How to bet on soccer with bitcoin

Bitcoin betting primer

If you’ve got this far without being too sure about what bitcoin is, read this introduction to bitcoin first. For those who are familiar with bitcoin, there are several ways it can be used for betting.

With the birth of the internet, betting quickly moved online facilitated by traditional payment methods like bank and credit cards, as well e-wallets like Neteller or Paypal. The advantages that bitcoin has for betting over these traditional methods has seen rapid adoption by sportsbooks, but not all are as they seem.

Some traditional sportsbooks working with fiat currencies dollars and euros) - market themselves as accepting bitcoin but this is for deposit only. Your bitcoin is converted into Euros or Dollars for betting, and then back again when you want to withdraw. This has many drawbacks which are discussed in more detail here - how bitcoin gambling works.

Cloudbet operate differently, as we are a pure bitcoin sportsbook. You deposit in bitcoin and can then bet on the soccer in bitcoin. This also means that your bets are paid in bitcoin, and subject to its fluctuation (and potential appreciation) making it in effect two bets in one. You are then able to take advantage of ease of transaction with bitcoin, by instantly withdrawing any winnings. With the primer out of the way, let’s run through the markets available for betting on the soccer with bitcoin.

The three common soccer betting markets

The most popular way to bet on soccer with bitcoin is the full time result - essentially the outcome at the end of the game. The simplest way to bet on the full time result is with a 1X2 bet - also known as a Money Line.

1X2

The popularity of the 1X2 market is largely because it is so straight forward. You are simply predicting one of three possible outcomes of a soccer game at full time. 1 refers to a Home win; X refers to a Draw and 2 denotes an Away win - so 1X2 odds look like this:

In this example, Arsenal - the Home team - are the favourites, as their odds imply the greatest chance of winning and therefore the lowest return to your stake, with the Draw the most unlikely outcome.

• A €10 bet on Arsenal, would return €21.80 (€10 stake + €11.80 profit)
• A €10 bet a draw, would return €35.90 (€10 stake + €25.90 profit)
• A €10 bet on Chelsea to win, would return €35.00 (€10 stake + €25.00 profit)

Note that for a neutral venue such as with the World Cup, though Home and Away don’t apply, teams will still be assigned as 1 and 2 simply to allow consistency.

Asian Handicap

The Asian Handicap market is designed to eliminate the draw as an option, and to also make a one sided matched more interesting by literally adding a negative handicap to the favoured team and a positive handicap to the underdog. This will be display as a positive or negative number in addition to the odds, that is either added or deducted from the respective team’s full time score.

A team with a handicap of +1.5 goals, starts the game with a 1.5 goal advantage for the purposes of the Asian Handicap bet. This gets added to their score at full time, and if the theoretical score is greater than their opposition’s real score, the Asian Handicap bet would be a winner. Essentially a team with +1.5 goal Asian Handicap need only avoid losing by two goals for more to win your bet - known as 'covering the handicap'.

If the underdog receives 1.5 goals, then conversely, the favourite will be starting with a 1.5 goal deficit. If you place an Asian Handicap bet on a team that is -1.5 that team needs to win by two goals or more to ‘cover the handicap’ and win you the bet. If the team wins by only a single goal, draws or loses the match, they cannot cover the 1.5 goal handicap so the bet would lose.

Here is an example Asian Handicap soccer bet:

• Arsenal - 1.5 1.95 (A €10 stake returns €19.50 = €10 stake + €9.50 profit)
• Chelsea + 1.5 1.95 (A €10 stake returns €19.50 = €10 stake + €9.50 profit)

Asian Handicaps can be whole, half or quarter ball. Whole ball simply means that the Asian Handicap is a whole number which means the bet can push (refund) if for example a team is -1 and wins by one goal.

Half ball, as in our example, is when the Asian Handicap is 0.5, 1.5 etc There can be no tie, as a team cannot score half a goal. Quarter ball Asian Handicaps - 0.25, 0.75 etc - are actually two bets in one, though you need only place one bet.

So a €10 bet on Arsenal at -1.75 is actually €5 on Arsenal -1.5 and €5 at -2. If Arsenal wins by two goals you win €5 at 1.5 and the €5 at -2 is a push. If the Gunners win by just one goal, draw or lose the match, both bets lose. If they win by more than two goals both bets win.

