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How to win at football betting

By Matt | January 5, 2010

With a World Cup looming and some successful football bets behind us, we thought it would be good to start a series of tips designed to help you win more money when you bet on football.

A Cunning Punt hasn’t published any football betting tips for a while – our racing tips were far more popular. But there’s still a lot of people out there who just waste money when they visit the bookies – so here’s number one in our impromptu series of football betting tips.

Football betting tip #1: make your accumulator shorter
Every week, millions of people compensate for the comparatively short odds offered by football betting by lumping a number of “bankers” together in the hope that it will win them more money.

They may as well just give their cash straight to the bookie.

Let’s consider the past weekend. Backers of short-priced favourites would have had a good day by twenty to five on Saturday, when home bankers like Aston Villa, Southampton and Stoke City had dispatched their opposition easily.

That treble would have paid around three or four to one. A nice afternoon’s work, except without the work, obviously. But how many people had tagged Liverpool or, worse, Manchester United onto their acca in a bid to boost their profits further?

Liverpool only drew despite being a best-priced 4/9 and 2/9 shots Manchester United lost at home to Leeds.

Let me say that again: 2/9 shots Manchester United lost at home to Leeds.

In other words, there’s no such thing as a banker in football betting. Everyone who bets knows the phrase “coupon buster” (if you don’t, you soon will). By betting on five, six, seven or more teams in one multiple bet you’re just increasing your chances of finding the coupon buster that will blow that potential big payout.

So don’t be greedy. However many dead certs you can see on the weekend coupon, consider taking one off – place a fourfold instead of a fivefold. Ideally, make it a treble.

Sure, you won’t win as much money. But you’ll lose less often, protecting your capital and making more frequent, steady gains. And that’s the way to start making some serious money by betting on football.

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