Double Chance Bet: Find Out All You Need to Know Right Here
When you first step into the sporting world, there are many terms that might be a bit confusing to you to start with. Sports betting sites will never tell you what different terms mean; they just expect that you will know them since you are betting on the sport. To a lot of new sports betting punters, the words can be baffling, but it never needs to be like this. In this blog piece, you will learn about one of the crucial terms you will need: the double chance bet.
What Does Double Chance Mean in Betting
To start off with, we are going to have a look at the double chance bet meaning because we know that one of the first questions that you will want answering is, "What's a double chance bet? Well, to put it in as simple a way as we can, with this type of betting strategy, you will be betting on two different outcomes in the same game. There is one precondition for this type of wager, and this is that the sport that you are putting your money on has to have the three possible outcomes of win, lose, or draw.
When you go ahead and place a regular match bet, you will put your cash on one of the aforementioned outcomes. However, when it comes to a bet double chance, you are putting money on two possible outcomes, which lowers your risk of losing. For example, you could put your money on the away team to win or draw the match. While this obviously gives you an advantage, there is a disadvantage to it, and this is that your odds will be low because you have bigger chance of winning.
A Double Chance Football Bet
What is double chance bet? So, if you have taken the time to read the above paragraph very carefully, then you should now be able to answer this question if any of your mates start to bet on sports and ask you what the term means. Now that is out of the way, we are going to look at a double chance football bet.
In a football match, there happens to be three available outcomes - the home team could win the game, they could draw the game, or the away team could win the match. You will be able to bet on all of these outcomes at all football betting sites. Now, there might come a time when you find a football match that you want to place a bet on and you truly believe that the underdog could cause an upset, but you are not 100% sure and do not know if it is worth risking all your money on a bet that they will claim the three points.
Let's say that Liverpool are taking on Villa in the English Premier League and the former are clear favourites to win, although they are the away team. Now, anyone who is a fan of English football will recall that Villa destroyed Liverpool 7-2 in the 2020/21 Premier League. Also, in the return game at Anfield, they were just moments from walking away with a respectable draw at Anfield. Aston Villa seem to always play well against Liverpool, but the Reds will always be the strong favourites with bookmakers. Therefore, it is worth considering looking at the odds for a Villa win or draw, which is known as a double chance.
Advantages and Disadvantages of the Double Chance Bet Strategy
Everything in this life comes with advantages and disadvantages, so this is what we are going to have a look at now in relation to double chance betting.
Advantages
These are the main advantages of double chance betting:
- Higher chance of landing a win: Unlike your normal bet that gets you to choose one outcome, a double chance wager adds two different outcomes to the same bet. Thus, you have a higher chance of winning your bet.
- Lower risk: A double chance betting strategy is low risk when compared to other types of bets because the team that you select just to avoid losing.
- Good profit to be made when teams are equal: In a game that is evenly matched, it can be hard to pick the winner. In such a situation, double chance betting is a very good strategy, especially if the teams are playing their last game of the season and want to end on a high. If you are sure that the game will not finish in a draw, then you can put your cash on "Home win/Away win".
- Backing the underdog has high value: There are not many sports out there that are as tense and hair-raising as football, and football bettors who are sensible will know that it is foolish to completely rule out the underdog, unless of course the underdog is Andorra or San Marino. Do a bit of homework for upcoming football games and you will find a lot of value when it comes to betting on the underdogs.
Disadvantages
We have seen the advantages, so it is now time to look at the disadvantages.
- Lower odds: When compared to betting on a single result, the odds for double chance betting will be lower since your chances of winning are higher. This would mean that your profit margins will not be as high should you go on to win.
- Does not work for the favourites: If you agree with the bookmakers and feel that the favourites will win, then placing a double chance bet is not the correct choice to make since the odds will be really low.
The Best Sports Betting Sites for Double Chance Betting
Double chance betting is something that you will find at all of the best sports betting sites. In fact, if we were to tell you to go and find us a sportsbook that does not offer double chance betting odds, we would be willing to be our life savings that you would not be able to find one.
However, although every bookmaker will have double chance odds, it stands to reason that there will be some bookies that have better double chance odds than their rivals, and we are going to look at two of these right now. If you are looking for a sports betting site to register with, you would be doing yourself a favour by considering these two.
Double Chance Bet365
When it comes to quality sports betting sites that UK gamblers can open an account with, there are not many that come better than Bet365. With regard to double chance betting, Bet365 are known to have some of the best odds on the market. In fact, they have some of the best odds around for all the different markets that they have on offer.
In addition to this, they also have a great Welcome Bonus and are not shy when it comes to treating their loyal customers to free bets, which you can also often use on double chance outcomes, if you wish. However, in all honesty, when it comes to free bets, we recommend that you take a bit of a risk because you have nothing to lose and plenty to gain if your bet comes in.
They have very good customer support, plenty of banking options, and their site is fully mobile compatible. You can also find virtual sports betting, if that happens to be your cup of tea. Overall, they are just a great online bookie to sign up with in our opinion.
Sky Bet Double Chance
Another favourite sports betting site of ours is Sky Bet, and when it comes to double chance betting odds, they will not leave you disappointed. In fact, they will not disappoint you with any of the odds that offer their players. They have a variety of markets for all of the sports that they have on offer, and they will always offer competitive odds for all of these.
