Your Complete Guide to Live Betting in Sports

What is live betting, how does it work, and where can you do it? Those are just some of the common questions asked by new and aspiring bettors.

In this guide, we answer all of these questions and more. Because the more you know about sportsbook gambling and how it works, the greater your chance of landing a consistent and worthwhile return on your predictions.

What is Live Betting?

Live betting is known by a few names, and you might see it referred to as in-play betting.

Traditionally, when you wager on a sporting event, you’ll see all available markets with odds attached, and they’ll be available until the advertised off-time. If a soccer fixture begins at 3:00pm and you tried to bet at 3:05pm, you’d be too late, and the bookmaker wouldn’t accept your stake.

Today, thanks to the power of live betting, you can gamble pre-match or at any time during the contest. The pre-game betting markets and odds switch to live betting when the fixture begins. A live betting trader then monitors the play and updates the markets and odds to reflect the score and action. For example, the first goalscorer market becomes the next goalscorer after the first goal goes in.

Live betting is ideal for bookmakers as it greatly enhances the number of markets offered and bets struck. It’s also perfect for gamblers as they can wager at any stage of the contest, acting on any obvious trends in the play. 

How does live betting work?

Now that we know what live betting is and how you can gamble in-play on your favorite sports, let’s investigate how it works. Once you have a strong and professional understanding of this form of betting, you can start to use it in your gambling strategy, targeting value in games. 

When betting pre-match, you must second-guess many factors, including the crowd, officials, and the weather. But when betting live, you can react to those factors that could influence the result.

Which type of live bets can you make?

Interestingly, you can make almost as many bets live as you could pre-game. A good bookmaker will aim to transfer most of their markets over to live betting. If there are 100 pre-match options, you’re likely to find 100 live betting options.

The most popular live betting markets include match-winner, scorer, spreads, totals, and handicaps. Pay close attention to the game from the stadium or live on TV, and act swiftly when you notice any potential value.

What is three-way live betting?

In most cases, that’s just another name for gambling on the result when there are Team A - Draw - Team B options. Follow the game and make your bets based on how well a team is performing, if they have the lead, if you expect a side to fight back and win from a losing position, or if both teams are defensive and you predict a draw.

You’ll often get great odds on a pre-game favorite to win in soccer if they go a goal behind and you play the live betting market.

What is moneyline live betting?

As mentioned above, moneyline live betting is predicting the result of a sports fixture, like an NFL game, when there’s no draw. You can back Team A to win or Team B to win before kick-off or during the play, thanks to the live gambling odds. Often, you’ll get a team at better odds when betting live as opposed to relying on the pre-match market, and that has already proven to be a popular approach with sportsbook fans.

How Do You Calculate Live Betting Odds?

Just as the pre-game betting odds and markets are created by sportsbook traders, so too are live betting odds. The leading online gambling firms employ traders to create odds before a fixture begins and then manage those odds throughout the play. Today, many live betting odds are automated, working off the pre-match quotes to offer prices that reflect the score and the contest. But bookies like to keep the human element of odds creation, ensuring a trader always has eyes on the game and the markets.

Live betting odds include the vig, which is the percentage taken by the house for running the book and offering the odds. That means a bookie will take a profit from every wager made, regardless of the result. If they offer 50 pre-match markets and 50 live betting markets, it’s easy to see why the leading sportsbooks view live betting as a lucrative option.

As a sports fixture can change in the blink of an eye, live betting traders must be alert, responsive, and reactive. When betting live it becomes a fastest-finger-first between the bettor and the trader. As the gambler, you want to time your bet to perfection, ensuring you get the best odds and the best chance to win. Traders want to get the odds in their favor as quickly as possible while keeping the market competitive and encouraging gamblers to wager before the game changes.

Live Betting Pros and Cons

Is live betting worth it? Let's take a look:

Pros:

• Real-time engagement
• Increased betting markets
• Dynamic odds
• Increased knowledge
• Hedging opportunities
• Improved strategy
• Bets settle quicker
• Unique specials

Cons:

• Higher risks
• Limited time to bet

As you can see from the above list, live betting presents many more positives than negatives. It allows gamblers to react to changes in the game, whereas pre-match betting comes with many uncertainties, including how both teams will set up and their tactics.

