Making a profit on the football is a hard task and only a few manage to do it in the long run. In order to do so, it is worth thinking about what the easiest football bets to win are. 

Some bet types and markets are easier to win on than others, providing low-risk, high-strike rate opportunities. Using these markets can give us a high proportion of winners and allow us to build a bank relatively quickly.

It is also worth thinking about whether the easiest bets to win are also the most profitable. There would be little point winning lots of bets but for those bets to not represent value and for you to make a loss overall. 

You want to ensure that you are getting the best value for your bets and maximising the potential to make a profit. 

Thankfully however it is possible to do this whilst also selecting some easy bets to win. We will take a look at how to do so below. 

 

Why High Strike-Rate Bets are a Good Thing

When we talk about bets that are easy to win, what we are talking about are low odds, high strike-rate bets. 

These are easy bets to win because they have a high likelihood of happening and will win most of the time. What we are talking about are odds-on shots, or odds below 2.0 in decimal terms. 

There is a popular misconception in betting that these bets are poor value and you need to be seeking out long-shots at 20/1, 50/1 or more. 

In reality the truth is actually quite different. Numerous studies have shown that there is a “favourite-longshot bias” in betting which means that there is more value on favourites than longshots. 

A study of English and Scottish football for example found that betting at short odds produced a negative return of -2%  but when backing at over 4/1, the losses were worse at -15%. 

When you take into account the bookies’ over-round or exchange commission, then a return of -2% is almost like breaking even. And that’s presuming you just backed all the short odds favourites blindly without any thought or form study.

The upshot of all this means that easy bets are also good bets. So in most cases, you are getting value on our bet and not handing the bookies a big advantage before you start, like you normally do with longshots. 

Plus having a high proportion of winners allows you to build your betting bank more quickly and tends to feel better psychologically than having long losing streaks when backing longshots.  

So let’s get onto looking at what sort of bets are the easiest to win in football and how we should go about capitalising on them. 

 

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Over 0.5 goals (laying 0-0)

One of the easiest bets to win in football is betting for there to be over 0.5 goals. Basically this means there needs to be at least one goal in a game for you to win your bet. You can achieve the same effect by laying 0-0 on the exchanges as an alternative option.

The chances of there being at least one goal in a game are very much in our favour, with only 7% of matches across the top five European leagues finishing 0-0. So that means backing over 0.5 goals has been the outcome 93% of the time. 

Of course, the flipside of this is that the odds on over 0.5 goals will normally be very low – often between 1.05 and 1.10. 

If we take a game that is expected to be high scoring for example, like RB Leipzig vs Stuttgart in the Bundesliga, the odds of over 0.5 goals is just 1.04:

In the end this match finished 2-1 to RB Leipzig, with the first goal coming after just 25 minutes, so the bet was an easy winner. 

When betting on there being at least one goal in a game, it is not unusual to have long winning streaks of 10, 20 or even more winners in a row. 

Conversely however, a loser or two can hit the betting bank quite hard, so it is important to ensure you have a sufficient betting bank if following this strategy and don’t stake too much to start off with.

There are some factors we can look at when deciding whether to bet on over 0.5 goals that can help us improve our returns. 

Often the over 0.5 goals market will be derived from how high-scoring the teams playing each other are in general. So they might be teams that have a lot of games finishing 4-2, 3-1 etc. 

However, the specifics of this market mean we should be focusing on ensuring that they have a low number of 0-0s in particular. 

We can do this by looking at a site like Flashscores or soccerstats for records of the teams’ previous 20-30 matches, to give us a decent sample size.

There are some teams that whilst they can be high-scoring in some games, also have a higher than average number of 0-0s when they are rather lacklustre. Other teams don’t have many really high-scoring games but seem to always avoid the dreaded 0-0. Looking at teams’ histories like this can help us weed out any would-be banana skins. 

Teams like Bayern Munich for example have an extraordinary history of avoiding 0-0s, going from 10th February 2020 to the start of 2023 (and still going, at the time of writing) without a goalless draw in the Bundesliga. That is the best part of 100 games!

We can also look at factors such as the teams’ head-to-head record to ensure they don’t have a history of 0-0 scorelines and at team news to see if any key players are likely to be out. 