They, like Bet365, have a really good Welcome Bonus and like to offer their loyal customers some free bets every now and then. Once again, we stress that you should use any free bets that you get on riskier bets than you would usually make since there is nothing to lose.
They have plenty of payment options available to their customers, have a really good customer care team, and have made sure that their site is mobile compatible for those who like to bet on the go. In addition to this, they also offer enhanced odds, meaning that every now and then you will be in with a chance of winning more money than you usually would. You will not have anything to complain about should you decide to open an account with Sky Bet.
Double Chance Bet Tips
So, you now know how to bet double chance, but if you just go ahead and start placing double chance bets without doing any type of research, then you will just end up losing more money than you win. We obviously want you to win whenever you place a double chance bet, which is why we are now going to give you some awesome double chance betting tips that can help improve your odds in this market. So, without further ado, lets crack on.
Check the Form of Both Teams
This type of bet is tailor made for those scenarios where both teams have had mixed results against each other in the past. If you are not entirely sure as to what you think the outcome will be but you believe that there is a pretty slim chance of the game ending in a draw, you can go for the home win/away win (12) betting option.
Find the Favourites
This is simple - check out a side's form, where they sit in the table, and their head-to-head record against their opponents. When it comes to looking at the head-to-head record, there is no need to go far back in time since a result that happened two decades ago is obviously not going to have an impact on a match that is happening in the present. Once you believe that you have worked out the stronger team, you can put your hard-earned cash on a home win/draw, away win/draw, or home/away win. You should keep in mind that the team playing at home will usually have an advantage over their opponents because they know the turf well and will have the majority of the crowd cheering them on.
Choose the Challenging Matches
As we mentioned earlier, odds for this type of bet are usually on the lower side of the odds spectrum, which means that your payout, should you make a winning bet, will be a smaller one. While we truly believe that any kind of profit is good, you should use this type of bet on games where both sides are pretty much equal as this will ensure that you make a decent profit whenever you are successful. There will always be better odds available when both teams are considered equals rather than one of them being an overwhelming favourite.
How to Calculate Odds for Double Chance Bets
By knowing the odds to expect for a double chance bet, you can get a good understanding as to whether the bookie is offering the best bang for your money. Below we are going to explain the formulae that you need to know in order to do this.
The first formula is if you want to calculate odds for 1X, and it is (Odds of Home Team * Odds of Draw) / (Odds of Home Team + Odds of Draw). So, if the odds for the home team are 1.80 and the odds for a draw are 3.30, then it will be:
(1.80 * 3.30) / (1.80 + 3.30) = 1.17
The second formula is if you want to calculate odds for X2, and it is (Odds of Away Team * Odds of Draw) / (Odds of Away Team + Odds of Draw). So, if the odds for a draw are 3.30 and the away team has odds of 6.20, then it will be:
(3.3 * 6.2) / (3.3 + 6.2) = 2.2
The third formula is if you want to calculate odds for 12, and it is (Odds of Home Team * Odds of Away Team) / (Odds of Home Team + Odds of Away Team). So, if the odds for the home team is 1.80 and the odds for the away team are 6.20, then it will be:
(1.80 * 6.20) / (1.80 + 6.20) = 1.40
n.b. If you are not very good at maths or just do not feel like working it out yourself, then you should be able to find a decent double chance bet calculator that will do the work for you on the Internet.
Alternatives to a Double Chance Bet
If you are not a fan of the odds being offered for a double chance wager, then there are some other alternatives that you can look at.
Draw No bet
The first option is draw no bet vs double chance. With a draw no bet option, you get extra insurance against losing since if the game that you bet on finishes as a draw, then you will receive your full stake back, meaning that you do not win or lose the bet. To put it in another way, this Draw No Bet option completely takes a draw out of the equation. You back the home or away team to win, and if they game finishes in a draw, you will not be out of pocket.
So, if, for example, Bayern Munich are playing Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga and you bet £10 on Wolfsburg Draw No Bet at one of the many Bundesliga betting sites, and they go on to get a very respectable 1-1 draw, you will get your £10 back so you can try your luck with another bet.
Asian Handicap
Another alternative to a double chance bet is what is known as an Asian handicap. This kind of bet gives the strongest team a disadvantage before the game begins. This disadvantage could be half a goal, one-and-a-half goals, and so on. This means that the underdog in the game will have a head start going into the game, and you will have insurance on your bet if you decide to bet on the weaker side. Just like with a Draw No Bet, the Asian handicap feature also takes the draw out of the equation.
Our Final Say
Double chance betting comes with a low degree of volatility, so it is certainly a very good option for sports bettors. In fact, sometimes we wonder why it is not more popular than it is. It is advantageous for high rollers and those punters that do not like to take too much of a risk. This type of bet is great for evenly matched contests where you believe that the outcome of the match will go down to the wire or if you want to bet on heavy underdogs. If you are going to start betting on sports a lot, we really do recommend that you start making use of the double chance option.
🔮 Author: Daniel Chapman
Updated:
In my sports betting experience, bettors who usually go for double chance betting want to reduce their risk of losing the bet altogether. It creates a sense of safety despite the odds being considerably lower given that the bookmakers do not want to also lose in the long run. Also called double outcome, the probability of winning increases for you, but you have lesser odds to maximise your gains.
You could also check out our article on Each way betting, to provide you with intro knowledge how it is used, calculated and paid out.