Double chance betting is a market that is popular with football fans looking for a low-risk wager. Of course, any bet carries a risk, but this market increases your chances of winning by allowing you to effectively choose two out of any three of the possible outcomes in the standard 90-minute match odds markets.
As the name suggests, you have a double chance and whilst the odds are reduced by a corresponding amount, this still gives you a very good chance of landing a winner. The double chance market relates to which team will win the game (or if it will be a draw). Let us assume Man United are playing Man City. Normally you would pick Man United to win, Man City to win, or the stalemate. With double chance, however, you can pick any two of those three options and your bet only loses if the third result occurs.
If we consider the Manchester derby, we might see Pep Guardiola’s men priced as 4/5 favourites, with United out at 16/5 and the draw priced at odds of 14/5.
In a game like this, your options and applicable odds would be as follows.
How to Use Double Chance
When it comes to the double chance market there are a range of different ways you can use it and various approaches you can take. The first and most obvious reason you might decide to bet on double chance is if you think a team will win, but aren’t quite 100% sure and just want that little bit of extra insurance. City are a great side but in a derby game anything can happen. By backing City/Draw, you give yourself a margin for error, or indeed for a bad refereeing decision not to matter, or for a terrible mistake or moment of magic not to scupper your bet.
If you think a team will win but just cannot see them losing, under any circumstances, double chance can be a good call. This approach is more likely to be used on less of a favourite, because, as we can see, City at 4/5 goes right down to 1/4 for City/Draw. Many punters may feel that 1/4 is too short to back and doesn’t deliver enough in the way of a return. However, if a team is priced at, say 6/4, the double chance might be a more respectable 4/11.
Moving the odds higher still, double chance can be a wise move if you fancy an upset in a game but are worried the underdog might end up having to settle for a draw. So returning to the Manchester derby, if you think the Red Devils can stand up to their neighbours but aren’t quite convinced they will definitely do enough to win, United/Draw could appeal at Evens.
Last of all you might want to back double chance in a game that is a must-win fixture for both teams. Staying in Manchester, if this clash took place on the last day of the season, let us imagine that City need to win to claim the title, whilst United have to win to secure Champions League football. A draw is absolutely no good to either team and so if the sides were level in stoppage time you might see both going for broke trying to score and thus both leaving gaps at the back. Here, the City/United double chance bet could be very appealing.
Double Chance to Lay
There are even more reasons why you might use this bet though, but they are slightly different to a straightforward approach of how you think the clash might go. The first is to use it as a means of laying the third outcome. A traditional bet is a back wager, where you are having a punt that something will happen. The opposite of this, typically only possible using a betting exchange, is a lay bet, where you are wagering that something will not happen.
If you want to lay a team but you don’t want to (or can’t) use an exchange, using double chance is a great alternative. It may even, on some occasions, be better value to do it this way.
Should you want to lay Man City, for example, that means you want to bet on them not to win. If they win, you lose, if they lose or draw, you win. Double chance Man United/Draw is exactly the same from a betting perspective as laying City at an exchange.
Markets Similar to Double Chance
There are a few markets that are very similar, or even exactly the same, as double chance, or some selections within double chance. These include:
- Laying a team – as above, betting on Team 1/Draw is the same as laying Team 2. You can lay any of the three outcomes, for example the draw by backing Team 1/Team 2 in the double chance market.
- Asian handicap +0.5 – backing a side +0.5 in the Asian handicap market is exactly the same as backing them and the draw, double chance. Sometimes the Asian handicap may offer better odds, even though it is the same bet in practice.
- Draw no bet – with draw no bet you back a team to win and if they draw you get your stake back. This offers bigger odds than double chance but the draw sees you break even rather than actually take money from the bookie. If you are more confident in the win, this may be a better pick than double chance.
Double Chance in Accas
The final way in which double chance betting is frequently employed is for accumulators. Because you are backing two selections, even if you go for the outsider and the draw, the odds are rarely huge. And if you go for even the slimmest of favourites and the draw – or a narrow favourite and their opponent – the double chance odds will always be firmly odds-on.
These sorts of bets may not offer huge appeal as singles but they are very popular as possible additions for accas and multiples. You can create a double chance acca for every PL game, mix and match contests from various leagues, or even do some selections as double chance and others, about which you are more confident, as match odds picks – or indeed any other market you fancy.
As an example, a 10-game acca covering all matches in a round of the Premier League, backing the favourite and the draw, delivered up potential odds of 11/2. That might not seem like much for a 10-game acca but all picks were very short-priced odds-on selections. Changing the picks to include three relative outsiders, though still priced shorter than evens, improved that to more than 15/2.
Double Chance Rules
Double chance is not a complex market and there are not really any particular rules you need to be aware of that are not relevant to all football bets. This means that wagers are 90 minutes plus stoppage time only and that any games that are cancelled, postponed or abandoned will be subject to the standard bookie rules.
One thing to note is that some betting sites may list this market using the 1X2 system, when 1 equates to a home win, X to the draw and 2 to the away win. As such, if you see double chance listed as 1X, this means the home win and the draw. If the game is on neutral territory, for example a cup final, or match at a major international tournament, the team listed first (at the bookie in their match odds, but this should be the same as on official event websites and media outlets) will be classed as the “home” team, and therefore be 1.