The 2017 Rugby League World Cup kicks off on October 26th and features 19 of the world’s best teams. They’ll battle it out to feature in the final on Saturday 2nd December in Brisbane, Australia. If you’re new to Rugby League betting, but want to take an interest in this feast of Rugby action, this article will help to get you started. Or if you’re a Rugby aficionado, perhaps our tips section will help to give you some ideas. Read on to find out more…
How do Rugby League betting markets work?
With the big tournament approaching, bookmakers will be no doubt be hard at work to perfect their offering. And by ‘perfect’, I mean offer as many markets as they possibly can.
This can become a bit confusing, especially for newcomers. So we’re going to explain how the three main markets work. And also how to understand the odds so you can place a bet that wins you some money:
Match Odds
This will be the market that most people are familiar with, and is the main rugby league betting market. Here, you’re just betting on the team that you think will win the match. However, if you think it will be a draw, you can bet on this too.
The rugby league betting odds for the World Cup are not yet available for individual matches [at time of posting]. So we’ll use a Rugby Super League match as an example:
All you need to do, is add the team that you think will win the match to your betslip and input the amount you wish to bet. Your stake will be multiplied by the available odds on that selection to give you a return, should they finish the 80 minute match with a greater number of points than their challenger. If the opposition win, or the match is a draw, you lose the bet.
Match Handicap
In rugby league, because the points scoring system is 4 points for a try and 2 for a kick, the margins of victory can be quite wide if a good team is playing a poor one. It’s for this reason that match handicaps are available to help make the betting market more attractive.
Bookmakers display the Match Handicap market as follows:
As you can see, the handicap that had been applied to each team has made the betting market more even. What it means is that Castleford Tigers start the match with a 6 point deficit…or St Helens start the match with 6 points on the board.
If you back Castleford, they must win the match by more than 6 points for you to win the bet. So a score of 52 – 40 would suffice. If they only won the match 52 – 50, then St Helens would win, as their points tally would be 56 once the handicap of +6 has been applied.
Oh, and for it to be a draw, Castleford must win the match by exactly 6 points. This means that once the handicap has been applied, the scores will be level.
Total Points Under/Over
Sometimes, picking a team to win can be difficult. It is often nice to just sit back, and enjoy the match as a neutral. But that doesn’t mean your rugby league betting has to take a back seat.
The Total Points Under/Over market allows you to relax and just hope both teams convert as many tries as possible. Your bookie of choice will set a line as seen below:
It’s then up to you to decide whether the accumulative points total of both teams is going to be more or less than 44.5. So for example, for the over selection, you need 45 or more points to win your bet, and under you need 44 or less to win your bet.
How to stay up to date
For those of you in the UK, the matches will be taking place between 4am and 10am. This may pose a problem if you want to follow some of our rugby league betting tips but need to go to work.
The good news is that there are numerous ways to stay in touch with the action. For a start, England fans will be able to watch their matches on BBC. You can tune in via your TV or on the BBC website. Premier Sports will also be covering every single fixture from the tournament.
The benefit of the Premier Sports service is that you can watch these matches via desktop, iPhone or Android app.
Alternatively, betting companies such as Bet365 will offer live data streams of the match, which is convenient if you’re looking to place bets.
If you’re not able to give it your full attention and just want score updates then live score services such as Flash score will help you follow any Rugby League betting tips you have backed.
Finally, the official Rugby League World Cup website will have all the latest news and match reports.
Rugby League betting tips
At the time of posting, the rugby league betting odds for the World Cup are not yet available for individual matches. However, we are able to give you our favourite picks for the winners market.
As tournament hosts, Australia are clear favourites to win the competition. But at 1.25 in some places, we feel that this doesn’t provide much value as our Rugby League betting tip.
England are currently third favourites at 9.0 to win the tournament behind second favourites and co-hosts New Zealand at 3.75.
The winner is very likely to come from these three teams, so to get a bit of value, the choice for us is between England and New Zealand. Since November 2015, England and New Zealand have played each other 4 times.
During New Zealand’s tour of England, England won a 3 match test series by 2 games to 1. They’ve faced each other once since that with New Zealand edging a close encounter 17-16. So the level of both teams is pretty close.
We feel that for the prices available, England at 9.0 represents the best value. The first match of the tournament is Australia vs England and will tell you a lot about both countries chances.
How to place a bet
Every bookmaker will be providing rugby league betting odds for the tournament. And some may even be providing special promotions to help drive people to bet on it.
Big tournaments are usually the most popular times for betting, and as a consequence, matched betting. Which means OddsMonkey can help turn those bets into guaranteed profit.
You will see all of the bookmaker offers for the World Cup promoted in the Reload section of the site. These will include things such as enhanced rugby league betting odds, and free bets.
One thing’s for sure, if you can profit from it, we’ll be covering it and telling you how!
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