Both Teams to Score Betting 2026: How the Market Works and Where to Place It

Updated October 2026

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Data current as of 27 October 2026, verified against the Gambling Commission’s public register.

Both teams to score is one of the simplest football markets a licensed UK bookmaker lists. Two outcomes. Yes, each side finds the net. No, at least one does not. The price sits beside each outcome, the bettor picks one, and the rest is whether the bet wins or it does not. What sits beneath that surface is more interesting than the surface itself: how the market settles, when a goal in added time still counts, what happens when a match is abandoned twenty minutes from kick-off, and why the two prices on offer never add up to 100 %. Ten UK-licensed bookmakers run both teams to score (BTTS) markets on the Premier League, the Championship and the European competitions; this page looks at what each one brings, how the bet works under the hood and where the reader’s money actually goes.

The Shortlist: Ten Licensed UK Bookmakers Offering BTTS

The ranking below compares ten licensed operators. All ten hold a remote general betting licence from the Gambling Commission for real events. All ten are GAMSTOP members. The comparison turns on three matters: the licence, the holder and what the operator’s own terms say about how a football market is settled when the result is disputed, abandoned or decided by the narrowest of margins.

The pattern is a familiar one for the licensed UK scene. The licence is the starting condition, not the differentiator. What separates these brands is the secondary product they layer on top of football markets: cash-out availability, bet-builder construction, in-play depth, boosted odds and best-odds-guaranteed racing. A reader choosing between them needs to know which of those features matters for the bet they intend to place, because BTTS itself is offered by all ten. The settlement rule column is where a bettor can lose money through an honest mistake: a bet settled on 90 minutes including injury time behaves differently from one settled on the final whistle plus extra time, and an abandoned-match policy decides whether the stake returns or stays on a voided ticket.

The column the table does not show is margin. Each bookmaker sets its own margin on the BTTS market, and a 3 % gap between the cheapest and most expensive in the same match is not unusual. The page turns to that number in the section on pricing.

What Both Teams to Score Actually Is

A both teams to score bet is a single market with two outcomes. Yes, both teams score at least one goal in normal time. No, at least one team fails to score. The market settles after 90 minutes plus the stoppage time the referee adds for injuries, substitutions and goal celebrations; extra time and penalty shootouts do not count for BTTS unless the market specifically says so. A 1-0 win for either side settles the No outcome. A 1-1 draw, a 2-2 draw or a 3-1 win settles the Yes outcome, because both teams found the net. The result after the final whistle is what counts.

What BTTS is not. It is not a bet on the match result. A 3-0 home win is a Yes for BTTS only if the away team has also scored; in a 3-0, the away team has not, so the market settles as No. It is not a bet on the total number of goals. A 1-1 draw and a 4-4 draw both settle as Yes, but the payout is the same because the price was taken before kick-off. It is not a bet on which team scores first, last or at all. The only question the market asks is the binary one.

A short glossary keeps the rest of the page readable.

• BTTS — both teams to score. The full name of the market.
• Yes / No — the two outcomes on the market. Sometimes labelled “Yes” and “No”, sometimes “GG” and “NG” (goal goal, no goal).
• 90 minutes plus injury time — the period the market runs over. Extra time and penalties do not count.
• Single — one selection on one event. BTTS is almost always placed as a single.
• Accumulator (acca) — two or more selections combined into one ticket, where all must win for the bet to pay. BTTS legs on a Saturday acca are common.
• Bet builder / same-game multi — multiple selections from one match combined into one price. BTTS combined with over 2.5 goals or with a specific goalscorer is a typical bet-builder leg.
• Cash out — settling the bet early at a price the bookmaker offers, before the final whistle.

The market is one of the most popular football lines at UK-licensed bookmakers because it is simple to read and runs on almost every televised fixture. That simplicity is misleading. The price the bookmaker offers already carries a margin, and the settlement rule on 90 minutes versus full-time including extra time is the detail that decides whether a winning ticket pays or gets voided.

