Soccer Betting Sites in South Africa

Online Soccer Betting in South Africa

Soccer is one of the most popular sports in South Africa, so it stands to reason that it will be one of the top sports to bet on in the country as well.

A truly global sport, there are almost always matches being played somewhere on the planet, with tournaments and leagues around the world among those that South Africans can bet on.

Domestic football is big in South Africa too and the top online bookmakers in the country usually have a solid range of markets to pick from for games involving teams such as Kaizer Chiefs.

Although soccer betting in South Africa is very popular, many sports fans in the country may not yet have tried it for themselves and are therefore unsure about how to get up and running. To help those people, we have put together our complete guide to soccer betting in South Africa.

Betting on sport has been around for a long, long time. And with soccer being one of the oldest sports in the world, people have been gambling on the outcome of games for over 100 years.

Like in other sports, soccer betting essentially boils down to people trying to predict the outcome of what will happen out there on the pitch. Pre-match betting is still the most common type of soccer betting but increasingly live in-play betting is getting more popular in South Africa too.

Soccer is a very fast-moving sport, which helps to make it particularly exciting to bet on. It is particularly unpredictable as well, with shock results relatively common. Even if a team is much better on paper, with more high-quality players, there is no guarantee that they will win a game.

In South Africa, online sports betting is now legal, which means people do not have to worry about any legal issues when they place a wager on the big game of the day. Plenty of soccer betting bookmakers are available, with South Africans able to make the most of welcome bonuses when they sign up for an account. Free bets and deposit bonuses are now commonly up for grabs, with betting sites in competition with each other to sign up new users.

Creating an account is a short, simple process even though South Africans also need to provide some verification documents - known as FICA - in order to get started with soccer betting. They will then have a wide choice of online payments to pick from, like a wire transfer, debit cards, e-wallets or even cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin to make their first deposit into an account.

Once funds have been added to a South African betting site, soccer fans just need to decide what they want to bet on. Some people use soccer betting tips to help them to make a selection.

Once they have made up their minds, they set the stake and confirm the bet, just like in other sports. Many top South African online bookmakers also have a cash-out option, which gives their customers a chance to lock in some guaranteed profit before the game is even over.

Soccer Betting Markets Explained

It is not uncommon for a big game in a competition like the English Premier League or the Champions League to have hundreds of different markets on sports betting sites.

However, here are some of the most common soccer betting markets - and what they mean:

• 1x2 (full-time result): A simple one to start off, 1x2 is the match odds market. 1 refers to the home team, 2 to the away team, and the x is the draw. Backers have to predict the final result.
• Accumulators: Very popular with soccer and around the world, accumulators are cherished as they offer a chance to win life-changing money from relatively small stakes. Backers combine a number of bets into the same wager in order to bump up the odds by a lot.
• Draw no bet: This bet does exactly what the name suggests. Backers pick a team to win and, if the final result of the game is a draw, their stake will be returned back into their betting account. 
• Double chance: Again, this bet is what bettors would expect. Double chance bets give players two opportunities to win. An example of a double chance bet would be backing the result to be either a draw or a win for the away team. It is particularly useful when backing the underdog. 
• Correct score: Predicting the correct score in soccer betting is famously difficult, but that does not stop a lot of fans of the game from trying. The correct score bet is only valid for the first 90 minutes, in the event of a match in a cup competition going to either extra time or penalties. 
• Halftime/fulltime: Similar to 1x2 bets, the extra facet of halftime/fulltime bets is that backers have to guess the result at both the break and the final whistle. For example, fans might want to bet on the away side to be in front at halftime but for the home team to turn it around by the end. 
• Halftime/fulltime correct score: This is the same as the above betting market, but the backer has to pick the score for the break and the end of the game, not just the result. 
• Goalscorers (first, last, and anytime): Very popular for soccer betting, goal scorer markets can provide a lot of value. It is possible to bet on who scores the first goal in the game, or the last goal, or even just betting on a player to score at any time in the game. Additionally, a lot of the top betting sites offer similar markets such as to score and win the game.
• Both teams to score: This bet is handy for games where goals are expected. As long as both teams in the game can find the net, then the BTTS bet will be a winning wager. 
• Result/both teams to score: A useful combination bet, backers pick the result of the match as well as betting that each side will be on target during the game as well. 
• Over/under goals: Goals markets are a very popular choice, with over/under the main choice. It is usually the case that over/under 2.5 goals is the default. This means if there are three or more goals in the game, over 2.5 wins, and if there are two or less, then under 2.5 goals wins. This bet works the same whether the number is 2.5 or 0.5, 1.5, 3,5, 4.5 and so on.
• Win to nil: If a backer thinks a team will win a game and keep a clean sheet, then the win to nil market on sportsbooks is going to be the right selection for them to make.
• European handicap: Handicaps are increasingly popular for soccer betting. Essentially, the handicap means teams have goals either added to or taken away from the number of goals they actually score in the game. For example, if Chelsea are -1 against Tottenham, they need to win by two clear goals or more for the bet to be a winner. Handicaps work in the other direction too. If a fan bets on Tottenham +2, then the bet wins even if Spurs actually lose the game by a single goal. Handicaps can provide a lot of value in matches where there is a strong favourite to win the game, with their odds to win very short as a result. European handicap markets are sometimes shown as EH for short on sports betting sites.
• Asian lines: Asian lines are another type of handicap. They are named as such as they originated in Asia, but these markets can now be found at sportsbooks all over the world, including in Ireland. The difference between European and Asian handicaps is that in Asian lines, the number can be a fraction, whereas it is always a full number on the European handicap. Chelsea -1.5 on the Asian handicap would be the equivalent to Chelsea -1 as an EH bet. The half goal means that the draw is eliminated from the potential outcome of the bet, whereas in EH the draw can result in a push and the stake being returned to the player as a result. The Asian and European handicaps are effectively a form of spread betting, but with sport. Asian lines can be used on various markets, including total goals scored, as well as for which team will win. 
• Specials: Among the ways that the top betting sites try to beat their competition in the industry is through the use of special bets. These can be a variety of markets, including request-a-bet wagers where customers can effectively build their own accumulators. Enhanced odds and price boosts are some of the other special bets that are widely available at SA bookmakers. There might also be special soccer markets offered at times, for example offering the chance to bet on which manager will be the next to be sacked in the English Premier League. Many online bookmakers also allow bets on soccer transfers nowadays, with wagers taken on which club a particular player will sign for before the end of the transfer window.