Rugby betting for beginners
Want to start betting on rugby and add a little more fun to the games you’re already watching? It can be tough to know where to start, and what the different markets all mean.
Load up a rugby betting website or app and you will probably very quickly see some markets and terminology that, as a beginner, you don’t understand. We’re here to demystify some of that and help you to decide on what you should bet on. Remember to be responsible with how you approach gambling.
Compared to the way things were some 10 or 20 years ago, sports betting in NZ is easy and accessible. There are more markets than ever and of course, mobile technology means you can access bookmakers’ websites from pretty much anywhere in the country.
From the Super Rugby Pacific to smaller local fixtures, there is also a lot of choice on which rugby games you want to gamble on. You might know more about local teams and choose to bet on these as a result, or you might go for bigger fixtures that are televised. The choice is yours.
Rugby betting markets The most complex thing to understand is the choice of rugby markets. Here are a few examples:
- 1X2 betting: This is the market that is effectively a win/draw/win market. The 1 means you are backing a home team to win, X means backing the draw, and 2 means an away win. Not all bookmakers list them in this way, and you may see team names in place of 1 or 2.
The draw market is offered because this is common in a variety of sports such as football, but remember that it is rare in rugby.
- Totals: As well as who is going to win, you can bet on “totals”, which means how many points are going to be scored in a game. It doesn’t matter who wins or loses – you are just looking to bet on how many points there are in the fixture. For instance, you might bet over 37.5 points (the fraction makes it easy to determine winners).
To do your research for these bets, check if the teams in question are high- or low-scoring in general.
- Handicap betting: This can make it more interesting if there is an underdog in the fixture. You can bet on teams with a “handicap”, so the bet will take place as if the team starts the game behind on points. The points are taken off the team in the process of the bet. So, if you bet on a -13.5 handicap, the team will have these 13.5 points taken off when calculating the final score.
- Outright betting: This is probably the simplest method of betting, and you can get involved without understanding much about the markets. You’re just betting on an overall event, such as a championship or the Super Rugby Pacific or Rugby League World Cup. If you think a team is going to win the championship, you can put your money on them.
Some sportsbook markets also let you bet on who will get to the latter stages and in which round of tournaments they may be eliminated.
- Combining bets: Some sportsbooks also offer choices such as bet builders and the option to combine multiple selections from one rugby fixture, or from multiple. So, for instance, you might bet on which team is going to win, as well as the total points. This gives you the opportunity to get better odds, but of course, you’re taking more of a risk on what the outcome is going to be. Stake accordingly, and if you go for “long shot” bets, make sure you’re not placing too much on the result.
There are a lot of other markets available on rugby betting, such as player bets. You might bet on how many points a player will score or even whether they will get sin-binned. What events will occur during the game, and at what time, are some of the other potential markets.
Bookmakers are always trying to accommodate more gamblers and this means giving them more markets to choose between.
Conclusion Getting started can feel a little confusing, so start slow and make sure you know exactly what you are betting on at all times. There are many different markets and you might be surprised which rugby fixtures are covered, and in how much detail – you can probably follow your favourite local team and bet on the outcome of their matches with ease.