How BTTS Bets Settle

The settlement rule is where the reader’s money is decided. A 1-0 win in the 89th minute, with the losing side equalising in the 92nd, is settled as Yes under a 90-minutes-plus-injury-time rule. The same match settled after extra time is also Yes, but only because the match went to extra time and the rule says injury time is the cutoff. A match abandoned after 70 minutes, with the score at 1-1, is a problem: is the ticket settled on the score at abandonment or voided entirely? The answer depends on the operator’s own rules, not on a universal statute.

Sky Bet, one of the ten brands above, settles football bets on 90 minutes of play unless a market says otherwise, and 90 minutes includes time added by the referee for stoppages. First-goalscorer bets are settled on the result after 90 minutes including injury time; extra time and penalty shootouts do not count unless extra-time betting is specifically offered. A football match abandoned after kick-off leaves already-decided bets standing and voids all others, unless the restart is announced within three hours of kick-off and occurs within three days of abandonment.

The implication for a BTTS bet is straightforward. A ticket placed on the Yes outcome is settled on the scoreline after the referee blows for full time, including the stoppage time. A match abandoned after 70 minutes with the score at 1-1 sits in the grey zone of voided versus already-decided: BTTS is not yet decided at 1-1 (more goals could come), so the bet is typically voided and the stake returned. The reader who treats BTTS like a result bet, settled when the referee blows for full time, is the reader who reads the rules page before placing a Saturday acca.

The settlement question matters more in accumulator form. A four-fold acca with three BTTS legs and one result leg is settled leg by leg; a voided leg returns its stake as a single, and the remaining legs are evaluated. A voided leg does not sink the ticket. A losing leg does. The reader who knows the difference does not need the bookmaker’s customer service to explain it.

What the Margin on BTTS Looks Like

A bookmaker’s margin is the cut it keeps from every pound bet on the market. On a two-outcome market like BTTS, the margin is the difference between 100 % and the payout share. The payout share is the reciprocal of the sum of the reciprocals of all the prices on offer. For a market at 1.90 / 1.90, the calculation runs: 1 / 1.90 + 1 / 1.90 = 0.5263 + 0.5263 = 1.0526, which gives a payout share of 1 / 1.0526 = 0.9500, or 95 %. The margin is therefore 5 %. For a market at 1.85 / 1.85, the payout share drops to 92.5 % and the margin rises to 7.5 %.

The illustrative example of 1.90 / 1.90 is the page’s worked figure. At those prices, the bookmaker keeps roughly 5p of every pound bet on the BTTS market. The two prices look symmetrical, but symmetry on a two-outcome market hides the fact that the bookmaker needs both prices to be slightly shorter than evens to make the margin. At 1.90 / 1.90, the implied probability on each side is 52.63 %, totalling 105.26 %. The 5.26 % overshoot is the overround; it is the margin the bookmaker builds in.

Across the ten operators above, the margin on a single BTTS line can range from under 4 % on a high-profile Premier League fixture to over 8 % on a lower-league or European qualifier. The margin is not fixed. It moves with the liquidity the bookmaker expects on the match, the time before kick-off and whether the bookmaker has run the line through a trading model or copied it from a feed. A reader who wants to find the cheapest BTTS line on a given Saturday looks at the price on both sides, sums the implied probabilities, and picks the bookmaker with the smallest sum. A 3 % margin difference between two brands on the same fixture is the difference between a 95p payout share and a 92p payout share; over a season of weekly bets, that gap shows up in the bottom line.

Where BTTS Fits in the Bigger Football Markets Picture

BTTS is one of several football markets that operate on a binary or near-binary structure. Over/under 2.5 goals, both teams to score, draw no bet and double chance are all two-or-three-outcome markets built around the scoreline rather than the result. The bettor who picks BTTS is making a specific claim: both teams will find the net, but the result does not matter. That claim has a place in a portfolio of bets, and the choice between BTTS and a related market is a choice about what the bettor is paying for.

