How to Bet on Unusual UK Sports
Posted by Harry Kane on Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Whilst it’s possible to wager on almost every conceivable sport played in the UK, it’s very to say that some disciplines are more popular amongst punters than others.
For example, 97,4% of all horse racing fans wager on the action as it unfolds an estimated whilst 86.4% of the national boxing audience also speculate on fights in real-time and as they watch.
Conversely, cycling is not a sport that immediately springs to mind when managing your betting bankroll, whilst disciplines such as darts, Aussie rules football and baseball are also less popular with punters in the UK.
In this article, we’ll offer some tips on how you can profit from these sports, whilst asking what strategies are linked to long-term success.
1. Betting on Darts – The Key Considerations
The sport of darts has endured numerous fluctuations during the last 35 years, having experienced a peak in popularity during the 1980s and a decline in television coverage prior to 1994.
At this time, the sport was gripped by an acrimonious split, as the top 16-ranked players broke away from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form the World Darts Council and the PDC Tour.
In more recent times, skilled promoter Eddie Hearn has also worked tirelessly to create an international PDC circuit, which features a number of stellar events and some incredible cash prizes.
With the BDO also going strong, there’s ample opportunity for punters to wager on darts in the modern age.
This sport is also home to a number of different betting markets, with the most popular of these enabling you to speculate on outright winners.
This can take the form of both match betting and speculating on the winner of a knockout tournament, with the latter tending to offer generous odds and potentially large returns on your wagers.
Match betting in darts is particularly effective from a strategic perspective, as the nature of the sport eliminates the draw in knockout tournaments and reduces the amount of potential outcomes.
Of course, match betting doesn’t always offer the best possible value, particularly when backing a favourite who’s available at incredibly short odds. With this in mind, you may want to consider accessing a niche darts betting market that offers more favourable pricing.
One of the most simple and effective options is to bet on how many 180s will be thrown during a single game, with this typically represented as a so-called over/under market.
The typical benchmark here is set at 4.5, and your task is to speculate on whether the total amount throw will be more or less than this threshold.
You should base you wager on the length of the match and the quality of the participants, and this can be a relatively easy way of increasing your returns. Beyond this, punters with a greater appetite for risk can also engage with several more expansive markets. For example, you can wager on whether a player will complete the highest possible checkout of 170 in any given game, with this usually available at odds of 20/1.
Similarly, you can bet on whether or not your chosen match will finish with a successful throw at the bullseye, with this also priced at an average of 20/1 by bookmakers.
The question that remains, of course, is how can you combine these and other markets to create a winning betting strategy in darts?
Well, knowledge and understanding are central to any successful wager, and in darts you’ll need to be particularly aware of the format of specific tournaments and individual player head-to-head records.
This information can help to inform your outright betting selections, as you look to determine which players fare well during longer matches (the PDC World Championship final is played over 13 sets) and identify seminal trends in head-to-head contests.
Darts is also home to a thriving in-play market, and there’s a very good reason for this. More specifically, each set is broken down into individual legs of 501, with the winner being the first to achieve this score whilst finishing on a double.
These legs can take an average of two-minutes to complete, and by betting on the winner of each one you can create frequent wagering opportunities with relatively generous odds.
So, whilst in-play betting is available across most sports, darts fans can really leverage this to their advantage when chasing returns!
It’s also important to note that both BDO and PDC darts tournaments run throughout the year, so punters who like to make frequent and short-term bets can really profit from its numerous markets!
2. Cycling Betting – What you Need to Know
Cycling is another traditional and respected sport that’s rarely associated with betting, despite the fact that it offers players access to a full calendar of events and markets.
Given this, cycling is actually a deceptively engaging sport to wager on, regardless of whether you’re a keen lycra enthusiast or are simply looking to find new ways of spending your bankroll!
OK, we hear you ask, but how can I get started betting on cycling? Undeniably, the most popular markets in this sport pertain to outright betting, as you look to wager on the winners of high-profile events such as World Championships or the iconic Tour De France.
During the Grand Tour events that encompass the very best in outdoor cycling, you can also speculate about which riders will win specific stages in pursuit of the ultimate prize.
These races also see a so-called ‘King of the Mountains’ crowned, with this honour awarded to the best performing climber in a cycling road event.
Even if you’re not a fan of outright betting, however, there are other cycling markets that you can wager on throughout the year. This includes match betting between two riders, where you bet on one to outperform the other in a particular selection.
This makes for a terrific in-play wager too, as you back a trailing rider and back him to win a specific head-to-head at dramatically improved odds.
