The Inquirer’s World Cup betting guide will teach you everything you need to know about betting on the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
This guide will teach you everything you need to know about placing bets on the 2022 World Cup.
With the World Cup set to be one for the ages, the Inquirer has everything you need to know about betting on the World Cup in this piece.
When does the tournament begin? When will the United States play? When will the verdict be announced? The solutions are available here.
The World Cup stages are explained
To understand how to bet on the World Cup, you must first understand what the tournament is and how it operates.
The World Cup is a massive tournament featuring 32 of the world’s best soccer teams. These teams qualified by winning their respective regional qualifying matches.
Qatar, as the hosting country, is an exception to those qualifying standards.
Because it is such a large tournament, it can be difficult to understand what terms like group stage or knockout stage mean. We’re here to help you understand everything.
The 32 teams are divided into eight groups of four teams each. In the first round, referred to as the group stage, each team plays the other three teams in their group once. The groups are as follows:
Groups and Teams
A
Ecuador, Netherlands, Qatar, Senegal
B
England, IR Iran, USA, Wales
C
Argentina, Mexico, Poland, Saudi Arabia
D
Australia, Denmark, France, Tunisia
E
Costa Rica, Germany, Japan, Spain
F
Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Morocco
G
Brazil, Cameroon, Serbia, Switzerland
H
Ghana, Korea Republic, Portugal, Uruguay
The two teams with the most points advance to the knockout stage. A team receives three points for a win, one for a tie, and zero for a loss. The knockout stages include the Round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals. This stage is known as the knockout stage because if you lose, you are eliminated in a single elimination fashion.
Unlike in the group stage, where ties are permitted, overtime is used in the knockout stage to determine a winner. If that fails, the game will be decided by an NHL-style shootout in which both teams will take penalty kicks.
For your convenience, the tournament schedule is listed below:
| Stage | |
| Group Matches | Nov. 20-Dec. 2 |
| Round of 16 | Dec. 3-Dec. 6 |
| Quarter Finals | Dec. 9-Dec. 10 |
| Semi-Finals | Dec. 13-Dec. 14 |
| 3rd Place Game | Dec. 17 |
| Finals | Dec. 18 |
Understanding World Cup odds
The World Cup odds aren’t that different from traditional betting odds for sports leagues like the NFL and NBA.
The favorite going into a match will still have a “-” sign next to their odds, while the underdog will have a “+” sign. These symbols have the same meaning in every type of soccer wager.
When you enter how much you want to wager, your online sportsbook will tell you how much you can win. At that point, you can either confirm or withdraw your wager.
The section that follows goes into greater detail about the different types of bets you can place and how to win them.
Read More: OKBET FIFA Betting: Top 5 Weird Bets in FIFA World Cup 2022
Kylian Mbappe will be one of the best players in the World Cup, looking to help France repeat as champions. (Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)Learn moreVALERIO PENNICINO / Getty Images
What common World Cup bets can I make?
Moneyline
Finally, the moneyline is one of the simplest things a sports bettor can bet on. Every sportsbook provides this prop.
The moneyline is simply betting terminology for who you believe will win a match outright.
Moneylines are a common type of wager to load up on when making parlay bets, in addition to being one of the most traditional wagers you can place.
Three-way moneyline
A three-way moneyline isn’t something you’ll see in every sport. In fact, soccer is one of the few sports where you’ll see it. This is because three-way moneyline bets allow you to wager on the game ending in a tie.
In major North American sports such as the NBA, MLB, and NHL, games will go into overtime as long as necessary to determine a winner, or in the case of the NHL, a shootout will take place after overtime.
Ties are uncommon in the NFL. Ties, on the other hand, are much more common in soccer. If you believe a particular game will end in a tie, this is the best sports betting prop for you.
Spread
Betting on the spread is another popular form of sports betting. The spread in sports betting is the number of goals that separate the two teams at the end of the game.
Spread odds betting can be a little perplexing for new players. But it’s not too difficult once you’ve gained some experience.
If you choose a favored soccer team with a spread of 1.5, you believe they will win by at least two goals. If their spread is 1.0, you believe they will win by at least one goal.
If you pick the underdog team with a spread of +2.5, you can win the bet if they either upset the favorited team or lose by two or fewer goals.
If the underdog team has a spread of 1.0 and loses by two goals, you will lose the bet.
Totals
Totals are the final traditional level of sports betting. This is exactly what it sounds like. You’re betting on the total number of goals scored in a game.
This is also known as an over/under bet.
If a game has an over/under of 2.5 goals, you can bet that they will score more than 2.5 goals or less than 2.5 goals. These props, like the other types of wagers listed above, can be bet on as live bets with live odds if you prefer.
World Cup props to bet on
Live bets
Soccer fans aren’t limited to just betting on props before a game. With live betting, you can place bets on soccer games as they happen in real time.
This is an extremely useful feature that allows users to diversify their betting strategy. You can watch the first half of a game before betting on the moneyline if you prefer.
However, odds will change as the game progresses. If a team is winning 3-0 with five minutes remaining in a game, the moneyline odds will be extremely low and will not yield you much of a return.
Throughout the tournament, you can place live bets on moneylines, spreads, and totals. Sportsbooks will also provide live odds boost props to keep an eye out for before matches begin.
Live odds boosts frequently have much better odds than traditional props, but they are usually more difficult to correctly predict.
Futures wager
Futures bets are wagers on events that will not be resolved right away. Soccer bettors can place futures bets on who will win the World Cup final and which two countries will qualify for the World Cup final.
Other types of futures bets include who will win the Golden Ball, Golden Boot, or Golden Glove awards.
These odds will fluctuate on a regular basis until they are resolved. As a result, if you want to bet on who will win the entire tournament and see odds that appeal to you, act quickly.
Team honors
Team props are wagers on specific statistics surrounding a team in a specific game. Rather than deciding how many points your team will score or whether they will win, you can place wagers on other aspects of team performance.
In addition to pure statistics, team props can be based on specific events that occur during a game. Many of these bets are simple yes or no questions. Some examples of team props include:
- Will the United States and Mexico each score a goal in the second half?
- Which team will score the final goal?
- Will a goal be scored in the first 15 minutes of the game?
Player props
A player prop, like a team prop, does not involve traditional types of wagers. Player props are wagers on specific aspects of how a player will perform in any given game.
Player props are sometimes more statistic-based. However, they, like team props, may be related to specific events occurring at specific points in the game. Examples include:
- Will Harry Kane score?
- Will Cristiano Ronaldo get an assist?
- Will Lionel Messi score from a free kick?
Parlays
Parlays are one of the most popular types of sports betting strategies. A parlay is when you bet on multiple things to go right in order for your parlay wager to win. You will lose your bet if even one of the props fails.
Each prop that you include in your parlay is referred to as a leg. It’s important to remember that different sportsbooks will have different limits on how many legs you can put in a parlay.
While one incorrect leg can end your parlay, sportsbooks will occasionally run a parlay insurance promotion in which you can still win your parlay or receive some bonus funds if only one leg is incorrect. These parlays have their own set of rules regarding how long your odds must be.
The longer the odds on your parlay, the greater the potential payout.
