Cricket is more than a sport. It’s a way of life. It’s a source of happiness, wealth and endless memories for millions of people in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Britain and Australia.
While players earn the big bucks, every cricket fan has a chance to make money through the sport. We’re talking about cricket betting—below are popular bet types that can make you money in the sport.
1—Match Winner
If you’re a first-time punter, this is the bet to place. You pick the winning team, the loser or a tie. Predicting a match winner can be simple or straightforward depending on your love for cricket, betting skills and the teams involved.
For the uninitiated, a team wins in cricket if it scores more runs that its opponent or outs the opposing batsman. It’s a fairly simple concept to understand, especially if you commit to watch games regularly.
However, that doesn’t make it easy to predict cricket games. You see, all sports games are difficult to predict. For you to win, you need to learn the factors that influences games. They include weather conditions, injuries, form, coaching styles and the quality of players determine which team wins.
2—Handicaps
Some cricket punters are out to win, even if it’s a small amount. But for many experienced betting, winning means getting good returns from your money. That’s where handicap betting comes in.
Also known as point spreads, handicap betting involves predicting the margin of victory. Let’s say PBKS has a game against CSK. A sportsbook can provide these types of handicap odds:
- PBKS to win by +3.5 wickets
- CSK to win by +2.5 runs
- PBKS to win by -3.5 wickets
- CSK to win by -2.5 runs
Now, handicap betting needs you to research well to determine the team likely to win. Next, you have to predict the margin of victory. Of course, you also have to compare cricket betting odds to know which sportsbook promises the biggest returns for your money.
3—Totals
Sometimes it’s difficult to pick a winner in a cricket game. However, you might have an idea on whether it will be a high scoring or low-scoring game. This mainly happens when two in-form or out of form teams play each other.
Let’s say IPL bottom-placed teams Sunrisers Hyderabad are facing last-placed Rajasthan Royals. Both teams are underperforming in the IPL, and so it’s hard to predict which side comes out on top.
But based on your research, Sunrisers have been averaging five runs. On the other hand, the Royals have been conceding at least eight runs per game in the last five matches while scoring over 5 runs.
Now, you know both teams score more than five runs when they win and concede an equal number of runs when they lose. Next, you can place a total be of over five or 10 runs to maximize your profits.
4—Parlay Bets
How well do you understand cricket? Because if you’re ana vid fan, you don’t have to stick to one match. You can analyze four or more games. And place your predictions under one bet slip.
The advantage is that you can bet on multiple games using a small amount. More importantly, the odds of all the teams involved are accumulated. This increases your potential profits significantly.
But it also comes with a great risk. You win only if every prediction in your slip is correct. If you predict three games correctly and get one prediction wrong, you lose.
Nowadays, some betting sites offer an early cashout option to prevent losing all your money due to one wrong prediction. Usually, they let you cash out before the final game in your slip. And you cashout only a percentage of your potential profits.
5—Prop Bets
If you love taking risks, consider placing a prop bet. To be clear, experts do not recommend proposition betting to beginners. And that’s because they are naturally hard to predict.
- Top Batsman
- Top Bowler
- Maiden Over in a game
- Most sixes in a game
- First ball dot
- Batsman Matchup
- Method of First Dismissal
- Half-Century in Match
Evidently, many prop bets involve guessing. It’s difficult to predict the top batsman or bowler even if you watch every cricket game. Luckily, a correct prediction in prop bets usually attract a lot more money than picking a match winner.
As mentioned, though, you’re more likely to lose than to win in prop betting. Due to that, only place these bet types when you want to take a lucky guess.
6—Live Betting
Technically, live betting involves most of the bet types we’ve mentioned above. But it’s unique for one reason—you bet after a cricket game starts. As you would expect, there are benefits and disadvantages to this form of betting.
Let’s start with the good news. Live betting is exciting and attracts good odds. It’s exciting because you bet as the action happens. Any delays you make change the odds, and thus, your potential profits.
The downside of live betting is the pressure involved. You have to watch everything happening in a game to bet correctly. Additionally, there’s little time for decision making. And due to that, the risk of losing is high.
7—Futures
Can you predict of a cricket championship tournament? There’s plenty of money involved, especially if you predict before a season starts. Truth be told, you can also make good money toward the end of a cricket league season or tournament.
But it’s as difficult as predicting a proposition bet. The same applies to predicting the next coach to get fired or the player of the season. Of course, this doesn’t stop people from betting thanks to the huge potential profits involved.
Your Turn
If you love cricket, it’s time you made money betting on games. Chances are you’ve guessed the winner of different games correctly multiple times. Now, all you need is to find a good betting app and create an account. Think about the bet types we’ve mentioned above and bet on wager types that are relatively easy to predict.
