- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Admin Super
Sports betting has exploded in the UK in recent years. Every week, people are placing bets for a little extra fun while they enjoy some sports. Here is our list of the most popular sports to bet on in the UK today.
How to Bet on Football Games
By far the most popular sport to bet on in the United Kingdom is football. Whether it is English Premier League, lower league football, or Scottish or European matches, millions of pounds are wagered on football games every week.
There are many committed gamblers that place bets on games throughout the week, with some placing high stake bets on small odd outcomes. The most popular types of football bets, however, are small stake accumulator bets that can pay out big winnings if the results come in.
In accumulator bets, many different small bets are rolled into one larger wager and all the results, or legs, must be right for the bet to win. With the right combination of bets, a small stake of just a few pounds can be worth hundreds or even tens of thousands of pounds. These can be very difficult to win, but often provide better chances than the Lotto draw or a scratchcard, so they have started to grow in popularity as an alternative.
Many football fans like to place a small wager on games, to make a matchday a little more interesting. This will often be a bet on their team, or on a specific player to score, for instance, and this helps add a little extra drama and excitement to ninety minutes of football.
Football betting has also grown thanks to social media, with many Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook accounts sharing tips and gaining a following based upon their success, and this has helped many people who may not know much about sports betting learn more and place well-researched bets for the first time. It has also helped sports betting, especially football betting, grow in popularity in the last few years.
How to Bet on Horse Racing
Horse racing has always been a popular sport to bet on in the United Kingdom, and betting has probably enabled the sport to grow in popularity.
Many people will bet on horses on popular races, most notably the Grand National. Homes up and down the country often play ‘sweepstakes’ for prizes on ‘The National’, and for many people, the Grand National races are the only time they place sports bets all year. Bookmakers see a huge surge in bets when the Grand National races are running. Royal Ascot also causes a spike in betting, but to a lesser effect than the Grand National weekend.
Races are run throughout the year, however, and many bets are placed on horse racing every day. The biggest obstacle to more people betting on horse racing is knowledge. There are so many horses, trainers, and jockeys to keep track of it is hard to place informed bets on horse races without doing a lot of research, and the type of bets you can place also requires some homework.
Social media has again helped a lot of people new to the sport place bets as there are many Twitter accounts offering advice and tips online that help people make better bets and try and win some money on ‘the nags’. There are many sites that can teach you how to bet on horse racing and give you some great horse racing betting tips. Have a look around and do some research to help you make a start if you are interested. Roger.com has an interesting article on horse racing. It details the best racing events in the UK and the US and tells readers how to choose the right sports betting site.
How to Bet on American Sports
Betting on American sports has grown a lot in popularity in recent years. Sports like basketball and American football have received an increased amount of coverage in the UK, and the types of bets that you can place are relatively simple compared to horse racing and European football, making them more accessible to newcomers.
Most betting on American sports is on ‘the spread’. In American sports, particularly American football, bookmakers will take bets on a team winning or losing by a certain point margin, which is called the spread. This increases odds on a favoured team, as they will have to win by a certain amount of points or more for the bet to win, and lessens the odds on underdog teams as they have to lose by a points margin for a bet to lose. This spread system equalizes the odds a little between teams.
In a game between, say, The Steelers and The Patriots, the favoured team would be the New England Patriots, and the spread may be The Patriots to win by more than ten points or The Pittsburgh Steelers to lose by less than ten.
If you bet on The Patriots to win, they have to win by 10 or more points for your bet to win, or you could bet on The Steelers to lose but they have to lose by less than 10 points. The advantage here is that if The Steelers go on to win the game, your bet still wins because it ‘beat the spread’, and if you bet on The Patriots to win by more than 10 points you would win as they will have beaten the spread too. If the Patriots win by less than 10 points, however, you would lose your stake, and likewise, if you had bet on The Steelers lose by more than ten points your bet loses too.
How to Bet on Darts
Darts Championships have become more popular to bet on as more types of bets have become available on the sport with a lot of bookmakers.
Rather than betting on who is going to win a match, you can bet on how many ‘180’ throws will be made, or who will throw the most 180s out of the two competitors. You can also make accumulator bets around multiple matches, which has allowed gamblers to make low stake bets that will pay out large winnings if successful.
With so many sports to choose from, and so many different types of bets to place, it is easy to see why so many people are placing sports bets in the UK. Make sure you do some research before you get started, however, if you want to give yourself a better chance of being successful. Good Luck!
