How to Place a Bet
If you are a beginner who doesn’t know how to place a sports bet, then you are at the right place. First of all, making a wager on sports is a very simple task that is super easy to understand.
To place a sports bet, you will first need to find a reputable Nigerian bookmaker. Compare several of sportsbooks before choosing one and select the one that best suits your preferences. Then, access its official betting site and register an account.
This is a very straightforward process that requires your personal information as well as choosing a username and password. You must also verify your betting account, which requires sending photos of one or several identification documents.
When you complete all of that, it’s time to deposit some funds so you can place a sports bet. Access the Cashier section and select the Deposit option. Here, you will need to choose a payment method, type in an amount, and provide any required banking details.
Once you fund your account, go to the Sports section and explore the available categories. Select a sport that you like and browse through the sporting events. Click or tap on an event that catches your attention and explore the given betting markets. Each of them allows you to bet on a specific outcome.
If you aren’t aware of what they represent, then make sure to study them before you use them. Also, make sure to read the details about the betting odds, presented in this article.
Now, select a betting market and type in an amount that you want to place on the sporting bet. After that, confirm the bet slip and wait for the sporting event to begin. The bookmaker will give you a payout if your sports bet comes through.
- A large number of betting markets
- Betting with cryptocurrencies
- In-play betting and live-streaming
Gain Knowledge to Win More Sports Bets
Before placing a sports bet at a Nigerian bookmaker, you must gain knowledge about several crucial things. Here we mean not only of the sporting events that you are interested in, but also of the betting part. Below you will find a few tips that will increase your understanding of sports betting.
Don’t Get Tempted to Add Low Odds Bets to Your Betslip
As you may know, the low betting odds mean that a team has a better chance of winning. But, nothing is certain in the world of sports, as the favourite can often lose or draw a match.
Things get more complicated when you add numerous selections with low betting odds on your bet slip. The more selections you include on your bet slip, the lower your chances of winning a payout. Actually, this is true with both low and high betting odds.
However, with the higher football odds you can earn a bigger payout. To reach the same payout with the lower betting odds, you will need to include several selections. In the end, you will need to successfully guess the outcome of several matches instead of one with big betting odds.
Never Let Emotions Decide Your Bet
There are many sports fans in Nigeria who are placing bets at the bookmakers. But, many of them make the mistake of choosing a bet based on their emotions. This is especially true for die-hard fans who are wagering on their team to win the matches.
It is never a good choice as you can end up losing a lot of money. Cheering for your favourite team and betting on it are two different things. As a fan, you are always hoping that your team will manage to win a match. But, in reality, you might not notice that the opposite team has a better chance of winning.
In football odds, as well as in any other sport, even the favourites can fail to win a match. So when placing a sports bet, make sure to lower your emotions and focus on reality.
Emotional bets are destined to fail, as the punter that places them is not making a realistic decision. The bookmakers make a lot of money from bettors such as these.
It helps if you totally avoid betting on your favourite team, or even on the team that you hate the most. There are plenty of sporting events out there that you can focus on.
Trust the Numbers and Not Your Gut
Trusting your gut on a sports bet is a very similar mistake to betting based on your emotions. When placing a bet, always check the stats and betting odds of every event that you are interested in.
The statistics will reveal the form of the teams as well as their past matches between them. This can provide you with some crucial information that can help you decide on the bet. It is useful for both pre-match and live bets.
When placing a live bet, you should always trust the live statistics as they show how the teams perform. They are a great indicator of how the match might end up.
Compare Odds
The betting odds are among the most important features at the Nigerian bookmakers. They show how much money you can win from wagering on a specific betting market.
But, the football odds, as well as all other sports odds, vary from one bookmaker to the other. Also, they are different for each betting market. Below we will reveal a few additional tips about the betting odds that can get you bigger payouts.
Check and Compare the Odds From Different Betting Operators
As mentioned earlier, every bookmaker has unique betting odds. They tend to use different software that determines the odds of each sporting event. Operators are also adjusting the betting odds according to the wagers placed by the punters.
If a certain team gets more bets to win than the opposite team, then the bookmaker will adjust the odds. It will lower the odds on the favourite and increase the ones on the underdog. This will make the punters place bets on the opposite team, which will lower the sportsbooks’ exposure.
As a result, the odds will differ from the ones at the other bookmakers. Yet, there are some operators that are giving us more generous betting odds.
For this reason, it is super important to check them before registering a betting account. After finding a few bookmakers with good betting odds, the next step is to compare them. Start off by comparing the odds from the betting markets you use the most.