You can also apply this strategy to over 1.5 goals, which means there must be at least two goals in a game for your bet to win. You won’t have quite as many winners on this market as the over 0.5, but it can still prove profitable. The service Banker Bets has a specialist over 1.5 goals strategy that finds value opportunities in this market. 

Overall with a decent amount of research we should be in a good position to take on the over 0.5 goals market and achieve a high winning rate of easy winners. 

 

Check out our list of the Best Football Tipsters here

 

Handicap Bets 

If you are looking for another easy football bet to win then look no further than handicap bets. 

These are markets that are often overlooked by the majority of punters but can yield some very steady returns if used correctly. 

Taking the example of RB Leipzig vs Stuttgart again, in this game the home side are 1.41 to win the game. 

If we take a look at the handicap markets though, we can see they are 1.11 in the +1 handicap market. 

This essentially means they are given a one goal headstart before the game even kicks off. So as long as they don’t lose the match, the bet is a winner. A draw is fine and means the bet will still win.

You can also achieve the same effect by laying Stuttgart or backing “Double Chance” (home win+draw option), if one of those is your preference.

In these markets what we are looking for is teams who don’t lose many games. You may be familiar with sides who whilst not being the most explosive and winning a huge proportion of matches, also tend to be tough to beat, usually with a mean defence and a strong attitude. 

As we say, in this bet it doesn’t matter if the match finishes in a draw, we would still win our bet. So the key is to look for sides who don’t lose many games and could present value on the +1 handicap market. 

For example, in the 2021/22 season of La Liga, Sevilla only lost 4 out of 38 matches, drawing 16. That solid record was not enough to win the title – they finished fourth – but it was built on the best defence in the league with just 30 goals conceded. 

It is teams like Sevilla in that 2021/22 season who are ideal for the +1 handicap market and should be sought out. 

If you want an even easier bet to win though, you could look for the next handicap market up. 

That is the +2 market and gives the side in question a two goal headstart before the match kicks off. 

So your selected team could lose by one goal and you would still win your bet. 

Obviously in these situations the odds are very skinny indeed.  

In the case of the RB Leipzig match referred to above, they are just 1.03 on the +2 goals handicap market. 

To capitalise on this market, we would be looking for sides that if they do lose a game, don’t tend to do so badly and at least keep things tight. So just losing by one goal is fine, as our +2 bet would still be a winner. 

Again this would tend to be sides who are strong defensively and have a good mentality, so aren’t likely to lose by a big margin. 

Using this market would see a very high proportion of winners and would certainly quality as an “easy bet to win” but one loss would wipe out a lot of winners so it is to be approached with caution. 

There are various other handicap markets you can use like the +3 market if you want a really easy bet to win – although bear in mind for sides that are already strong favourites like RB Leipzig above, there often won’t be odds available on the back side as it is regarded as such a certainty. 

There are also Asian handicaps which give you a wider variety options than just the +1, +2 markets etc.

A service that uses handicap markets as part of its repertoire of bets is Bookie Insiders Football, which made an excellent £2053 profit in a trial we ran of it here on the site. Using a combination of xG stats, team news, form and other indicators they have been able to use handicap and other markets effectively to generate long-term profits.

In summary then, handicap bets can give us some easy wins even if the team we have backed don’t  actually win the game. We can improve our chances by researching teams who are tough to beat and taking advantage of the way these markets are set up. 

 

Backing First Half Goals

An alternative strategy if we are looking for some easy winners is to look at first half goals. The most straightforward market to look at in this context is over 0.5 first half goals (FHG for short).

In this market the odds will often be short, although not quite as short as in the handicap markets and over 0.5 goal markets discussed above. The odds tend to fall in the 1.2 – 1.5 range in this market.

In the RB Leipzig game, the odds for over 0.5 first half goals is around 1.30:

So with these kind of bets we could expect a win rate of around 75%. As mentioned, in that game the first goal was scored after 25 minutes so the over 1.5 FHG bet was a winner. 

As with the other markets analysed above, we are looking for certain teams who may be particularly suited to backing in this market. 

For example, teams who tend to score a lot of first half goals would be worth focusing on here. As the market just tends to be derived from the other goal markets – over/under 1.5 and 2.5 goals etc rather than specifically on whether the teams score (and concede) in the first half, it means there can be value from finding such sides.  

If we think of Liverpool under Klopp when they were at their peak, they were known for being “fast starters” in matches – particularly at home – and bombarding the opposition with attacks right from the kick-off, with the crowd roaring them on. 