Total Goal Markets

The Total Goal is popular because it switches the focus to the aggregate performance of the game rather than a specific team. You are simply betting on whether the total number of goals scored by both teams is above or below a number set for the market by Cloudbet. Variants of Total Goals allow you bet on the total amount of goals scored by a specific team, or for just the first and second half.

Cloudbet offer a wide range of total goal markets as can be seen below.

Goal Totals

Arsenal Over 3.5 1.95 (A €10 stake returns €19.50 = €10 stake + €9.50 profit)

Chelsea Under 3.5 1.95 (A €10 stake returns €19.50 = €10 stake + €9.50 profit)

In this bet you can choose to wager on there being Over 3.5 goals in the game, or Under 3.5 goals. So if the aggregate score is four or more, the Over would collect, less than four total goals and the Under is the winning bet.

As with Asian Handicaps you can have whole, half and quarter ball totals which function in exactly the same way.

Once you get to grips with the three main soccer bitcoin betting markets - sometimes referred to the trinity - you can then move on to combining these markets for more specific outcomes.

Match bet + Totals

This method is a bet which combines Goal Totals and a Full time Result Bet.

‘Over 2.5 Goals - Arsenal’ - 2.26

• A winning bet would feature Arsenal winning the match, along with 3 or more goals being scored. Arsenal could win, 3-0, 2-1, 4-0, 4-1, 5-0 etc
• €10 stake returns €22.26 = €10 stake + €12.26 profit

Other Goal Markets:

‘First half under 2.5 goals’

‘Chelsea under 2.5 goals’

‘Both halves under 1.5’

Live In-Play

All the bets we have so far covered are predictions of what will happen before the game has started. The soccer bitcoin betting opportunities at Cloudbet don’t end there though; once a game kicks-off the same bets, and more, are available as the game is unfolding - known as live betting or in-play.

The 1X2, Asian Handicap and Total Goals markets are all available as live soccer markets, and tend to be even more popular because you can try and interpret the ebb and flow of the game as it is happening with odds changing to reflect the changing opinion Cloudbet has of each team’s chance of winning at that point in the game.

Outrights and Specials

Though the three main game markets - focused on the result - are the most popular ways of betting on soccer with bitcoin at Cloudbet, there are a host of alternative markets that relate to specific events within a game which are known as Specials or Props. These can include which players will score first, last or at any time, or the number of corners and cards that a game will produce.

Goal Scorer markets

At Cloudbet, you can bet on a player to score first or last as standard. These markets are popular as they can offer a higher return than game outcomes because they are less likely.

‘Cristiano Ronaldo to Score first at 8.50’.

• If Ronaldo scores the first goal of the game then the bet would win. (A €10 bet would return €85.00 = €10.00 stake + €75.00 profit)

Players can also bet on a player to score at anytime during the selected fixture. These markets have a slightly lower price as there is a greater likelihood of the event happening.

‘Harry Kane any time goalscorer at 5.25’

• If Harry Kane was to score at any point during the selected fixture, including first/last, this bet would be paid out. (A €10 bet would return €52.50 = €10.00 stake + €42.50 profit)

Outright markets bets are wagers that relate to a timeframe beyond a single match, such as a season or across a tournament. An outright winner market usually offers odds on who will win the competition - such as our World Cup Winner Outright market - however other specific outrights include ‘player of the tournament’, ‘top goal scorer’, or what stage of a specific tournament a team will be eliminated.

Specials can also be available in-play which means a bet being placed on the particular outcome after the event has started. Most bets are available before play and in-play, however some are slightly altered, such as ‘first goal scorer’ is replaced with ‘next goal scorer’. Common in-play bets include ‘Next team to score’, ‘next team to have a corner’ or betting on the overall match result from that specific point in the game.

Ready to bet on the Soccer with bitcoin?

Hopefully you are now clear about how betting with bitcoin on soccer works, and the huge range of opportunities to bet on any soccer match with Cloudbet. If you still need convincing of the benefits of betting with bitcoin, the Cloud Blog has plenty of content to convince that it represents not just the future of betting, but of money too. Don’t be left behind.