The Race for the World Cup Title Is Limited to Three Teams According to the Bookies

It seems that the bookies have narrowed down the list of potential World Cup winners to three teams.

The first round of group matches at the World Cup will finish tonight. However, as far as the favorites to win the trophy go, the list is pretty much down to 3 teams only. The bookmakers’ odds at land-based and online sportsbooks in the United Kingdom show that Brazil, Argentina, and Germany are now solidified in the leading positions, and will most probably contest the World Cup between themselves.

Yesterday Germany crushed Portugal 4-0 revealing their amazing form and eagerness to win, and put an end to speculations if Marco Reus’ absence will play a great role in their success. Professional oddsmakers are the ones that pretty much make up the odds for all bookies. And the lines of 4.00, 4.50, and 5.50 for Brazil, Argentina, and Germany respectively, show that these 3 nations are way ahead of the competition.

In fact, the closest country is Holland, which got a great bump to fourth spot after beating Spain 5-1. The Netherlands are now offered 13.00 odds for those who bet on sports in the UK. The difference between the leading three and the rest of the field is so big, that ordinary fans may wonder why people even bother watching the group stage at this point.

Making up the odds

According to the British gambling laws sports betting is fully legal in the county, and actually comprises a thriving business from all points of view. The bookies make their living by following the betting markets and trends to come up with the correct odds. Believing the betting lines at the big bookmaking companies is rather safe, because if they were wrong all the time they wouldn’t make any money.

To put it in more general terms, the betting odds on major sporting events reflect the public confidence in some ways, but they are primarily based on the teams’ and athletes’ performance. Thus they really are based on the current status of things.

The current World Cup betting odds

The shot odds of 4.00 on Brazil to win the tournament are still around the same level they were before their opening game. And despite a rather unconvincing performance on behalf of the Selecao in the first game the lines on Luiz Felipe Scolari men managed to remain pretty much the same.
 

The bookies have pretty much narrowed down the list of World Cup favorites to 3 teams

• Betting odds at online sportsbooks in the UK reveal that 3 countries are favored

• Brazil, Argentina, and Germany are leading the list of prospect winners

• The rest of the World Cup participants have much lower chances

The difference between 5.50 odds on third-spot Germany and 13.00 odds on fourth-placed Holland reveals that the bookies have pretty much stopped believing that anyone else can win it this year. And putting aside really long odds of 4001.00 on Honduras and 2001.00 on Australia.

Spain have moved down several places after being humiliated by the Dutch and now have 15.00 odds to retain the title. France have put in a solid performance, but still only have 17.00 odds to win the World Cup. Italy are at 19.00, Belgium at 26.00, and England got 29.00 odds to lift the trophy at Bovada.

Types of betting

Spread betting is pretty popular at a variety of land-based and online bookies around the world now. It basically means that punters can wager on just about anything that might happen during a football match. Winning margin, correct score, number of goals, cards, corners, throw-ins and much more.

Pre-match betting has always been there, but the latest craze is the live betting opportunities. This means that once a particular match kicks off punters get to enjoy a whole new set of odds, which change roughly every 10 seconds or so as the fixture goes on. This has proven to be very exciting for bettors around the world allowing them to combine following the games live and actually profiting in real-time.

Mobile betting has also taken the wagering market by storm in the latest years. With the advancement of smartphone and tablet technologies and their penetration in developed countries, more and more punters prefer to wager on their mobile devices.

This type of betting allows them to always be on top of things and follow matches from anywhere they are. And of course they can bet on the events straight from their mobile devices without the need to be in close proximity to a PC or a betting shop.