• BTTS vs over 2.5 goals. A 1-1 draw is Yes on BTTS and Under on over 2.5. A 2-1 win is Yes on both. A 3-0 win is No on BTTS and Over on over 2.5. The two markets overlap but do not coincide; a bettor who thinks both teams will score but is unsure about the total picks BTTS, while a bettor who thinks there will be goals but is unsure about both teams scoring picks over 2.5.
• BTTS vs result betting. A 2-1 win is Yes on BTTS and a specific outcome on the result market. The price on BTTS is usually shorter than the price on the result because BTTS is more likely to land. A bettor who wants a higher payout picks the result market; a bettor who wants a higher probability picks BTTS.
• BTTS in a bet builder. A BTTS leg combined with over 1.5 goals, or with a specific goalscorer, is a typical bet-builder construction. The combined price is the product of the individual prices, less the bookmaker’s margin on the combined line. A bet-builder with three legs typically carries a higher margin than three singles placed separately.

The bettor who understands the relationship between BTTS and the surrounding markets reads the price on BTTS as a probability and decides whether that probability justifies the bet. The bettor who sees BTTS as a stand-alone bet on a stand-alone outcome reads it as a bookmaker’s parlour game.

Choosing a Bookmaker for BTTS

The comparison above ranks the ten operators by their licence status, the licence holder and the settlement rule that applies to their football markets. It does not rank them by how good each one is at BTTS specifically, because BTTS itself is offered by all ten. The choice between them turns on the secondary features.

• Cash out. DAZN Bet and Betboro offer cash out on football markets, which lets a bettor settle a BTTS bet early once one team has scored. Cash out is not guaranteed, and a bet stands if it is not offered; a bettor who wants the flexibility to lock in a profit mid-match picks a brand that runs cash out on the fixture in question.
• Bet builder. DragonBet and Midnite list bet-builder markets that combine BTTS with other selections from the same match. A bettor who likes to combine BTTS with a goalscorer pick or a corners pick picks a brand whose bet-builder line covers the combination.
• Best odds guaranteed. Bet600 and Copybet run best-odds-guaranteed on UK and Irish racing, which is irrelevant to BTTS but matters to a bettor who splits the Saturday card between football and racing.
• In-play depth. Betboro, DragonBet, Geoff Banks and Midnite offer in-play betting across their football markets, including BTTS. A bettor who waits to see the teamsheets before placing picks a brand with in-play depth on the fixture.

The licence and the holder matter less to the bettor’s bottom line than the settlement rule and the secondary features. The bookmaker that settles football bets on 90 minutes plus injury time and offers cash out on the BTTS line is the bookmaker that lets the bettor manage a Saturday acca the way the bettor wants to manage it.

The Legality and Regulation of BTTS in Great Britain

BTTS is not a regulated market in the statutory sense. The Gambling Commission licenses the operator and the category of betting, but it does not list the markets a bookmaker may or may not offer. An operator holding a remote general betting standard (real events) licence may offer BTTS, over/under 2.5 goals, correct score, both teams to score in both halves and any other football market it chooses to list, subject to its own licence conditions and codes of practice.

The framework that governs betting in Great Britain is the Gambling Act 2005, which covers England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland is outside the Act and has its own older law, so a GB licence regulates the situation in Great Britain but not in Northern Ireland. Since the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 an operator whose remote facilities are used in Great Britain needs a Commission licence wherever it is based; a Curaçao, Maltese or Gibraltar licence is not a substitute for serving GB customers.

The Commission’s public register can be searched by business name, trading name, domain or account number, and it is the whole test of whether a brand holds a licence. Every one of the ten operators above appears on that register against a licensee holding a remote general betting standard licence for real events. The register also lists the licence holder, which is not always the same as the trading name: BetUK is operated by LeoVegas Gaming PLC, Midnite is operated by Midnite Limited, Sky Bet is operated by SBG Sports Limited. The licence holder is the legal entity the Commission regulates; the trading name is the brand the punter sees.

The minimum age for betting in Great Britain is 18. Identity verification before the first deposit has been in force since 7 May 2019 and applies to free bets and bonuses as well as cash stakes; there is no anonymous play at a licensed site. Credit cards have been banned for gambling since 14 April 2020, including credit-card-funded payments through an e-wallet; debit cards and bank-based payments are not covered by that ban. A reader who tries to deposit with a credit card on a licensed UK site will be declined at the payment stage, not at the betting stage.