Using stats can also assist us here in finding value, via a site like soccerstats:

From this first half table from the 2021/22 Premier League season we can see that our theory about Liverpool is borne out by them topping the first half charts. It may surprise people to see a team like Southampton on this table as well though, with a high number of goals scored and conceded in the first half. 

There may also be instances where you expect a team is going to come out the blocks fast because it has to win a game, so think it could be worth backing the over 0.5 FHG. 

Or that a certain match-up makes it more likely. There can be lots of angles on this market, but again with some good research we should be able to find value situations and capitalise to land some relatively easy wins. 

 

Beating the Bookies at their Own Game

Rather than looking at specific markets to find the easiest football bets to win, we can use an alternative strategy to turn the bookies’ advantage over us on its head and create some very easy winning bets.

We can do this through a process known as matched betting, which consists of using the bookies’ free bets and bonuses to secure risk-free or low-risk betting opportunities. 

Using matched betting allows us to pick off easy winnings from the bookies, time after time. If we have a free £25 bet on a football match for example, we can place that free bet at the bookies, whilst laying it off on the exchanges. Thus we make a profit whatever happens if we have set it up correctly. 

There are matched betting packages like Profit Maximiser that show you exactly how to do this, with video tutorials and email support, as well as bringing together all of the bookies offers so you can quickly see what opportunities are available each day. 

In our own trial of Profit Maximiser, we made a very healthy £2,469 profit from doing lots of these matched bets. 

There are even people who do matched betting for a living, and others who do it part-time for some additional second income. 

Even if you are only able to do a few offers per month, it is still probably the easiest way to win football bets without having much (or any) risk. 

It is only really viable in countries that allow bookies to offer free bets and bonuses however, so it is best to check if they are able to do so in your jurisdiction first before signing up.  

 

Conclusion – Finding the Easiest Football Bets to Win

Finding easy football bets to win is possible if you focus on the right markets. There are a number of opportunities to do this by looking at the markets we have outlined above – over 0.5 goals, handicaps and first half goals for example.

Bets on these markets have high win rates and are normally decent value – certainly much better value than longshots at least. 

With some additional research you can improve your chances of winning and really capitalise on these high strike-rate bets. 

As with all betting, if you are betting on these markets please gamble responsibly and only risk money you can afford to lose. 

Looking for some easy opportunities to win? Then check out our list of the Best Football Tipsters here and follow their expert advice. 

 

 

 

 

One of the most common debates in betting circles is regarding which is better – single bets or multiple bets. 

Many punters swear by their preferred bet type and reject the other out of hand. 

This could be because they are used to betting in a certain way by habit or have had a big win using one type so that is what they continue to use.   

It might not be the best way to bet however and if you want to make a profit in the long run, it is important to ensure you are maximising value at every opportunity. 

So we will take a look at how you can do this, together with the pros and cons of both single bets and multiple bets. 

 

What are Single Bets and Multiple Bets?

Before we get into the looking at the pros and cons of each bet type however, just a quick explanation of what we mean by single and multiple bets.

Quite simply these terms refer to whether we are betting on just one outcome or a number of outcomes together.

For example, in a single bet we are just betting on one thing to happen. That could be:

• Arsenal to beat Chelsea in a Premier League game @ 2.1

We are not reliant on any other matches or outcomes, that is our single bet. 

A multiple bet, on the other hand, combines a number of different outcomes into one bet. So for example that could be a treble of:

• Arsenal to beat Chelsea in a Premier League game @ 2.1; and
• Man City to beat Spurs @ 1.4; and
• Liverpool to beat Wolves @ 1.36

You would need all three teams to win in order for your treble bet to collect, at combined odds of 4.0. 

There are in fact a plethora of different types of multiple bets, from Trixies to Yankees and Goliaths and more. These are often referred to as “exotic bets.” 

They combine multiple outcomes, but in such a way that you don’t need all of them to win in order to collect a return on the bet. 

A Trixie bet for example is a treble and three doubles. So you could put the three teams above into a Trixie and if just two of them win, you would still get a return on your bet. If all three win then you collect a winning treble and all three doubles – a nice little earner. 

The most common type of multiple bet though is a simple accumulator – where you need all the outcomes to be successful in order to win your bet. 

