across the UK.
The following are the three best sports to bet on in 2017:
FOOTBALL
The world’s most beloved sport – generates the most betting revenue. Here is how you can expect betting profits from football in 2017:
1. Know your game as it is not about which football team has won their last five games, but how well they have played defensively as well as offensively. Also, were they lucky or displayed shrewd ball possession?
2. Remember, less is more. However, punters forget this crucial element all the time. The fewer selections you include in your wager, the more probability you have of winning.
3. It is critical not to get carried away with bets just because you are feeling lucky. The key is to bet small, not big. Therefore, one selection or three, or four at length. This is because bookies lose more profits from singles.
4. The majority of football punters bet on leagues they are knowledgeable about and often have a favourite team in the competition. It leads to lots of biased bets that are not based on rationale, but emotions as it is our natural tendency to have an oblique view of our favourite teams. Therefore, look for a compliant free bet site in this area whenever your beloved Manchester United is visiting for more fun, thrill and perhaps winnings!
CRICKET
Cricket connoisseurs would testify to the fact that cricket gained wider popularity in the 18th century due to its deep-rooted inklings with wagering. The norm was to wager sums on the outcome of the games at Hambledon and later on in the cities. It soon gave rise to the breed of professionals who were employed by patrons to play for their respective cricketing outfits against money.
Today, betting is legal in many cricket playing nations and there is an established black market for illegal fixing which occasionally gets lucky in trapping established cricketers. Nonetheless, here’s how an English cricket fan can bet on cricket legally:
Theoretically, cricket is a game of numbers punctuated with a series of interrelated rules and regulations. Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is the custodian of all laws of cricket for more two centuries and the final word on its interpretation. It is essential for every punter who fancies profits from the most sophisticated outdoor sport in the world.
Due to cricket’s religious following in the subcontinent, it is the second biggest sport in the world after association football and virtually gives punters 365 days to bet on cricket online. Furthermore, there are many ways you can bet on cricket. The majority of bookmakers now offer an extensive menu of betting markets, giving you the prospect of finding plenty of betting angles to exploit, be it betting on traditional five-day tests in whites, one-day internationals or the smashingly popular T20 format. Following are the most widely used cricket betting markets and how you can go about harnessing profit from them.
Match Result & Series Victor
The most commonly used market for cricket wagering to bet on a cricket match is, of course, the game outcome. However, unlike a test match where theoretically four results are possible (outright result for team, draw or the rarest possibility of a tie). Alternatively, in limited overs internationals there are no draws, but a game can get abandoned due to natural causes and comparatively, ties are more common. Likewise, in series betting you can bet on the eventual winner as well the exact series score line.
Top Runs-scorer & Wicket Taker
Another popular betting market which is easy to understand and bet on is predicting the top runs scorer and wicket taker in a match, bilateral series or a world event featuring all the leading teams. For a punter to increase his or her probability of winning more than losing lies in doing extensive research regarding the opposing team’s strengths, pitch conditions, weather influences (truncating games and targets as per the Duckworth Lewis method).
In-play betting
Today, there are several ways to relish in-play betting. For instance, you can predict the range of a team’s score after a specific number of overs or that the bowling team would take at least two wickets in the first 10 overs of an inning. This form of betting is best suited for punters who are also fanatic about the sport and therefore keep a regular check on the latest developments, players form and injuries, upcoming events and tours.
Nonetheless, it is pertinent to note that there is a massive global black market of cricket betting and it is admissible to avoid trapping yourself in the myriad of illegal betting and subsequent flirtations with the law enforcement agencies.
TENNIS
The rising slope of online gambling as well as in-play betting has seen volume on tennis betting grow to billions of pounds each year. Such rapid rise makes tennis second only to football regarding revenue generation for the UK’s betting exchanges and bookmakers as punters are latching on to quick-fire opportunities presented by tennis. The popularity of tennis gambling is such that just before Andy Murray’s first round dual against Alexander Zverev as many as 18 different markets were available for betting.
Specifically, it includes possibilities on set betting such as whether a game ended 3-1, 3-0 to either player or the organisation of games in the first two sets – for instance, 6-1 or 6-0. Also, you can bet on the total number of match sets and the game situation at different times in a set. Moreover, there are situations such as will there be a tie break in either of the first two sets or the match? Will there be an even or odd sum of games in each of the first two sets as different markets cater to both possibilities.
More seasoned punters will recall that around the turn of the century, the tennis betting market was minuscule as there was not much to bet except for Wimbledon. However, the growth of online betting and in-play betting has seen it grow spectacularly.
The reality of 2017 is that there are several tennis events played worldwide every year and the game is ripe for extravagant betting. It is now better than cricket or golf as per tennis lobbyists.