If you’re in the market for a more rewarding wager that offers potentially higher returns, it may also be worth speculating on the precise winning margin in any given race.
Whilst this type of wager requires a certain amount of knowledge regarding a particular race format the competing riders, it can certainly provide a significant boost to your bankroll. So, whether you think that a certain stage will be won by a solo breakaway or a nail-biting, wheel-to-wheel finish, you’ll be sure to find competitive odds available online.
From a strategic perspective, cycling’s formulaic nature and status as an individual sport means that bettors must place a particularly strong emphasis on data and statistics.
Of course, the use of information is a tried-and-tested strategy that’s universally applied across all sports and betting markets, but it undoubtedly has particular merit in the world of cycling.
Rider form can be particularly informative, although you must take care to research how competitors fare across different types of race. Some are renowned for their incredible sprint speeds, for example, whereas others are prestigious climbers who perform better in testing outdoor conditions.
When making head-to-head selections, you should also consider how your preferred riders have performed against one another in the past.
This not helps you to identify value in published odds, but it also creates a scenario where you can identify past trends and make more informed decisions.
Above all else; remember that cycling represents a specialist discipline that is only suitable for knowledgable punters, and its associated markets should not be entered into lightly!
3. Baseball Betting – Tapping into One of America’s Most Popular Sports
Despite having its origins in the British game of rounders and its repute as one of America’s most popular national sports, baseball has yet to capture the imagination of most Brits.
However, it retains a cult following of fans nationwide, many of whom love nothing more than betting on the action in-play and leveraging their unique knowledge base to make them money!
Baseball betting is undoubtedly becoming more popular in the UK, and there are several reasons for this.
One of the most compelling is the fact that more than 2,000 Major League Baseball (MLB) games are played each year in the States, creating ample opportunities to wager and pursue short-term gains.
There’s a number of viable markets too, with match betting especially rewarding for baseball fans. After all, it’s unusual for any game to end in a draw, as tied games are usually settled by an additional innings where time allows.
With this in mind, there are only two available outcomes with match betting, and this makes it far easier to identify value in specific odds and make more informed choices.
Baseball is also home to run-line betting, which offers a great opportunity to speculate on the winning margin in a particular game. This works in a similar way to handicap betting, as it enables you to bet on the match favourites at improved odds without overly compromising on your chances of winning.
The typical benchmark for run-line betting starts at 1.5, and when you apply this to the favourites you’ll need them to win by two runs or more for the wager to come in.
However, if you apply it to the underdog and the side with the longest odds, this outfit will need to lose by one run or less if you’re to secure a return.
This definitely allows you to enhance the value proposition associated with published odds, increasing your potential returns and boosting your available bankroll in the process.
Baseball is also home to several longer-term and outright betting markets, across iconic competitions such as the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) in the MLB.
You can bet on the winner of both of these leagues, for example whilst it’s important to note that these sides will go on and compete against one another in a best-of-seven contest known as the World Series.
This creates another popular outright betting market, and one that tends to offer relatively generous odds at the beginning of the MLB campaign. It’s also well-known that a handful of sides tend to perform particularly well during the World Series, with the New York Yankees having prevailed on more than 20 occasions.
Whilst these and other baseball betting markets may be largely favourable to punters, it’s important to note that there’s no single strategy that can guarantee success.
Once again, however, you can incrementally improve your chances of winning by researching your chosen markets, whilst also leveraging the myriad of key MLB statistics that are now available online.
Once again, current form and head-to-head betting statistics can be particularly informative, particularly when it comes to determining whether sides are renowned for starting quickly or fading during the latter stages of contests.
Remember, baseball games can last for hours at a time in the pursuit of a positive result, and it’s not uncommon for teams to tire in some instances.
Not only can baseball games last for a while, but they also tend to progress slowly. This creates a genuine opportunity for in-play betting, as you’ll have the time to consider your available markets and options, whilst hopefully making informed decisions!
From a spectator perspective, baseball is an acquired taste that certainly isn’t for everyone. The same applies to baseball betting, but this can be very rewarding for punters who have a detailed understanding of the sport and its unique marketplaces.
The Last Word
There are numerous sports played in the UK and across the globe every single year, but not all of these are synonymous with betting markets.
As you can see, however, even sports like cycling and baseball are home to potentially rewarding betting markets, whilst they also offer access to events and tournaments all-year-round.
When betting on these and similar sports, there’s also an obvious need to understand key data-sets and statistics that can help to inform your decisions. This can make the difference between successful and failed wagers, no matter how much you have to spend as part of your bankroll.