It may surprise you to know that it is entirely possible to make a living from football, without having to possess the skill of a Premiership star – Betting on Football is a huge, huge market, and it’s possible to make very good money betting on the outcome of matches, both in this country and around the world.The key of course is to avoid betting with your heart – We’d all love to see our team win 3-0 every week, but take it from me (as a Plymouth Argyle fan!) that just isn’t going to happen. In fact you should forget all about the “usual” bets that 90% of people who bet on football place.

Avoid the Sucker Bets

Think about the last time you placed a bet on football – whether it was at the ground, or in the local bookies. What sort of bets were the bookies advertising? The answer of course is the type of bets that make THEM the most money. And the sort of bets that your average punter who doesn’t really understand professional betting laps up every time.. Correct Score and First Goalscorer bets. These are by far the most popular bets placed by the novice punter, and the bookies just love them.. Think about it though:

How hard is it to accurately predict the EXACT score of any match? How can you say for certain that the keeper isn’t going to fumble an easy catch or the referee award a penalty in the 94th minute meaning your 2-0 prediction just went out the window? The simple answer is you CAN’T accurately predict the correct score, using any kind of law of averages – all you can do is GUESS. And guesswork won’t bring you regular profits I can assure you.

So let’s look at First Goalscorer.. The odds on the in-form strikers are usually in the region of 6/1 to 8/1. “Great”, says your average punter.. “Our striker scores 20 a season.. that’s one every other game more or less, I’m quids-in” – But of course how many of those goals were the FIRST goal scored in any game. probably no more than 7 or 8 I would say. Excluding the keepers, but including 3 subs per side, there are 26 possible scorers of that first goal. Then of course there’s the fact that the game could finish goalless (27 possible outcomes) or the only goal(s) of the game could be own-goals which don’t count (28+ possible outcomes). Betting on a 6/1 shot in a 28+ horse race also isn’t going to make you profits in the long term.

And the worse thing you can do? Combine both first scorer AND correct score bets – You’d be better off chucking a dart at the selection coupon. GUESSWORKS GETS YOU NOWHERE!!

Get tips from a Professional

That’s why I advocate the use of Professional Football tipsters – these are usually people who have developed a rating system which processes each team’s current form, home/away records, injuries/suspensions etc, previous record against opposition etc, and gives an indication as to the likely winner of every single match. They will then compare that against the odds available at bookmakers to identify a handful of games each week that represent true value and which over time would return a healthy profit (which it should never be forgotten is the main aim!).

There are many hundreds of football tipsters out there, some are good and some are truly awful. There are three that I recommend you try:

1. Copy the Bookie is a “Lay Tipping Service” – That means they advise you the result to bet against. You then place a “lay bet” with a bookmaker such as Betfair. For example if Copy the Bookie told you to LAY the home team, you would win if the away team won, and you would also win if the match ended in a draw. Out of the 3 possible outcomes of a match, only 1 is a losing outcome. This flips traditional betting on its head and can be a fantastic way of building up your profits as it’s sometimes easier to pick losers than winners!

2. Football Formula is the brainchild of Brian Webb, a footie fan who learnt the need to seperate heart from head when it came to betting on football. He publishes all his results on the site after the games so you can see before you join how successful he is – and best of all he only charges £5 a week (at the time of writing) which should be more than covered by the up to nine tips he sends out every week.

3. Kick Off Pro is an “Internet Profit Syndicate” of football fans. Membership costs less than £1.43 a day, and they offer specific and private advice that covers professionally researched Lay Bets, Win Bets, Doubles, Trebles, Under and Over 2.5 Goals plus Player to Score, Total Goals, HT/FT Scores and much, much more.

Use Free Bets to get you started

When first starting your betting career, it’s worth setting aside a little fund to use, ensuring you have enough in reserve to place a fair number of bets, and of course only bet what you can afford to lose.

You should maximise your bank by taking advantage of the introductory “free bet” offers from the major bookies. Usually these involve the bookie matching either your first deposit, or your first bet. Bet365 are one of the most generous bookies for their introductory offers, but you should also look at Blue Square, 888sport and Victor Chandler.

Get the best odds – every time!

You should also ensure that you are getting the best odds for EVERY bet that you place – Bookies odds can vary by a large amount, and by squeezing extra value out of each bet by using the bookie with the best odds, it’s possible to boost your monthly returns by 25% or more! Click here to compare the odds from all the bookies in one place and find the best odds.

So, is it possible to make a living from betting on football? Yes, it is, but it takes a lot of self-discipline and a fair element of risk. It’s not for everyone – however even if you don’t make a full time income out of betting on football, hopefully these pointers will help you avoid making the mistakes that lead to 90% of most people losing money!