Responsible Gambling and the Reader’s Protections

The licensed UK market carries a layer of player protection that an offshore bookmaker does not. GAMSTOP is the national multi-operator online self-exclusion scheme and a mandatory licence condition for online operators since 31 March 2020. A punter who signs up to GAMSTOP is excluded from every online UK-licensed operator for the chosen period: six months, one year, five years, or five years with auto-renewal. After the minimum period the exclusion stays in place for a further seven years unless the punter asks GAMSTOP to remove it. GAMSTOP covers online sites and apps; betting shops use a separate service.

A financial vulnerability check has been in force for licensed remote betting since 30 August 2024, with the deposit-based trigger live since 28 February 2025. When a customer’s deposits minus withdrawals exceed £150 in a rolling 30 days, the operator runs a public-record check (for example bankruptcy or county court judgments). It is not an income check and not a credit reference check; it is a check against the public record of court orders and insolvencies. Financial risk assessments, the press’s “affordability checks”, have been announced in a staged plan (Commission article of 7 July 2026) with no start date; they are not in force as of the data snapshot on this page.

Deposit limits are a licence condition. Operators must offer a gross deposit limit on a fixed time frame; the first changes applied on 31 October 2025, and a second phase was postponed to 30 September 2026. There is no state-set deposit or loss ceiling for betting: limits are the punter’s choice. The reader who wants to cap a Saturday BTTS session sets the limit in the operator’s safer-gambling tools before placing the first bet, not after.

Help is available outside the licensed operators. GamCare runs the National Gambling Helpline. GambleAware funds treatment and research. The NHS runs gambling clinics in several regions. Gamblers Anonymous runs peer-support meetings. A punter who finds that a Saturday acca has turned into a Sunday chase has a route to help that does not require telling the bookmaker first.

Strategy, Predictions and What BTTS Betting Tips Actually Are

The phrase “both teams to score betting tips” is one of the most searched-around phrases on football betting in the UK. What sits behind it is not a system that produces winning predictions. No system does. What sits behind it is a set of inputs that shift the probability of each outcome on the BTTS market slightly one way or the other, and the punter who uses them reads the price on the market as a probability and decides whether to take it.

The inputs are familiar. Team news. A side missing a first-choice centre-back is more likely to concede. A side missing a first-choice striker is less likely to score. The combination of the two pushes the Yes outcome on BTTS. League context. A league in which both teams regularly score (the Eredivisie, the Bundesliga, parts of the Championship) sits on a higher base rate for Yes than a league in which clean sheets dominate (parts of Serie A in recent seasons, the lower English leagues). Home and away form. Some teams score freely at home and sit deep away. The shape of the matchup matters. A head-to-head history of 1-1s and 2-1s is a weak but real signal.

What the inputs do not do is overcome the bookmaker’s margin. A 5 % margin on a market at 1.90 / 1.90 means the punter pays 5p of every pound bet to the bookmaker in the long run, regardless of how good the tips are. The punter who beats the margin by a small percentage over a season turns a small profit; the punter who does not beat it bleeds at the rate of the margin. The arithmetic is the same as on any other market, and the tips are the variable, not the margin.

Three rules of thumb sit beneath the rest.

• The tip is the input, the price is the bet. A tip that is right but at the wrong price is a losing bet.
• The bankroll is the size, the price is the bet, the tip is the direction. A tip applied to a stake that is too large for the bankroll is a losing strategy.
• The accumulator is the multiplier, not the edge. A four-fold acca at 5/4 per leg carries a 6.25 % implied probability of landing; the same four legs placed as singles carry a higher implied probability and a lower payout.

A punter looking for “best both teams to score bets today” reads the teamsheets, the recent form and the league context, picks the match where the inputs push the Yes outcome most strongly, checks the price on the market, and places the bet if the price justifies it. The phrase “free football betting tips both teams to score” is a search term; the answer is the work the punter does between the teamsheet and the bet slip, not a tip from a tipster site that has a financial interest in the punter placing the bet.

