What are people betting on?

The (5) five most popular types of bets in Nigeria

It is common knowledge that betting culture is popular in Nigeria just like in many other countries across the world. However, have you ever wondered what types of bets are most commonly placed and why?

Here is our summary of the top five most popular bets  in Nigeria.

1×2 Betting

1X2 is arguably the most popular type of bet Nigerians have on their slips, and it is common with football and other sports where a draw is a possible outcome, unlike sports like basketball, tennis and baseball.

1X2 is a three-way bet where you back either the home team  designated as 1 to win, or the away team  to win which is referred to as 2, or a draw which is designated as X.

It is popular in scenarios where the bettor is fairly confident of what the outcome of the match would be. For example when one side is perceived to be stronger than the other or has often gotten a victory over the other.

There are different 1X2 bet types, these bet types include 1X2 First Half, 1X2 Second Half, and the 1X2 Handicap.

The 1X2 first half stakes on the outcome of only the first half of the play. The bet is voided if the first half isn’t completed for any reason, but is valid if the first half is completed and the second half is not. The 1X2 second half is like the 1X2 first half but only predicts the outcome of the second half.

The 1X2 handicap applies when one of the teams is significantly stronger than the other. The handicap lends an advantage to the weaker side that bettors hedge their bet against. You can use this factor to make your predictions about the winning team.

For example, between Manchester City and Brentford, odds of City winning are @ 1.16, while a Brentford win is at a whopping 18.00 and a draw is @ 8.70

There is however a 1.69 handicap at 2-0 for a Brenford win.

BetKing Specials (Kings Combo & Daily Specials) 

The BetKing specials are also quite popular, and for good reason. The Kings Combo is like the name suggests, a combination of different bets as one. This often increases the risk because the bet is void if any one of the bets in the combination isn’t correct, however, the odds are also quite high and are often a combination of teams that are favoured to win. So any of them not winning is often an upset.

Daily Specials are bets created from a range of markets related to one event and are boosted to offer higher odds often indicated by a lightning  icon.

For example, while the odds of Arsenal winning at Wolves is 1.57, there is a special 3.30 odds of Arsenal winning and Gabriel Jesus scoring.

Over & Under

Over or under bets are pretty straightforward – the goal is to bet on whether a particular scenario will either be under or over a total number. You do not have to predict the exact number, just whether the total number finishes over or under.

Over or under bets totals are often at 0.5 intervals, this is to ensure the bet does not produce a tie. The most common Over or Under bet is predicting the number of goals that will be scored in a match, with the  2.5 goals the most popular number staked on. The 2.5 over or under simply means that if two or fewer goals are scored, it would be under, and if three or more goals are scored, it would be over 2.5.

Another reason it is widely popular is because it does not concern itself with the winner of the match, so where a bet could be lost in the case of an upset, as long as the predicted number of goals are correct you win!

Virtual Betting

Virtual betting is particularly exciting because it is available around the clock.  It gives one an opportunity to bet and win at any time of the day or night by staking on virtual sports like football, tennis and more, with the outcome completely computer-generated.

Virtual sports typically use a random number generator to determine the outcome of the games, this creates an unbiased and unpredictable outcome.

The computer compares each team’s ability, those with better ability will be the favorites and those with a lower ability will have a lower chance of winning. This produces a more realistic scenario, also the randomness of virtual betting like real-life sports, makes it a favourite in Nigeria.

Player Scoring and Card Betting

This is betting whether a player will score and on the number of cards that will be dished out in the match. The idea is fairly simple -rather than betting on the final outcome of the game, you bet on the number of cards and/or if a particular player will score.

For example with 18 goals already scored this season, Manchester City’s Erling Halaand is a favorite pick to score.

Card betting works as under or over where bettors bet on whether there will be under or over an amount of cautions received during a fixture.