Transfer Football Betting

Before we dive into Football Transfer Betting, it’s only responsible to run through how bookies work out their odds. If you’re a seasoned gambler with experience, by all means, scroll down a little bit and you’ll find what you came here for. Otherwise, buckle up for a bit…

Betting odds exist to give you an idea of how likely something specific is to happen. They work in tandem with a given price to give you an estimate of the money you’d be likely to win if you bet X amount on those odds.

They can seem pretty complex and scary, but they’re not.

If you’re a new gambler, the first thing you should do before parting with any money is to learn about odds. It means you’ll not just throw your money away.

First up: Probability

Betting gives you the chance to predict the exact outcome of a given event. An event has a number of possible outcomes. What the odds that bookies put up represent is the likelihood of that event happening. It’s typically displayed as a fraction, though.

Betting odds and calculating probability

When you see a traditional fractional odd, you can work out how likely an event is to happen by doing this calculation: % = B / (A + B)

EG:

3/1 is 1 divided by 3 plus 1 = 1/4 = 0.25 = 25% probability.

Calculating your winnings using betting odds

The betting odds let you work out your returns if you place the bet. So, for every value of B you bet, you win A (plus your stake back).

So, in 3/1, for every £1 you bet, you win £3.

How about when odds are in decimals?

Decimals are becoming the more commonplace format on sites like Betfair. Most of the leading sites have the option to display bets in decimals if you want. They tend to be simpler to calculate, for example 2 is calculated as 2 x your ££ = winnings, so let’s say your stake is £10, your winnings will be £10 (don’t forget to minus the initial stake).

Now to the real topic of this article, transfer betting for football players and teams

Are you confident that a club is going to buy an awesome player? You might be right. Let’s talk about how you can make some money off that hunch.

What’s it all about?

Player Transfer Betting is a great chance for punters to profit off a player moving to a new club by betting on the potential transfer before it happens, ie, during the transfer window. You’ll find this kind of bet in the specials market.

Player transfer betting, therefore lets you bet that a player, or maybe a manager, will move to a specified club.

A market will open and offer bets for the next club a player will join, maybe you think they’ll remain at their current club, or perhaps you have a feeling about when it’ll be, in which case you can bet on the team you’ll think they’ll transfer to after the summer transfer window or after the January transfer window.

Where can I partake in transfer betting in football specials?

It isn’t commonplace to offer transfer specials, not even all the leading sites do it, but they do from time to time. The more likely it is that you’ll find such a bet revolves entirely on how high-profile the players are.

The more famous the player, the more interested people are in the transfer, ergo, the larger the market will be and more bets are likely to be put on. Everyone’s a winner.

There is one bookmaker in particular who specialises in transfer betting…

BetVictor

To check out what’s going on in their market, head to the website and navigate to football, then click competitions and scroll until you see transfers. If there’s a player not listed but you think they’re due to transfer, BetVictor’s got you sorted. Just go to Twitter, get their attention using @betvictor and use their #priceitup services, which means they’ll give you odds based on your bet – providing it doesn’t already exist in the transfer markets.

If you’re new, you can take advantage of the welcome offer too, in the form of a bonus.

There’s also a joining bonus for new customers.

From the Premier League, to La Liga, bookmakers are the first to respond to the latest rumours, reports and news by offering markets on all the players making the headlines.

Right then, now we know what transfer betting is, where can we place these types of bets?

Other good bookies for transfer betting?

The likes of bet365, Betway, Coral, Paddy Power, Ladbrokes, William Hill, SkyBet and Betfair all have excellent options for punters with a hunch about a potential transfer.

You shouldn’t really have a loyalty toward one particular site because it all boils down to who’s offering the best odds for your football player of choice.

Final word

You get two transfer windows a year but that doesn’t mean there isn’t chronic attention on players from the media, which stirs up rumours. This means you can find an offer for bets pretty much any time, as the markets stay open (even when a transfer window is closed).

It’s a fun thing to bet on outside the transfer window; it brings variety to sports betting by being able to look outside the in-game options at something alternative and long-term.

You might be loyal fans who carefully watch players, or you might be betting site customers who enjoy transfer specials because of how rarely they come up.

It’s certainly an alternative to a casino, being able to bet on real players transfers! Don’t forget to use the football odds checker!

James has over two decades of experience in the sports betting industry. From owning racehorses to winning multiple iGaming awards he uses his experience to research the bookmaker's best free bets and try to help punters get the highest sign up offers.