Cash Out, Bet Builder and the Mechanics of In-Play BTTS

Cash out is the feature that lets a punter settle a BTTS bet early. On a Yes bet at 1.90, the price moves once one team scores: the implied probability of Yes rises because one team has already scored, and the bookmaker offers a cash-out figure that reflects the new probability. DAZN Bet offers cash out on selected markets but does not guarantee it; a bet stands if cash out is not available at the moment the punter wants it.

Bet builder is the feature that lets a punter combine BTTS with other selections from the same match. A bet builder with BTTS, over 1.5 goals and a specific goalscorer is a single ticket with a combined price; all three legs must land for the ticket to pay. DragonBet and Midnite run bet-builder markets across their football fixtures, and the margin on a bet-builder line is typically higher than on three singles because the bookmaker is pricing the correlation between the legs.

In-play BTTS is the live market that runs once the match has kicked off. The price moves as goals are scored; a Yes bet at 1.90 shortens to a low price once one team has scored, and lengthens if the match goes past the 70th minute at 0-0. Betboro, DragonBet, Geoff Banks and Midnite run in-play markets across their football fixtures, and the price on the in-play BTTS line is a separate read from the pre-match price.

The three features together change the way a punter manages a BTTS bet. A pre-match bet on Yes at 1.90 can be locked in at a profit through cash out once one team scores; a bet-builder ticket can combine BTTS with a goalscorer pick for a higher payout; an in-play bet can be placed after the teamsheets drop and the punter has read the lineup. The feature set is the differentiator between brands at the same licence tier, and the punter who knows which features matter for the bet they want to place picks the brand that runs those features on the fixture in question.

The Cost of BTTS Over a Season

The cost of betting on BTTS over a season is the margin times the turnover. A punter who places £10 a week on BTTS at an average price of 1.90 / 1.90 pays roughly 50p a week to the bookmaker in margin; over a 40-week season that is £20. The punter who places £100 a week on the same market pays £200 over the season. The punter who places singles pays the margin on each single; the punter who places accumulators pays the margin on each leg plus the margin on the combined line.

The cost is not the only thing that matters. The cost is the price of being in the market at all. A punter who beats the margin by a small percentage turns a profit; a punter who does not beat it pays the margin and loses the turnover. The arithmetic is the same on every market, and BTTS is no different from the rest. The punter who reads the margin as the price of admission and the tips as the variable reads the market the way the market deserves to be read.

The Ten Operators in Detail

The section above ranks the ten operators by their licence and their settlement rule. The section below looks at each operator in turn, with the specification research carries for that brand and the judgement the page draws from it.

BetUK

BetUK holds Gambling Commission licence 39198, with the licence in the name of LeoVegas Gaming PLC. The brand’s free bets exclude virtual sports, esports and non-UK/IE horse racing, and minimum odds apply on the qualifying bet. The brand is operated by one of the larger igaming groups in the Nordic and European market, and the licence holder is the same entity that runs BetMGM UK, which is why the Commission account number is the same on both brands. The free-bet exclusion of virtual sports and esports matters to a punter who splits the Saturday card between football and other products; the minimum-odds condition on the free bet is the standard condition at this licence tier. The verdict is that BetUK is a viable destination for a BTTS-focused punter who also wants the casino product on the same wallet; the BTTS line itself is offered through the same feed as the parent brand, and the secondary product is the casino rather than a football-specific feature.

Betway

Betway holds Gambling Commission licence 39372, with the licence in the name of Betway Limited. The brand’s welcome offer is £40 in free bet tokens (four £10 tokens) credited on settlement of a first bet of at least £10 at minimum odds of 2.0, with a seven-day expiry and debit card deposits only. The free-bet structure is the standard split-token offer at this licence tier, and the debit-card-only restriction is the standard restriction on the welcome offer. The brand has been live since the early 2000s and the licence holder is the UK arm of the wider Betway group. The verdict is that Betway is a strong option for the punter who wants a familiar welcome structure and a deep football feed; the BTTS line is one of many on the platform, and the brand’s primary edge is breadth of market coverage.

