The World Cup 2018 outright winner market is dominated by just a few teams. You have Brazil, Germany, Spain and France as the strong contenders of the 32 nations who are showing at Russia 2018. In World Cup outright winner odds, they are all 13/2 odds* (betting odds taken from Bet365 at 10:45 p.m. on May 28th, 2018) or shorter to win the tournament outright.
Because they are at the shorter end of the odds scale, the most common practice is to just back one of them as a straight single in the outright winner market. Those are the big teams at the tournament which most people are expecting to be at least reaching the semi-final stage. Each Way betting can save you from heartbeaking if you bet is going lose so close before the end of the World Cup.
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This alternative is to look at backing a team with the each way option. What does it mean to take an each way bet at the World Cup 2018? By making your selection as an each way option you are taking some coverage on your bet if it just falls short. As with any kind of each way betting that you are going to do you need to look at each way terms that bookmaker is offering first of all.
Each way betting terms
An each way bet at the World Cup 2018 on the outright winner market with bet365 is going to offer you 1/2 odds on two places. That means that if you, for example, you back Spain each way at 6/1 odds to win the World Cup* (betting odds taken from Bet365 at 10:45 p.m. on May 28th, 2018) in the summer, but instead of finishing first they finish second, by losing in the final their means that you would get paid out at half of the original odds.
The mechanics of this is that essentially you are splitting your original stake into two parts. This is the important part to remember about an each way bet, you are going to need two unit stakes. So if you wanted to take a £10 stake on the full 6/1 odds as part of an each way bet, you have to come up with another £10 to place on the each way part of that bet.
So for this example let’s look at a 20 bankroll that you have for an each way bet at the World Cup 2018. With that you could place a £10 each way stake on Spain at 6/1 odds then your total stake is going to be £20. If Spain were to win at those 6/1 odds then you would return a £90 profit. That is because out of your original stake you would technically have placed 10 on them winning and the other 10 on them finishing second at half of the original odds. So what you would have ended up with is this:
Spain 6/1 odds win
£10 x 6/1 odds = £60 profit
Plus
£10 x 3/1 odds = £30 profit
Total profit £90
Spain 6/1 odds runners up
The first portion, namely the win portion of it with the 10 stake, would lose if Spain were to only finish runners up at the tournament. But the second part of the bet would cover you and you would win that each way portion of the bet, because Spain did finish in the top two spots, so you would end up with:
£10 x 3/1 odds = 30 profit
The compensation that you are taking on this is the difference between what you would lose in backing Spain outright in a straight single, opposed to seeing them win through an each way bet option. If you place a to win single with your full £20 stake at 6/1 odds on Spain and they did win the World Cup 2018 you would walk away with 120 profit.
So you would have walked away with a lot more profit from backing Spain to win in a single, however but you would be left with nothing if they had come up short and lost the final. So there is the trade-off between doing a single outright and backing an each way wager. For more general information you can look up each way betting in our betting glossary.
Each Way betting World Cup 2018 value
How much value is there an each way betting on the favourites at the 2018 World Cup? There is no direct answer to that, because it will all be dependent on the degree of potential profit that you are looking for. If you are happy enough with Brazil, who are 4/1 odds favourites at bet365* (betting odds taken from Bet365 at 10:45 p.m. on May 28th, 2018) to win World Cup outright and to take half of that if they were to finish as runners-up, then that may be a solid option for you.
The one thing you just have to consider is will the return of the each way portion of your bet at least cover your initial outlay? At 4/1 odds if you placed a £10 each way wager on Brazil to win, and they finished second that £20 outlay would give you back £10 profit which is is still a decent enough return because you’re not out of pocket.
This is why you’re not really going to be considering the each way World Cup 2018 bet on a selection that is a smaller price than 2/1 odds. At that 2/1 threshold this then you would break even if your selection finished as a place opposed to a win. Naturally, your risk is higher because of the extra outlay covering the two portions of an each way bet if you consider the potential losses if your team doesn’t get to the final.
dark horses Each Way betting World Cup 2018
The appeal of each way World Cup 2018 bets is looking at those options with larger odds. Once you start getting up into double figures then that is where the risk to reward balance shifts a little bit. If you look at England who are 18/1 odds at bet365* (betting odds taken from Bet365 at 10:45 p.m. on May 28th, 2018) to win the tournament outright then your profit margins are a lot bigger and what this will then allow you do to do, is to outlay less on your each way stake.
England are at a price which is three times bigger than what Spain are at in the outright market so that allows you to cut back on your stake. Instead of 10 each way you could do 5 each way on England for example and if the Three Lions were to miraculously make it second place at Russia 2018 then that would be a 40 profit you got back. In comparison you would have gotten 30 back from Spain finishing second but would have staked/risked twice as much.
Assessing Each Way Options
Of course, as with any type of betting you have to fully assess the chances of an outcome actually happening. While there is naturally going to be big appeal on throwing each way wager at somebody like England and 18/1 odds* (betting odds taken from Bet365 at 10:45 p.m. on May 28th, 2018) or perhaps current reigning European champions Portugal at 25/1 odds* (betting odds taken from Bet365 at 10:45 p.m. on May 28th, 2018) just remember that they are at those big price reason. That reason being they aren’t likely to seriously be in contention to win the title.
So really even if you were looking at a shorter priced option in the outright winner market, there’s nothing wrong with backing one of those favourites out of Brazil, Germany, Spain, France or Argentina with an each way flutter. Then when it comes to those longer priced options, while anything can happen in the wonderful world of football, just look back at the recent history of the World Cup and go and see how many times an outsider has made it through to the showcase match.
In the last six editions of the World Cup, there have been just seven different finalists out of those 12 berths. In the last six editions Brazil have been to the final three times, France twice, Italy twice, Germany twice with a single appearance each for Spain, Netherlands and Argentina. Out of the entire World Cup history, only 12 different nations can proudly boast a top two finish.
Summary
In summary therefore for each way bets at the World Cup 2018 still think along the lines of conservatism by applying the option to one of the front runners. When it comes to the front-runners at the 2018 tournament, they do look fairly evenly matched and just that extra little bit of coverage for the sake of a little bit of odds sacrifice (as opposed to a win single), is often a nice safety net to carry through on your team throughout the tournament.
