World Cup Team Props & Quarterfinal Odds
by Richard Gardner | Bodog Sportsbook Manager - 7/2/2010
As the big tournament in South Africa heads for the quarterfinals, we’ve published a whole new board of World Cup team props at Bodog’s online sportsbook. Interest in these bets has been off the charts all competition and we expect more of the same with the World Cup down to seven teams, even without the United States involved.
I’ve been asked a couple of times since the World Cup started about which props are the most popular with bettors, so I thought it might be interesting to take a look at a few results from the round of 16. This information is good for us to reflect on as well, because we want to give our players more of the bets they want, not the ones they don’t.
The most popular team prop for the round of 16 was the one that asked what the correct score would be. Almost 30 percent of the total handle on the team props board was dedicated to this one wager. As I’ve written before, I absolutely love this soccer bet, so I can see why it’s so popular. There aren’t many sports where you can bet on the exact final score and have a reasonable chance of success. Nail the final score in a basketball game and you’re either extremely lucky or some sort of gambling savant. But it’s doable for everyone in soccer.
Another very popular prop, I have to admit, took me a bit by surprise. Approximately 12 percent of handle was dedicated to the total corners prop. (For example, the total corners opened at 9.5 for the Brazil-Netherlands, with bettors choosing either over or under.) Who knew people loved to bet on corner kicks?
Here’s another telling stat from the book: Almost five percent of handle was earmarked for the first team to score while just half a percent of handle for the last team to score. In other words, bettors are ten times more interested in the first goal than the last. Sports bettors have always been the impatient type, so this doesn’t surprise me whatsoever. We also book a good amount of action on the team to get the first corner kick.
On the other hand, a couple of bets that aren’t so popular: the prop that asks whether or not there will be a penalty awarded and the one that asks whether or not there will be an own goal.
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