Midnite

Midnite holds Gambling Commission licence 101839, with the licence in the name of Midnite Limited. The brand’s sports welcome offer is £25 in free bets plus 50 free spins credited after a £5+ pre-match bet at EVS (2.0) or greater within 14 days of sign-up, with the free bets valid for seven days. The brand’s site lists in-play events, an acca builder, popular accas and price boosts with maximum-stake limits. The licence is the newest of the ten, and the brand is positioned at the younger end of the market. The verdict is that Midnite offers a distinct alternative for a punter who wants a newer brand, a bet-builder-led product and a tighter welcome offer than the legacy operators; the BTTS line is accessible through the bet-builder feed and the price-boost feed, representing the platform’s focus on ticket construction.

DAZN Bet

DAZN Bet holds Gambling Commission licence 48756, with the licence in the name of DZBT Limited. The brand offers cash out, bet builder, daily bet boosts and in-play betting; cash out availability is not guaranteed and bets stand if it is unavailable. The brand sits alongside the DAZN sports streaming product and is positioned at the intersection of streaming and betting. The verdict is that DAZN Bet is a natural fit for a punter who watches the football on DAZN and wants the betting product on the same subscription; the BTTS line is offered alongside the streaming feed, and the integration of the two products defines the service.

Betboro

Betboro holds Gambling Commission licence 44181, with the licence in the name of Webmedia Development N.V. The brand offers in-play markets and cash-out on football, racing and tennis, boosted odds on selected singles from £10 stakes, and responsible gambling tools including deposit limits, reality checks and self-exclusion. The licence holder is a Curaçao-registered operator, and the GB licence is the route for serving GB customers. The verdict is that Betboro appeals to a punter who wants in-play depth on football, racing and tennis on the same platform; the BTTS line is one of many in-play markets, and the platform thrives on the breadth of its live feed.

DragonBet

DragonBet holds Gambling Commission licence 64908, with the licence in the name of DragonBet Ltd. The brand’s app features Welsh football and rugby markets, racing, American football, in-play betting and bet builder markets. The brand is positioned at the Welsh sports market and the niche product around it. The verdict is that DragonBet caters to a punter who bets on Welsh football and rugby and wants a brand that lists those markets at depth; customers can access the BTTS line on the football feed, with the platform’s edge being its niche product rather than the breadth of the mainstream football feed.

Bet600

Bet600 holds Gambling Commission licence 44731, with the licence in the name of Tyche Tech Limited. The brand pays Best Odds Guaranteed on horse racing: if the starting price is bigger than the early or show price taken, the bet is paid at the SP. The brand is positioned at the racing end of the market and the football product is secondary. The verdict is that Bet600 suits a punter whose main interest is UK and Irish racing and whose football betting is a Saturday-afternoon sideshow; the BTTS line features among the markets, but the brand’s priority is clearly the racing product and the BOG guarantee.

Geoff Banks

Geoff Banks holds Gambling Commission licence 54095, with the licence in the name of GB Sports Advisors Limited. The brand’s app offers live in-play prices and ante-post prices on future events. The brand is positioned at the tipster-led end of the market and the product is built around the personality of the brand. The verdict is that Geoff Banks rewards a punter who follows the brand’s selections and wants ante-post and in-play on the same platform; markets include BTTS, though the core of the experience remains the tipster-led product rather than the breadth of the football feed.

Sky Bet

Sky Bet holds Gambling Commission licence 67370, with the licence in the name of SBG Sports Limited. The brand’s welcome offer is £30 in free bets credited as three £10 free bet tokens after a deposit of at least £5 and a first single or each-way bet of at least 5p at odds of 1/1 or greater. The brand is one of the larger GB-licensed operators and sits inside the Sky plc group. Sky Bet settles football bets on 90 minutes of play unless a market says otherwise, and 90 minutes includes time added by the referee for stoppages. At Sky Bet, a football match abandoned after kick-off leaves already-decided bets standing and voids all others, unless the restart is announced within three hours of kick-off and occurs within three days of abandonment. At Sky Bet, first-goalscorer bets are settled on the result after 90 minutes including injury time; extra time and penalty shootouts do not count unless extra-time betting is specifically offered. The verdict is that Sky Bet remains a mainstream GB-licensed brand with the deepest football feed on the list and a settlement rule that serves as the market benchmark; the BTTS line is offered with cash out, bet builder and in-play, and the brand’s strength is its combination of extensive breadth and clear rule documentation.

