BTTS Betting Market

Online betting has opened up hundreds of markets that didn’t exist twenty years ago. One of the most popular is the ‘both teams to score’ market, simply referred to as BTTS. However, rather than simply answering what is BTTS, the purpose of this page is to show you how to calculate the implied BTTS odds to evaluate true betting value within the markets.

BTTS Meaning

The BTTS meaning is simply Both teams to score. This is most commonly associated with football betting although it can be found on some ice hockey matches at certain bookmakers. As a punter, all you need to do is pick ‘yes’ which means you are betting on both teams to score within 90 minutes or ‘no’ which is obviously the opposite.

Here is an example taken from SportPesa.uk for the Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester United (01-01-2020).

Probably the best feature of the BTTS bet is how straightforward it is. For punters who cannot choose a selection from the 1X2 (match result) market, quite often this is a favoured second option.

Furthermore, spotting good BTTS betting opportunities is quick and easy. If you have two teams with multiple good attacks but shaky defences, a ‘Yes’ bet is the way to go. Alternatively, if you have a couple of goal-shy, ten-men-behind-the-ball teams squared off, the ‘No’ bet is the easy option.

BTTS Betting: calculating the bookmaker’s margin

As a bettor, you can quickly weight-up the betting value of a wager by calculated the bookmaker’s margin. This is essentially it’s expected profit if it has produced a balanced book which invites money on both sides. Here is the equation to work out the margin on a two-way market, using the odds from the image above:

• Yes: 1 ÷ 1.54 x 100 = 64.93%
• No: 1 ÷ 2.40 x 100 = 41.66%
• Then add the two totals together (64.93 + 41.66) = 106.59%

A true betting market is 100%, anything above that is the bookmaker’s margin, which for this example is 6.59%. We have come across bookies with 10% margins for their BTTS betting markets, which is far too excessive in our opinion.

Alternative to BTTS bets

When you look at the matches from the world’s top leagues (i.e. the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, and so), there are a plethora of football betting markets to choose from. Understandably, several of these are very similar, so it’s worth exploring them to see if they hold more or less value. For instance:

Total Team Goals

What does BTTS stand for? That’s right, both teams to score, which for the ‘Yes’ bet is the same as Over 0.5 for the two teams.

Many bookies allow you to create ‘same game’ multi bets these days, so let’s calculate the odds:

• Arsenal over 0.5: 1.22
• Man Utd over 0.5: 1.21
• 1.22 x 1.21 = 1.476

Immediately, you can see that there is no value in placing this wager because the BTTS odds are 1.54 anyway. However, the point is for you to compare before betting. On this occasion, the price is not on our side, but another time it might be.

Win to Nil

If you’re thinking ‘No’ for your BTTS, it’s similar to the win to nil market although you do need to account for the match finishing goalless.

This can be an effective BTTS tip if you heavily back one team, and place the other wagers merely as cover bets. Let us explain:

The standard odds on the ‘No’ BTTS bet are 2.40, so a £10.00 wager equals a return of £24.00. Now, imagine, you fancy Man Utd to be the most likely team to win and keep a clean sheet, here is how you can divide your stake.

• Man Utd: 4.70 x £7.00 = £32.90
• Arsenal: 5.00 x £2.00 = £10.00
• 0 – 0 correct score: 10.75 x £1.00 = £10.75

As you can see, you get your money back if it’s Arsenal, and you make £0.75 if the score is nil-nil. However, if you guessed correct with United, you make £32.90 which £8.90 more than the standard odds. Of course, if both teams do score, all bets are lost.

Other BTTS bet types

So far, we’ve only covered the main both teams to score bet which is for the full match. There are several other BTTS betting options available although the choice does vary from sportsbook to sportsbook, and the league/market plays a major role in the amount of choice on offer.

Match Winner & Both Teams To Score

Once again, it’s time to get your calculator out and crunch the numbers. Where can you make more profit?

• Multiply the price of the two single bets (i.e. Arsenal win and ‘yes’ BTTS) to form a double, and see how the odds compare. This would be exactly the same bet as ‘Arsenal win and both to score 4.30’ shown below.
• You could play it safe (for a reduced payout) and place two single bets. This is a secondary option.

BTTS & Over 2.5

Quite simply both teams to score and the match will finish with more than 2.5 goals. Therefore, at least one of the teams needs to score twice. Extra risk involved but potentially better odds. It’s another BTTS punt to consider and weigh up the risk vs reward ratio.

Both Teams To Score & No Draw

Here we go again, this is another market which parallels with Match Winner & BTTS. It’s a number game in which you must work out where you can extract the most value for the least perceived risk.

Both Teams To Score In Both Halves

Upping the ante here. There’s potentially quite good value in this market if you do your research. It is still a risky bet, but the odds reflect that. Several bookmakers also offer BTTS first half only and BTTS second half only. If this is the case, you can multiply those prices and see where you get the best odds.

BTTS Tips

Many websites, including our own, provide both teams to score tips. You can find an assortment on our EPL betting tips pages, and also we sometimes cover them on EPL Predictions, which are computer-generated analytical tips (data-based).

However, our advice is to do the research yourself. That way you’ll get the BTTS tips that you know you can trust. Furthermore, the more football betting knowledge you acquire, the better chance you have of making long-term profits from this pastime.

Every punter will have their own method as to how they compile their both teams to score tips for this Saturday. Here’s a quick guide to show you where to start.

Below, you can see Betway’s BTTS odds for this weekend’s Premier League matches. Please note, we are not saying the EPL is the best league to use if you only want to bet on BTTS YES markets. You may find more goals are scored in the Championship, League 1, Bundesliga or the French Ligue. Have a look around and find your preference.

Let’s take a sample selection.

• Chelsea vs Burnley: BTTS ‘Yes’ 2.10. BTTS ‘No’ 1.70

We start by reviewing recent form. As we can see, both teams scored in their last league match. They both played an FA Cup tie in between (and both teams scored) which is positive for the ‘Yes’ bet. However, when we dig deeper and look at the respective home and away form, there hasn’t been a great amount of BTTS action.

let’s dig deeper and assess the season-to-date.

• Both teams have scored at least a goal-a-game for their home and away games.
• They both have a low clean sheet percentage.
• Chelsea and Burnley both have a low ‘Won-to-nil’ percentage.
• They have both scored in more than half of their matches. This is important for the both teams to score ‘Yes’ bet.

Following on from that, we review the players. Has either side been missing a key striker or some important defenders? Are there any injuries or suspensions to be aware of for this match.

All of the data is freely available, and by using it correctly, you can find many super value bets. For the record, we are backing this one.