BEST WORLD CUP SPORTSBOOKS

Note: The Sportsbooks listed below are ordered by the potential monetary benefit for World Cup betting and are not necessarily listed according to SBR Ratings. Although all sportsbooks listed below are in good standing, players may wish to view the SBR Rating Guide for overall ratings and utilize the SBR search feature for detailed sportsbook history.

Top World Cup Sportsbooks

There are two common ways to bet on the winner of a World Cup soccer match. A handicap bet is similar to a spread bet in football or basketball. You select a World Cup team with a game spread, and if your team "covers", you win your bet. For example, if you bet "USA +1" versus England, there are three possible wagering outcomes: USA soccer wins outright (winning your wager), USA loses by exactly one goal (your wager "pushes" or ties, and is refunded), or USA loses by more than one goal, and you lose your wager. 

The other common way to bet on a game is with a moneyline (ML). On a game moneyline wager, you pick one of three outcomes: either World Cup team to win, or that they will tie, a draw.  One big difference between betting on soccer and most other U.S. sports is how draws are handled. If you place a moneyline wager on a soccer team and the game ends in a draw, your bet loses. A moneyline determines the odds paid out on a winning bet. For example, if you bet on USA soccer +350, $100 would pay winnings of $350 (plus the return of your original $100). A moneyline of -200 risking $100 would pay winnings of $50 (plus the return of your original $100) if it won.

Another interesting way to bet on a game is on the total, which works similar to a total on any other sport. If you bet over 2 goals, there are three possible outcomes: 3+ are scored (and your wager wins); exactly 2 goals scored (your wager pushes, and your money is refunded); or fewer than 2 goals are scored (your World Cup total bet loses).

Bets on handicaps, moneylines and totals in soccer have a major difference with U.S. Sports. In Soccer, the result of your bet is decided by the score at the end of regulation time before overtime is played. Regulation includes time added for injuries (which is often an extra 2-4 minutes). Goals scored in overtime (or a shoot-out) do not count towards those wagers. For example, if you bet on a draw at +300, the game was tied 1-1, and England Soccer scores a goal in overtime, your draw bet still wins.

In-game betting (or live betting) is a wager placed while the World Cup game is being played. The spreads and/or prices are constantly changing as time elapses and the situation changes. The spread and total offered on this normally refer to the final score, including goals that have already occurred. For example, if the USA is up 1-0 and you bet on USA -0.5, your bet will win if no more goals are scored.

Second half betting treats the second half as a separate game. Similar to game bets, it does not include scoring from overtime. Any spread or total offered does not include any scoring from the first half. For example, if you bet over 1.5 goals for the second half when the score was 2-0, there must be 2 more goals scored in the second half of teh World Cup match for your bet to win.

When placing any type of bet, a player should be aware of the house hold, or advantage. The sportsbook hold is what percent of a player's money will be lost on average. For example, if a book offers a handicap of Britain -0.5 -110 / USA +0.5 -110, the hold is about 4.5%. If you risked $110 to win $100 on both sides of the same game, you would win $100 and lose $110, for a net loss of $10 out of $220 risked. $10 / $220 = 4.5%.

Another way to describe the house hold or edge is by describing the line in "cents". A 20-cent line is the normal rate, and has a house edge of 4.5%. Any rate less than this (for example Pinnacle Sportsbook's 6-cent line on game day) is known as reduced vigorish (or reduced vig) because the house's edge is smaller. The less vigorish a player pays, the more likely he is to win in the long run.

Another common bet on a game is a half time / full time wager. This is basically a 2-selection parlay. For each of the first half and game, you must select a team to win or draw. Just as in moneyline bets for the game, a draw in the first half makes any team pick a losing play for that time period.

A Clean sheet bet is whether your team will shut out the other team. For example, if you bet "Will the U.S. have a clean sheet", your bet will win if the other team does not score any goals; if one or more are scored, it will lose.

Proposition bets (or prop bets) are wagers on something other than a spread/moneyline/total. There are all sorts of prop bets available in World Cup soccer, including bets on yellow and red cards, corner kicks, off-sides, first goal scorer, and just about any other event that can occur in a soccer match. Proposition bets frequently have sportsbook specific rules, so it is important to actually read those rules if you are taking part in prop betting.

A Future bet is any wager on how far a team will advance. For example, you could bet on whether the U.S. will advance out of its group stage, or whether Brazil will advance to the final match. An Outright is a bet on who will win the World Cup. A bet on how many wins a team will finish with, in any league, is often categorized as a futures bet. Futures betting usually has its own sportsbook category but is considered a type of prop bet, as it is not one of the three standard ways (side, moneyline or total) of wagering on an event.

A lot of sportsbooks give out special  World Cup bonuses. A sportsbook bonus is incentive for a player to try a new sportsbook (or keep playing if he has lost his balance). There are two common forms of sportsbook bonus. The first is a cash bonus. This is money that is immediately added to your account after depositing. For example, if you deposited $100 and received a 100% cash bonus, your betting account would immediately have $200 after your deposit. A second type of bonus is a free play. This bonus gives you money you can wager one time, and the free play risk amount will disappear whether you win or lose with that wager. With any bonus, there is a rollover requirement. Most books add your bonus and deposit, and multiply that by the rollover requirement to come up with the total amount needed to wager before cashing out. For example, if you deposited $100 and collected a $100 World Cup bonus, your rollover base is $200. If your had 8x rollover, you would multiply your base of $200 times 8, giving you a requirement of $1600. Until you give that sportsbook $1600 in bets, you have not earned the bonus. Most books do not allow withdrawals or have significant penalties for withdrawing until you meet this rollover.

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