With most pre-game markets available in-play, you have twice as many options on how to wager. Odds are more reflective of how a team is performing in a game as opposed to how they might perform, and you can use the information gathered from a contest to make a strong wager. For example, if two teams are attacking, you may want to back both to score, or the overs in the totals live. 

Some of the most obvious cons of live betting is the enhanced risk of gambling more than you planned or budgeted for if you react to every change in the game. You also have limited time to bet before the odds change, and you lose the live betting value. The ideal live bet is one that’s timed to perfection.

Which Sportsbooks Offer Live Betting?

Live betting has taken the online gambling industry by storm, and any sportsbook worth joining already offers this popular feature. In most cases, you’ll find the live betting list on a bookmaker’s homepage, allowing you to click and gamble in-play quickly. Live betting is all about speed and timing, and that’s why the option should be prominent on the homepage of a betting website or mobile app.

Although live betting is more popular and widely available today than it has been at any time in the past, it’s not yet universally available in the sports gambling industry. That’s why we’ve selected five legal, licensed, and trusted bookies that offer live betting. Our experts have researched these bookmakers and can confirm their live betting platform is as good as any you’ll find in the industry.

• Bet365 - a reputable online-only bookmaker based in the United Kingdom.
• Flutter Entertainment - a company that owns several high-profile bookies, including Betfair.
• Entertain - another company that includes powerhouses Coral and Ladbrokes.
• William Hill - a UK bookmaker with a recent history in US gambling.
• Betway - a respected sportsbook sports fans know from their high-profile sponsorship of prominent teams and competitions.

How Do You Place a Live Bet?

Now that you understand the ins and outs of live betting, you may wish to try it for yourself on the next sports fixture that catches your eye. Follow our steps on how to bet live on a fixture using these popular platforms.

Live betting on mobile apps

Smartphones are the go-to platforms for many live bettors as they allow you to react and gamble anywhere in the world at the touch of a screen. You don’t need to be at home to get the value, and live streaming on Android and iOS allows you to watch the game and gamble live in one place. 

Simply log in to your account and find the fixture you wish to gamble on in the live betting list on the homepage. Click the odds to add to your bet slip, input a stake, and confirm. You might see a two or three-second delay while the live betting trader checks nothing is going to change in the game, such as a penalty awarded or a goal scored.

Live betting on desktop

You can also bet in-play using your desktop as quickly, securely and easily as on your smartphone. The larger screen of a laptop could come in useful when following a game on a live stream as opposed to watching on the smaller screen of a smartphone. 

Login to your betting account with your username and password and click on the live betting tab. Find the game you wish to gamble on, and you’ll see the time, the score, and the live betting odds. Click the odds attached to your selection, input a stake, check, and confirm. Again, you may experience a brief delay before the wager is accepted.

Live betting at the bookies

Live betting at brick-and-mortar sportsbooks is every bit as simple as the options above. Visit your nearest sportsbook betting office and write your intended wager onto a bet slip without the odds. The cashier will check the odds at the time, confirm the bet, and take your stake. You’ll receive a bet receipt, which you must produce when collecting your winnings. The reason you don’t add the odds to your bet slip is they may change between 

Discover More Betting Opportunities With Whop

As you can see from this article, live betting greatly increases the number of ways you can gamble on a sportsbook market and ramps up your chances of winning. When betting pre-match, you must guess the weather, the referee’s mood, the crowd’s influence, tactics, injuries, and more. But when gambling live, you can react to each of these factors and find a market that gives you the best chance of making a profit. You can also cash out on live bets, which means you could enjoy a quick turnaround in profit.

If you're serious about making a profit from their gambling and beating the bookies consistently should join one of our many sports betting communities available today and learn from industry experts by following their predictions or improving by learning from their experience.

Ready to begin your adventure to becoming a better-informed, more disciplined, and successful gambler? Whop is here to help.