The ultimate guide to football betting terms: T – Z

With only a few letters in the alphabet to go, we commend you for your pursuit of betting genius.  You can no longer be considered a football betting newbie.  Here we start at T and take you through the essential betting terms until we get to the end of the alphabet.

Tip/ Tipster

A tip is a selection chosen by an expert or someone who believes they have superior knowledge of an event.  It may be that this tip comes from a pundit, an ex-footballer or someone just schooled in the form of teams.  The person giving this tip becomes known as the tipster.  This tipster is someone who gives away tips or sells them for money.

Tote Return

Tote Return is a term common to Pools betting.  The tote return is the amount on a pool divided by the number of winning bets.  It is how much you would end up winning if you were a part of the pool of bets.

A treble

is a single bet but one that has three selections.  Therefore, you would want the result of three football matches to fall in your favour to receive any return on this bet at all.  As the odds of this happening are low, then your profits should be high.

Tricast

If you bet on the first, second and third place in the EPL, then you would be placing a tricast bet.

Trixie

A Trixie is a type of permutation bet.  The Trixie is a bet with four lines – with three doubles and a treble.  You would be expected to place four stakes – a separate stake for each of the doubles and the treble.  It is then possible to cover some or all your losses if one of the doubles or the treble is successful.

True odds

True odds are an accurate reflection of the probability of events, as reflected in the odd.  The bookie will calculate the true odds before setting the actual odds.  The difference is the margin for profit for the sportsbook.

Under

In under/ over betting, you are betting on a score to be below a certain number of goals.  It is possible to tie such a bet, with it being neither under or over.  When this happens, the bet is void – as if the wager has never happened.

Underdog

An underdog is a team that is expected to lose.  Backing an underdog will get you better odds but obviously with a higher chance of losing out entirely.  The trick: be sure of the underdog that is going to defy form.

Union Jack

A Union Jack is a form of permutation betting.  It is a combination of eight trebles based on nine selections.  It is called a Union Jack because of the pattern it makes when you draw a line between the choices.

Value

Essential to earning money on betting is the finding of value.  This is the process of getting the best odds, and from this, the best returns.

Void bet

A void bet has been cancelled, and the stake returned to the punter.  This is either because the event did not take place or because some of the company terms were breached.

Wager

Your bet!

Welch

Welching is when the bookmaker refuses to pay out on a fair bet.  There are all sorts of protections and regulations in place to make this a rare event!

Winnings

The profit you have made from the bet, with the stake taken away.  Remember you get your stake returned to you should your bet win.

X

X is the shortcode used to symbolise a draw or a tie.

Yankee

A Yankee is a permutation bet.  You are attempting to cover four selections, with 11 lines.  This means you are placing a stake on six doubles, four trebles and one 4-fold.  If you turn this into a Yankee Patent, then you will also bet on each of the four singles – making 15 bets in total.

All of our Ultimate Guide Links

If you want to read more of our ultimate guides, here are the links.

Getting value from these? You will love our free email course.

Learn about football betting for FREE

Join our free email course to learn all about football betting. You will learn theory and techniques to make you a better bettor!

Sign up for free