If you bet online, there is a pretty good chance you punt on football. The latter is the world’s biggest sport and the main reason the online sports betting industry is growing daily. Many people watch their favorite football club and are happy when they have the chance to bet on it.

Speaking of betting on football, the data from www.simon-shaheen.com shows that around 38% of bettors in France wager on this sport. Even more impressive is that around 37% said they’d won money. These percentages are quite high when you compare them to those in other countries.

If we look at Italy, we can see that around 40% of bettors punt on soccer. However, only 17% of them said they’d won money. The situation in Spain is slightly better because around 38% bet on football and 30% won money. The percentage is pretty much the same in the UK.

Interestingly, Germany is where only 31% of people wager on football. Aside from Italy, this is the country with the second-lowest percentage of bettors who’ve won money. “The situation in Germany is exciting and surprising because everyone knows that people there love football. However, it seems like locals are also betting on many other sports”, said NB’s football expert Kristiyan.

There is no need to go through why football is the most popular sport for online betting. Nevertheless, many people want to know why gamblers in some countries aren’t so successful. So, let’s take a look at some of the reasons.

Why do Italian football fans have the lowest success rate?

Before we examine some common reasons football bettors have a low win rate, we’d like to focus specifically on Italy. If we look at the chart above, we can see that Italian punters are not as successful as those in some other European countries. What’s even more surprising is that the difference is substantial, especially when you compare Italy to France, for example.

Italians are among the biggest football fans in the world, and the country is home to many online betting operators. Unsurprisingly, all of them allow their clients to wager on football, which explains why many people do it. In fact, studies reveal that Italians have wagered around 12M EUR in sports betting in 2021 alone.

Despite their enthusiasm and love for football, most of them seem to make bad decisions regarding the markets and the teams they bet on. As you can probably guess, many punters decide to stake on their local football clubs when playing against some of the best in the Champions League or Liga Europa. Even though the Italian teams are usually among the favourites, they have had some problems lately, reflecting their results.

Placing bets without conducting a proper research

One of the big reasons why only 30% of people who bet on football in some countries end up making money is that they don’t know what they’re doing. Many rely on their previous experience to wager, but this is usually insufficient. Consequently, they choose the wrong event and place a bet on a market that’s not worth it.

Although no one can guarantee that you will be a successful online bettor, conducting the proper research before betting will help. First, you must decide which league to bet on and check the upcoming matches. Once you find something interesting, it’s time to check the given team’s latest results and go through the available markets.

Even though there will be a lot of options with high odds, only some of them will be worth it. Consequently, your job is to calculate the risk that comes with each market and decide which one to bet on.

Failing to bet on a market that’s worth it

Although this is more or less related to the point we’ve made above, an important thing to remember is that not all betting markets are worth it. In fact, we’ll go as far as saying that only a handful of them are good. Sure, you can find many options that look good on paper and have lucrative odds. However, they are not worth betting on because predicting them is next to impossible.

Deciding which market to bet on can be complicated and often takes time. When choosing which one to focus on, you must check the odds and consider your chances of predicting it. For example, the Correct Score market often has lucrative odds, but predicting it is almost impossible, especially in some football events.

Another thing to remember about the football betting odds is that the higher they are, the less likely it is to predict the bet. Every sports betting website that offers football betting uses a complex formula regarding the odds. The big brands have specific margins that they must adhere to, which explains why some odds are better than others.

Conclusion – Is betting on football worth it?

After analyzing the data from the European countries with the best football competitions, it became clear that the percentage of people who win from their football bets isn’t that high, especially in some countries. This begs the question – is betting on football worth it?

Despite the lower percentages, betting on football is worth it, but only if you are responsible and placing bets for fun. Wagering on something makes watching it even more interesting. So, as long as you don’t consider football betting as a reliable source of income, you will have loads of fun doing it.

Those who want to improve their football betting skills can read different guides and even look for football betting tips. Even though finding a reliable tipster online is often more complicated than it seems, some bettors are willing to go through the process because they like betting on football.