When you are betting on a sport that has a half time break, the betting markets are usually endless, this is especially the case with football. Rather than betting on who will win the game overall, you are able to also bet on the outcome at half-time. This is known as half-time betting.
What betting in this way allows punters to do is split the game down into smaller, more manageable sections. You are not waiting for the full 90 minutes to see who wins, with half-time betting, you are focusing your wager on the first 45 minutes only, or if you’re betting on a sport such as rugby with this market, the first 40 minutes.
Whatever happens, after this point does not affect your bet at all, you are simply focusing on the first half.
The Simplicity of Half Time Betting
One of the reasons why half-time betting has emerged as one of the more commonly used additional football markets in recent years has been because of the simplicity of this type of betting. For those who use the traditional win market, half-time betting offers the same options, with the only difference being that your bet stands for the first 45 minutes rather than the full 90.
The same three options are there, the home win, away win and draw, and you simply choose which one you would like. When it comes to the type of bet you place, just like the overall win market, you can place a single on any game you like or build various picks together to form an acca on multiple games.
Key Factors for Half Time Betting
Half-time betting is great for those who would like to approach football from a slightly different angle and think about things in a different way. These key factors really combine to deliver the half-time betting options for punters, and they are what sets this market apart as being a little different.
The first key factor to think about is the draw. This is something that many punters often disregard when looking at the 90-minute market, not many people like to bet on draws, as they are hard to predict. However, with the half time betting market, you cannot do that. Draws are far more likely to happen because you are placing a bet on a market that gives the teams less time to score and win the game.
On a number of occasions, when you start looking through this market, you will see that the draw is favourite on the half time betting market, even more so when the game looks as though it will be a close one. If you are a person who never, or rarely, bets on the draw for the 90-minute market, then you will have to change that when you approach the 45-minute betting options.
Secondly, there’s an additional element of the game you need to look at, and that is whether the teams playing are either fast starters in games or slow starters. This is not something you would usually look at for the 90-minute market, but it does affect the half-time betting market, with less time to get ahead, which will impact those who are slow starters.
There are many stats available online that can help with this, such as the average time a team scores their first goal and concedes their first goal, though, of course, with stats like this, one bad game can create a big imbalance in the stats, so look out for that. More often than not, you will be able to get a better grip on a team by watching them and seeing how they play in the first 20 minutes, which will help those betting on their own team or others in their division who they see.
Finally, you also need to take into consideration any factor that could make the game tighter at the start than a regular game. For example, is the game a local derby, is there a lot at stake and is it a game that both teams want to avoid losing as their most important factor of it? All of these are likely to lead to a slow, cagey game that has few early chances. This is more likely to bring the draw into play on the half-time market, and in these games, the draw will almost certainly be favourite.
Understanding the nature of the game is something else that only really applies when you are looking at the half-time market or is something that has a bigger impact on this market.
What Else Can You Bet On At Half-Time?
Pretty much any market you can bet on at full-time you can bet on at half-time. Even if the bookie doesn’t offer a market for it on a site you can definitely request almost any market that applies after 90 minutes to be applied only to the first half.
You can bet on correct score, both teams to score, goalscorers, corners, cards, half with the most goals, penalty to be awarded, over/under goal markets, odd/even, etc., etc.
Most markets will have better odds compared with 90 minute markets because there is less time available for the scenario to occur. Some bets, however, like a 1-0 result will often have lower odds at half-time compared to full time because that result is more likely in 45 minutes compared to 90 minutes.
Half-time bets can also be included in many bet builders and accumulators.
Is Half-Time Betting Difficult?
In terms of getting the outcome correct, half time betting is no different to the outright win market. However, there is a case to be made that this betting market is a little more difficult than the regular one because you may need a little more luck along the way.
With just 45 minutes to impact the game, teams need to be more clinical, they need to start fast and ultimately have less chance to score if they want to be ahead at half-time and land the bet for you. The prices do reflect this, though, for example, in the 90-minute market, the draw will sometimes be the outsider of the three options, while with half-time betting, the draw is often favourite.
We’ve all seen teams struggle to break through until late in the game, a game they are dominating but can’t score in until close to the end of the game. Betting on these teams to win on the half-time market would see you lose, even though they won the game outright in the end. Therefore, more so than the 90-minute market, you do need luck on your side here if you are going with a team to win.
For that reason alone, some people would say that half-time betting is more difficult than 90-minute betting, as you have less time for your team to go out and get a goal.