Achieve the Highest Winnings as Possible
You can achieve the highest possible payout only at the bookmakers with the best betting odds. Yet, the biggest odds to win today are the ones that are under the influence of boosters. These are special promotions that many Nigerian bookmakers are offering to their punters.
They can make your betting odds even bigger if you place a certain number of selections on a bet slip. Those selections must also feature certain minimum odds in order to be valid.
Sportsbooks are also offering enhanced odds on selected sporting events. They also offer bigger odds but apply only to specific betting markets. Combining them with the booster promo will get you the highest potential win at the Nigerian bookmakers.
Don’t Always Bet on the Heavy Favorites
Another great tip that you should keep in mind is to avoid betting on the heavy favourite at all times. The teams or players that the bookmakers label as ultimate favourites will feature the lowest odds.
This means that you will need to bet a lot of money in order to get a bigger payout. However, placing a large amount is a very risky thing as there is always the possibility of losing a sports wager.
Anything can happen during a sporting event as nothing is certain on the field. The favourites may fail to win a match where the odds were on their side. They might even go on a bad streak and lose or draw multiple events in a row causing a lot of punters to lose their bets.
The underdogs on the other hand have lower chances of winning, which means that they will offer bigger betting odds. You can even place smaller amounts and win some pretty decent payouts in return.
No one can predict the outcome of a match with absolute certainty. However, you can use the statistics to help you make the best decision. The stats might indicate that the favourite might fail to win a match. This will give you an opportunity to capitalize on the opposite betting odds.
Betting Systems and Betting Guides
Before you go on and place a sports bet, we should also inform you about the betting systems. They are basically strategies that you can follow at any Nigerian bookmaker. One of the most used betting systems is the following:
- Arbitrage Betting
- The Martingale System
- The Fibonacci System
Arbitrage Betting
First, we have arbitrage betting, which is a type of sports wagering that guarantees a profit. For this betting system to work, you will first need to find two bookmakers that offer different odds for the same match.
After that, you will need to place an opposite bet at both sportsbooks. The use of an arbitrage calculator is very important for this strategy, as it shows which bet to place at each bookmaker. It will also reveal how much money to use for the two bets.
When you finish placing the arbitrage wagers, all you need to do is wait for the match to end. When that happens, you will manage to earn a profit, regardless of the outcome of the sporting event.
Now, it’s important to look for bookmakers that feature a bigger difference in the betting odds. The bigger the difference, the better the payout. Make sure to avoid the matches that feature smaller differences, as you will need a bigger budget to get a solid payout.
We should also mention that you can use the arbitrage betting system one pre-match and live events. It is better to use it on the live matches, as the bookmakers tend to quickly adjust the betting odds on pre-matches.
The Martingale System
Next, we have the Martingale system, which is a negative progression strategy. Punters that use this system will need to double their stakes on the next bet after suffering a loss. This will make them cover their previous losses and earn a decent payout.
It is one of the most basic strategies out there that many sports as well as casino punters are using. Although it is a very simple betting system, it does require careful bankroll management.
With this in mind, you are able to reduce potential losses during an extended period of bad luck. Only by understanding the mechanics of the system and applying it with caution, will you be able to use it successfully.
For example, let’s say you want to use the good football odds of a match between Chelsea and Arsenal. Now, you may bet NGN1,000 on Chelsea to win the match, but the team ends up losing the match.
On the following match between Chelsea and Tottenham, you back the home team again but this time with a wager of NGN2,000. This time you manage to win the bet slip as Chelsea wins the match. As a result, you will cover your previous losses and earn a good profit.
The Fibonacci System
Lastly, the Fibonacci system is yet another popular betting strategy that many find difficult at first. But, once you start to use it you will discover how easy it actually is.
The Fibonacci system is a negative betting strategy that follows the same idea as the Martingale system. It requires you to increase your bet every time you lose a sports bet. But, you are not doubling the previous stake. Instead, you are using the Fibonacci sequence to determine the next wager.
It not only covers your losses like the Martingale system but also provides a much bigger payout. However, the bigger profit only appears after a few losses, as this sequence has a slower approach.
The first 10 numbers of the Fibonacci sequence are 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and 34. It works by adding up the previous numbers to get the next one. In the betting world, you are adding up your previous two stakes to determine the next one.
Now, if you are planning on using this betting system, make sure to have a bigger budget. As the bets increase exponentially, you will need to have sufficient funds to cover the losses. The more wagers you make without a payout, the bigger the losses will be.
Read Betting Guides
It is very important for beginners to read betting guides as they will surely increase their knowledge. They can provide you with crucial information about sports and their biggest competitions and leagues.
