Another Football Betting Idea

I came up with another football betting idea last week to coincide with some of the European leagues coming back for a new season.

The idea was to pick one team in four leagues and then bet on their respective games to have both teams score in the first and second halves.

I didn't plan to go all-in on the idea. Last week was a dummy run. It did, however, turn out to be a profitable trial.

Well, it WILL turn out to be a profitable trial.

As I was struggling to come up with my own teams to select, I contacted four friends to pick a team. For example, I sent a text to one of them asking 'Name me the first French league side you can think of'. I didn't explain why. All I wanted was a team. He picked Monaco.

After the on-the-spot questioning, I ended up with the following sides:

Arsenal
Monaco
Juventus
Borussia Dortmund

Once I had the four teams written down, I bet on their next league games to have both teams score in both halves in a 25p Lucky 15. Therefore, laid out £3.75 in total.

Arsenal came very close. Their game with Chelsea was 2-2 at half-time, but the Blues won 3-2 in full-time.

Monaco? Well, Monaco's game closed 0-0. The least written about that one the better.

Juventus, who I disliked seeing when it was suggested to me (it's my fault because I didn't explain why I wanted my friend to select the team) played Chievo. Their game was 1-1 at the interval. They won 3-2 in the end meaning both teams did indeed score in both halves. The odds on this happening was 25/1.

The Bundesliga doesn't kick off its new year until tomorrow night, so I have to wait until Sunday to see whether Borussia Dortmund and their opponents - Leipzig - win for me.

Whatever happens over the weekend, the trial worked out okay.

If the game doesn't work in my favour, the bet will return £12.75. This is a profit of £9. With Lucky 15's if only one selection is a winner, the firm doubles the odds of the winner, so the Juve result is - as it stands - a 50/1 win if the German teams don't score in both halves.

If the teams both score in the two portions of the game, my bet will return £70.63. This means a profit of £66.88.

I have been offered the option of cashing out early. The bookmakers are dangling £11.41 under my nose. It's £7.66 profit, but it isn't an enticing offer as I'll make either £1.34 more than this if I leave the bet to lose.

Or I hold out, it wins, and I make £59.22 profit on top.

If I decide to continue with this experiment for the rest of the season, I don't think I'll stick with the same teams. I have an idea of how to mix things up.

I doubt I'll use the French leagues moving forward, but - for this example - I will.

In week one, I went with Monaco who were playing Lille. In week two, I'd go with the other team. So, if I were to play this week, I'd bet on Lille and Guingamp then, in the following week of games, I'll bet on Guingamp and whoever is next up on their schedule.

I have a day or so to decide if I want to give it another go this weekend...