 

The Pros and Cons of Single Bets

There are various advantages to using single bets. They are the choice of most professional gamblers and there is a good reason for that. 

In principle professionals use single bets because it is easier to secure value on a single bet than on a multiple.

On a single bet, you can compare bookies’ odds and exchange prices and select whichever one is offering the best price for your selection. It is fairly simple and with the amount of choice available these days for placing bets, means in most instances you can secure fair value for your bet. 

That’s why pretty much all the top tipsters we have reviewed here such as The Bookies Enemy and Loves Racing utilise single bets for their betting. 

However, with multiple bets you are multiplying the bookies’ edge over you. If their edge is a few percent per bet, then in a 5-fold accumulator it could easily be over 50%, which is not good value from your point of view!

That also presumes the bookie is best odds on all of the selections in your multiple. However, more often that not you will have to take a price that is below the best odds on at least one of the selections making up your multiple bet.

This is because it is unlikely one bookie will be best price on all parts of your multiple. So invariably you will be taking bad odds on one or more outcomes on your multiple, thus handing the bookies an even bigger advantage than they already have over you. 

Using single bets removes this disadvantage and gives a more level playing field. In sports like tennis and NFL, the bookies edge is often only 2-3% over the punter for single bets, which isn’t too bad. 

Using exchanges gives a similar position, in that whilst the markets have an over-round that is often close to 100%, you have to take commission into account which is normally around 2% these days. 

If you are restricted to using the exchanges then single bets will be more suitable in any event, as you cannot place multiples on exchanges anyway. The only exception being an accumulator if you placed it manually (placing each leg separately yourself). 

There is also something more straightforward about sticking to single bets, allowing you to just focus on each bet individually without needing to worry about any other outcomes. 

On the downside, with single bets you don’t tend to get the same adrenaline rush as when a big acca or multiple bet comes in – unless perhaps it’s a 100/1 shot of course…

 

Get Free Tips From Professional Bettors Here. 

 

Pros and Cons of Multiple Bets

Turning to multiple bets, there are also pros and cons of using them too.

As discussed above, the main downside is that normally you are conceding a large advantage to the bookies – in effect you are multiplying their advantage over you. 

If you do find a situation where one bookie is best price (or joint-best price) on all selections in your multiple bet, then it is not quite so bad, but you are still suffering a disadvantage. 

Or, as mentioned above, if you can place the accumulator manually then you can find the bookie who is best price for each selection. However, this relies on the events being spread out time-wise and not overlapping each other, which is not always the case. 

Probably the primary advantage of multiple bets is the “fun” element. It can be exciting to watch each leg of your multiple come in, as you get closer to landing the big prize.

Being in a position where the early legs in your acca come in also allows you to lay off some of the later legs and lock in some profit. 

There was also a period when bookies provided lots of generous offers around accumulators to try and tempt punters in. You could set these up to secure profit whatever happened, using tools from matched betting products. Whilst these offers are less common now, they can be worth grabbing if you do see them. 

Some of the more “exotic” bets referred to above such as Trixies and Yankees also give you the chance to make a profit even if one or more legs of your bet lets you down, so it is not quite as “all or nothing” as an accumulator bet and provides some insurance. 

On the downside, as mentioned above it is not normally possible to place these sort of bets on the exchanges though – only manual accumulators if circumstances allow. 

 

Conclusion – Single Bets vs Multiple Bets: Which to Go For? 

Punters often like to debate whether it is better to place single bets or multiple bets. 

From a professional’s point of view, the answer is pretty simple: a single bet is preferred. That is because you are more likely to achieve value in a single bet and therefore to make a profit over time. There are almost no professionals we know of who bet using multiples.

If you are trying to maximise your returns and bet like a professional then, single bets are better. 

If you are a casual gambler who just likes to place a bet for fun and isn’t too worried about losing a few quid (or bucks) if it doesn’t come in, then a multiple can be an attractive option.

The possibility of a big win provides excitement and it’s a great thing to brag about to your friends if you do manage to land one. It’s quite a thrill as you watch each leg come in and you get closer to landing the full win.

However, in general that’s all multiple bets should be seen as: some fun for a casual bet. If you are serious about maximising your returns then single bets are the way to go. 

And if you really want to maximise your returns then check out our list of the Best Horse Racing Tipsters – all independently proofed and verified here.