That way you will know which sporting events to look for when placing bets. You will also get familiar with the types of bets that each of the sports is offering.
We recommend you to visit our website betting-sites.ng, as there you can find all kinds of useful betting guides. It features not only information about the biggest sports and competitions but also about the key features of sports betting.
It is also important to read guides about the different types of betting markets, live betting, statistics, etc. Only when you are fully aware of the key features you will be set to place sports bets the right way.
Odds
In the different parts of the world, you will come across unalike betting odds. They tend to provide alternative ways of presenting the same outcome and feature no difference in the payouts. There are 3 types of odds that you should know about:
- Money Line Odds
- Fractional Odds
- Decimal Odds
Money Line Odds
American bookmakers are the ones that use the money line odds. Some refer to them as American odds. It is worth noting that they come with a positive (+) and negative sign (-).
The plus sign indicates that the team is an underdog and it shows the amount you’ll win for every NGN100 stake. Now, the negative sign shows us the favourite and it indicates how much money you need to stake to win NGN100.
Fractional Odds
Fractional odds find their usage in the UK and Irish bookmakers. You will find them written either with a slash (/) or a hyphen (-). An example of such betting odds is 5/1.
Here, the bookmaker indicates that you will win NGN5 against every NGN1 you wager and get your stake back. In other words, if you win such a wager, you will get a total payout of NGN6.
Decimal Odds
Finally, the decimal odds are the ones that found their use in Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. They are much easier to understand and work with.
You can instantly spot, which team is the favourite and which is the underdog. The decimal odds show how much money you will win for every NGN1 you will wager. To calculate the potential payout, you will need to multiply your stake with the decimal odds.
Short-Term and Long-Term Bets
The last thing that we’ll cover are the short-term and long-term bets and their odds. First of all, let us explain what they represent. Short-term bets are the wagers that you place on sporting events that are about to happen or are ongoing.
Long-term bets involve wagering on the outcome of sporting events that will get results in the distant future. Some types of bets that are long-term are predicting the champion of a league or the top scorer.
Now, the short-term bets come with smaller odds than long-term bets. Short-term bets are easier to win as you have the latest statistics and knowledge of the matches. This is not the case with long-term bets, as anything can happen during the season. As a result, you get to enjoy bigger betting odds.
FAQ about Odds
Betting odds represent the probability of an event happening in sports betting. They indicate how much you can potentially win relative to your stake.
Odds are typically presented in three formats: fractional, decimal, and moneyline. Fractional odds show your profit relative to your stake, decimal odds include your stake, and moneyline odds show how much you need to bet or how much you can win.
If you see odds like 2/1 (fractional) or +200 (moneyline), it means that for every unit you bet, you can potentially win two units in addition to your stake.
Odds-on (or shorter odds) imply that the event is more likely to happen, resulting in a lower potential payout. Odds-against (or longer odds) suggest a less likely outcome but offer a higher potential payout.
Bookmakers calculate odds based on various factors, including team/player performance, historical data, and public opinion. Sophisticated algorithms help determine fair odds that incorporate the bookmaker’s margin.
Yes, you can convert odds between fractional, decimal, and moneyline formats using online calculators or formulas readily available on betting websites.
Implied probability is the likelihood of an event occurring as indicated by the odds. To calculate it, use the formula: Implied Probability (%) = 1 / Odds.
Fixed odds betting involves placing a wager on a specific outcome with predetermined odds. Spread betting allows you to bet on the margin by which an outcome exceeds expectations.
Yes, various betting strategies, such as value betting and bankroll management, involve analyzing odds to make informed bets. Research and understanding of odds play a crucial role in successful sports betting.
To find the best odds, it’s advisable to compare offerings from different bookmakers or sportsbooks. Online betting platforms often provide competitive odds, and odds comparison websites can be helpful too.
Yes, odds can change due to various factors like team news, betting volume, and market sentiment. It’s essential to monitor odds and place bets at the right time to maximize potential returns.
While it’s challenging to beat the odds consistently, some professional bettors use advanced strategies and in-depth analysis to gain an edge. However, there are no guarantees in sports betting, and it carries risks.
Final Words: Betting Odds
Betting odds is one of the key features of Nigerian bookmakers that you should be aware of at all times. They determine how much money you can potentially win from a betting market. They tend to vary from one bookmaker to the other, which is important to compare them.
That way you can get the biggest possible wins. Make sure to keep in mind the tips that we’ve provided on this page. Also, explore the guides posted at betting-sites.ng, as they can help you increase your knowledge of sports betting.