Smart Betting on the World Cup Could Lead to Great Winnings at the Bookies

World Cup betting has already commenced a month ahead of the actual competition’s kick off.

The 2014 FIFA World Cup is only a month away, but punters and fans are already getting restless. The championship in Brazil is not only the biggest football event of the year, well, 4 years to be exact, but also the biggest betting event when land-based and online sportsbooks in the United Kingdom and elsewhere are concerned.

While the sponsorship and other contractual money involved in the World Cup is amazing, to say the least, betting will still eclipse it. Even according to modest industry estimates, sportsbooks operating under British gambling laws are expected to take as much as GBP 3 billion in action on World Cup. Mind you, that’s just 1 country, imagine this figure on a global scale.

How to win with World Cup betting

Smart punters need to always keep in mind that the lion’s share of World Cup football betting action will come from recreational and casual punters. No offense to these players, but they tend to bet with their heart and emotions, usually putting money on their country’s team or join endless line of other betting on one of the favorites.

Naturally, most bookies know these facts by heart, and will not only move the betting prices according to action, but will also “shade” certain lines with teams they anticipate to receive lots of betting dollars. But for those wishing to bet on sports in the UK and actually win, the priority is looking for “value” bets, meaning teams and players not popular with general public, and thus having better betting lines.

What are the most overvalued teams right now

World Cup betting is already going strong, even though the competition is a month away. Punters are trying to catch early action and take advantage of special bonuses and promotions most online bookies are offering. But for smart punters it’s way too early to make big play, nonetheless some information is pretty valuable right now.

Betting smart on the 2014 World Cup

• Massive amount of betting expected at online sportsbooks in the UK

• Smart bettors need to steer clear of overvalued teams

• European teams are generally undervalued

Currently, there are a lot of overvalued teams, thanks for all the popularity bets, which have nothing but pure emotion behind them.

We also would like to note that overvalued doesn’t mean this team has no chance of winning, it’s just betting on it may not be the best strategy for a smart punter. Betting value of a given team is more to do with market, and is a concept primarily used by those bettors who’d like to win in the long-run.

Naturally, the most overvalued participant of the 2014 World Cup is the host nation, Brazil. And while everyone expects Brazilians to win, given their strength and home turf advantage, let’s not forget the team has defensive lines issues, problems in midfield, not to mention that recent matches revealed inconsistent performance.

Next up are the holders Spain. Sure the team is both European and World Champions, but do they have enough to win it again? The betting market is reacting strongly to Spain’s recent loss to Brazil in the Confederations Cup. And although they lost 0-3, it surely doesn’t mean that their 2010 and 2012 teams are long forgotten.

Spain are the current number one in most national ratings, let’s not forget about that. Although their chances of success are a bit overvalued, nonetheless betting on Spain is not a bad idea and certainly a much safer bet than a long list of other European teams.

Other interesting bets

While betting on Spain is a good idea at the moment, Germany is also an attractive team. However, there are concerns over generally weak performance of European teams at World Cups played in South America. On the other hand this concept provides a small edge to those betting on teams from Europe, since bookies tend to undervalue them.

Italy is certainly a team to look out for, but their performance is especially unstable during any given World Cup. After they took the honors in the 2006 World Cup, they failed to win a game during the 2010 edition in South Africa. The team boasts both experienced and talented players. Most of their players come from Juventus, the recent Serie A champions, and AC Milan. The odds on Italy are certainly something to look into for smart bettors.