Copybet

Copybet holds Gambling Commission licence 53774, with the licence in the name of Copybet UK Limited. The brand offers Best Odds Guaranteed all day, every day on all UK and Irish racing, and pays first past the post on horse racing even if the winner is later disqualified. The brand is positioned at the racing end of the market with a tipster-led product layered on top. The verdict is that Copybet attracts a punter who bets on UK and Irish racing and wants BOG on every race plus the tipster product layered on the football feed; while the BTTS line is a standard option, the racing product defines the experience.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I bet on both teams to score?

Any UK-licensed bookmaker offers both teams to score on the major football leagues, and ten of them appear on this page. The brand is less important than the licence: a GB licence from the Gambling Commission is the route to safer-gambling tools, GAMSTOP coverage and the British complaints process. The brand is then a choice between mainstream operators (Sky Bet, Betway), newer entrants (Midnite), racing-focused brands (Bet600, Copybet) and niche products (DragonBet, Geoff Banks). The licence can be checked on the Commission’s public register by searching for the brand name.

What does “to score in both halves” bet mean?

“To score in both halves” is a related market, not the same one. A “score in both halves” bet asks whether a single named team will score at least one goal in each of the two halves of normal time. A team that scores in the first half and the second half wins the bet; a team that scores only in one half loses. The market is a single-team version of BTTS, and the price is usually shorter on the favourite because the bet is harder to land. BTTS asks whether both teams score at any point in the match; “score in both halves” asks whether one team scores in each half.

What is a both teams to score bet?

A both teams to score bet is a market with two outcomes. Yes: both teams score at least one goal in normal time. No: at least one team fails to score. The market settles after 90 minutes plus injury time; extra time and penalties do not count unless the market specifically says so. A 1-0 win settles No, a 1-1 draw settles Yes, a 3-1 win settles Yes. The bet is a single, and is often placed as one leg of an accumulator or as part of a bet builder.

How can it be checked that a bookmaker holds a Gambling Commission licence?

The Gambling Commission’s public register is searchable by business name, trading name, domain or account number, and it is the whole test of whether a brand holds a licence. The register lists the licence holder, the licence type, the categories covered and the trading names the licence is used under. Every operator on this page appears on the register against a licence holder with a remote general betting standard (real events) licence. A licence number alone is not enough; the register entry confirms the licence is current and that the brand is covered by it. A brand that does not appear on the register is not GB-licensed, and the protections that come with a GB licence do not apply.

How is the return on a bet worked out from the stake and the odds?

The return on a winning bet is the stake multiplied by the decimal odds. A £10 bet at decimal odds of 2.50 returns £25 (a net profit of £15). A £10 bet at fractional odds of 3/1 returns £40 (stake £10 plus profit £30). The decimal odds convert fractional odds by dividing the numerator by the denominator and adding one: 3/1 becomes 4.00, 5/1 becomes 6.00, evens (1/1) becomes 2.00. The return includes the stake; the net profit is the return minus the stake. On a combination bet, the odds of the legs multiply into one price, and the return is the stake multiplied by that combined price.

What is the bookmaker’s margin and how can it be seen in the odds?

The bookmaker’s margin is the cut it keeps from every pound bet on a market. It is the difference between 100 % and the payout share. The payout share is the reciprocal of the sum of the reciprocals of all the prices on the market. On a BTTS market at 1.90 / 1.90, the calculation is 1 / 1.90 + 1 / 1.90 = 1.0526, giving a payout share of 95 % and a margin of 5 %. The margin is visible in the odds because the implied probabilities of the two outcomes sum to more than 100 %; the overshoot is the margin. A punter who wants to find the cheapest BTTS line on a fixture sums the implied probabilities and picks the brand with the smallest sum.

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