Betting on volleyball will bring its ups and downs. It doesn’t matter if the experience is on major team events at the Olympic Games or on the FIVB Beach Pro Tour, punters will have both wins and losses. But what is the best approach to exploring volleyball betting just a little bit deeper?
Online sports betting sites like those picked out by Match.Center will have volleyball betting markets priced up. But as with any sports betting, however, wagering on volleyball too has a lot of nuanced areas which should be studied and sometimes you have to learn to look beyond the odds.
Here is what to look out for to get the most out of volleyball betting.
First Some Volleyball Betting Pros
Anyone calling up an online betting site to look for volleyball betting, probably already knows the sport really well. Punters tend to stick to what they know. It makes sense and is good betting practice.
Fans of volleyball are going to naturally be pulled towards the markets on the sport, helped along by possessing a good working knowledge of players, teams, competitions etc. That can help a lot in spotting the real value of the betting odds.
Volleyball fans will also know when big events are coming up. That means that they can start tracking the form of players, say ahead of the Olympic Games. That gives better insights and can help to eliminate the placing of just random bets, or just picking favourites at poor odds.
Volleyball Betting Markets
The most common betting markets for volleyball are the simple outright markets for a tournament or individual matches. One downside to the match outright markets is that they may not offer favourable odds.
If there is a heavy favourite headlining a volleyball match, then the punter isn’t going to be playing for big odds, while on the other side of the coin, the underdog probably looks enormously risky.
So there have to be some alternative volleyball betting markets considered.
Handicaps – Handicap betting is a great way to approach sports betting, not only on volleyball. A team or a player is assigned a virtual advantage/disadvantage by the bookmaker setting the odds. It could be a team or player with a -1.5 set handicap to start with, meaning that they have to win the match by at least two sets for the bet to win. The specifics drive the odds value.
Set Betting – There are different approaches to set betting in volleyball. It could be picking the winner of a particular set, like Set 1 Winner, or Set 2 Winner. Alternatively, the punter may see betting options for the correct score of the match sets in the final result.
Points Totals – Points totals offer players to dig into. This is an Over/Under totals market, where a punter can select the number of points played in a set (or indeed the entire match) above or below a set line.
Things to Figure Out for the Best Volleyball Betting
Volleyball is not one of the major sports that’s heavily promoted by online betting sites. The big spotlights are usually reserved for the likes of football, horse racing, tennis, cricket, F1, MMA, American Football and Basketball for example.
So that can lead to some downsides for volleyball betting. Here we take a look at some potential hurdles that you as a punter may have to overcome for volleyball betting along with hints as to how to overcome them.
Finding the Markets and Odds
This is easily the biggest issue. You are just not going to see the volume of volleyball matches priced up, as you are football matches. It’s just the nature of things, as bookmakers are fully aware that they are not going to pull a high return of bets on a volleyball match.
As there isn’t a huge volume of volleyball betting markets, it means that bookies will likely have high margins on those that they do have in their sportsbooks. Higher margins mean less value in odds for the punter, as the bookie tries to hike big profits from less popular markets.
A solution to this could be doing some basic groundwork. Look around different bookmakers to see which frequently have the best coverage of volleyball matches. Those are the ones you will want to go with. Betting exchanges are likely going to serve you well as they often have a lot more variety thanks to users looking to get bets matched up.
Volleyball Betting Variety
If you click on an English Premier League football match you will see a massive amount of markets and bet types. It’s not the same with volleyball. You may indeed be simply locked into little more than the match outright odds, a couple of handicap options and set betting.
The key to that is to try and make the most of what there is. Thanks to the homework you will do for a match by looking at recent form and results, you may be able to spot something of value within them. If the odds don’t scream value, maybe hit the brakes on your betting plans for a better opportunity.
Not Enough Live In-Play Odds
Volleyball is not going to offer a lot of live betting opportunities for bettors. There’s not really a way to get around this. However, if you do focus more on the major events, then the chances of finding live markets are going to be a little bit higher. If it is possible, try and spot any offers of a Cash Out to settle live bets early when necessary.
Finding Streams
Part of the enjoyment of volleyball is being able to watch matches! There are online betting sites that give a great deal of coverage of live sports streams. Look around at some of the most highly recommended ones to catch volleyball. You may be able to not only watch a stream but perhaps some live betting opportunities on the same match as well.
In Summary
Volleyball betting opportunities exist. It may involve a little extra time and patience digging around to find the right sportsbook that gets you all the coverage you need. Study the stats, learn the alternative markets and a smooth betting experience can be had.
