As sports betting becomes more and more popular and accepted, punters are switching from placing most of their bets on pre-match and to in-play betting. But what exactly is the difference and why is it becoming so popular?
Pre-Match Betting
Pre-Match betting has been the way that sports bets have been placed for most of betting history. It is basically placing a bet on certain events in a match, before the match begins. As the match begins, all betting is halted. You as the punter, then need to watch till the end of the match to see if your bet won or lost. These bets are popular as they are easy to understand.
As they only happen in the future, they also give the punter plenty of time to research and build up their prediction of what they think will happen. As pre-match odds also happen in the future, they typically have odds that remain the same for a period of time, allowing plenty of time to compare odds.
In-Play
In-play betting, or live betting, refers to bets being placed during a live match, or while the match is on-going. These are becoming more popular as they let the punter place bets while they are watching the game, making the entire experience more enjoyable. The punter also knows quite quickly whether they have won or lost, as they don’t need to wait for the match to end. However odds change quickly and you will not have much time to compare them, as you typically only have a few seconds to place a bet. As the betting takes place live, you also don’t typically have time to research in-play betting tips, to see what is the most likely outcome. This means a lot of the bets made are based on intuition and gut feel.
There is plenty of room for both pre-match and in-play betting, and punters should try both to see which they enjoy more.
