How to bet on EURO 2024: Full Betting Guide

Taking place every four years, 24 of Europe’s best national teams will head to Germany this summer for the right to be crowned European Champions.

Best Bookmakers for Euro 2024 Betting:

Every four years, European football’s governing body, UEFA hosts a European Championship. Having first been played in 1960, the tournament has become one of the biggest football events in the world, with millions all over the world tuning into the action. 

The tournament was formerly held with just 16 teams but since the 2016 tournament it has been expanded and 24 teams now battle it out for the right to be called European Champions. 

Over the years some of Europe’s greatest players have lit up the European stage and all of the continents biggest hitters including France, Germany, Spain and Italy have won the competition on numerous occasions. 

2024’s tournament looks set to be memorable in many ways. Set to be held in Germany, the tournament will be played in some of the best football stadiums in the continent and the action on the pitch looks set to be of the very highest standard. 

The tournament contains two stages with all 24 teams trying to qualify out of the group stages. 

The group stage of the tournament will see each of the qualified teams split out into six groups. From there the top two teams and the four best third placed sides will qualify for the knockout stage. 

16 teams will qualify for the knockout stage and try to reach the final. Needing to win three matches to reach the final, the remaining two teams will battle it out for glory. 

This summer’s tournament is due to start on the 14th June with the final due taking place one month later on the 14th July in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. 

All the world’s best betting sites will run extensive markets throughout the tournament. Not only can all Euro 2024 games be bet on, but each game will allow you to browse hundreds of different bets.

It looks set to be a brilliant tournament both on and off the pitch.

The great thing about placing a bet on this summer’s European Championships is that there is an abundance of different bets that you will be able to place. Some are likely to be more popular than others but I’m happy to breakdown some of the bets that I’m looking forward to placing. 

Betting Types

Handicap bets

With the draw for the tournament having already been made, bettors already know who will be facing off against each other. 

Whilst the Euros has thrown up many surprise results (does anyone remember Iceland knocking out England!), the group phase of the tournament has been seeded in a way where all the tournaments big guns should advance to the knockout phase of the competition. 

What this can often mean is that in the group phase there could be the potential of some one-sided contests.

For example In Group B, Spain are due to face off against Albania and the outright odds will be heavily skewed towards Spain winning the game. With any outright odds likely to return hardly any value, one way to extract value is with handicap betting. 

Handicap betting will present several scoreline scenarios and it’s up to you which option you would like to choose. 

For example, you could choose to back Spain at a -2 deficit, meaning that Spain would have to win by three clear goals for your bet to win. The odds for a bet of this type are way more generous and could see some nice returns being won. 

Handicap betting works for both sides. Rather than focusing on just the favourites, you can also back the underdogs to hang onto a lead. You could back Albania to start two goals up and hope they hang on for the victory. 

Player bets 

In recent years the amount of specialised player bets has grown hugely. 

Following the lead of American sports, bettors now have the choice to bet on specific markets such as which players will score, will a player create an assist, will they have a certain amount of shots on goal, will they get carded or will they perform a certain amount of tackles. 

The odds for these types of bets can offer some fantastic value and can often see some great returns being made. Most top betting sites allow you to build a bet, where you can combine some of these different player bets into one single bet which can often result in some huge odds being generated. 

Over / under bets

Over / under bets are fun and easy bets to place. When trying to place these bets a bettor will be presented with a range of different scenarios. For example, the sportsbook may ask if a certain team is likely to receive over or under a set amount of corners or cards. All you need to do is correctly predict if the chosen team will achieve over or under that number. 

The odds for both scenarios are usually similar and requires you to use your judgment to determine the outcome. 

In play betting 

One area that bettors try and squeeze out some additional value is through in play betting. 

Offering fast and dynamic betting, the odds for in play betting can change in an instant. 

Let’s say the heavy favourites concedes the first goal or gets a man sent off, the outright odds may become desirable and rather than backing the underdog for value, backing the stronger side now becomes an option. 

In play betting isn’t just reserved for outright markets, other game specific markets such as the next goal scorer, the number of cards and the time of goals can all be bet on. 

Some of the best betting sites will offer live streaming services that will sit alongside in play markets and provide a brilliant all round gambling experience. 

Outright Betting 

One of the most popular bets that will be placed out of all UEFA Euro betting are outright bets. Outright bets can be placed on the individual outcomes of matches as well as on who will win the tournament. 

With the draw having already been made, savvy bettors can plot the potential path to the final that some teams will take and can start to narrow down who they think could end up victorious. 

The reason why many believe this summer’s tournament stands to be the best European Championships ever held is that several teams will travel to Germany with serious hopes of going all the way.

Current favourites for victory are England who have never won the Euros before. Beaten finalists in Euro 2020 in a penalty shootout, they will be hoping to go one place better this time around. 

Closely following in the betting is France who will hope that Kylian Mbappe will be able to inspire his nation to victory once more. 

Twice winners of the tournament, they were last crowned European Champions back in 2000. The winners of the 2018 World Cup, they almost defended their crown at the 2022 World Cup before succumbing to Argentina in the final. They look to have a great chance of going all the way. 

One of the reasons as to why football betting is so popular is that it is brilliant for accumulator and other forms of combination bets. 

With the possibility of unearthing some big returns, in this section we will discuss everything you need to know about placing Accumulator or Combination bets.

Accumulator bets 

An accumulator bet is normally when a bet has over four different selections. Usually only concerned with outright selections, the idea is to combine the outcomes of different matches into one bet where you can win big. 

With the upcoming Euros, there will be plenty of occasions where there will be four matches in one day. Staggered throughout the day, an accumulator bet would see you try to predict the winner of each match. You can bet on either team or for the draw to take place.

The odds of all your selections will be multiplied together to give you one final value. 

For any accumulator bet to be successful, each leg in the bet must win. Let’s say you bet on four different teams to win and three win but one team loses this would result in your bet being a loser. 

Most football betting sites will offer you a cash out facility where you could cash in your bet before the bet has reached its final outcome.

There’s no shortage of the number of teams you can add to your bet. There have been occasions where accumulator bets have won with twenty different selections.

It goes without saying that the more teams you add, the harder it is for your bet to win. 

Combo bets

Accumulator bets usually focus on bets that contain multiple selections, but there are other combo bets that you can place.

Double

A Double is where you bet on the outcomes of two different matches, similarly to an accumulator bet, in order for this bet to win both selections must be victorious. If one team wins but the other loses, your bet will be classed as a loser.

Although the odds of a double bet usually return far less than large accumulators, they are more likely to result in the bet winning as there are fewer selections to predict correctly.

Treble

A treble is when you combine three selections together to make one bet. Like double and accumulator bets the aim is for all selections within a treble bet to win. If one leg of your treble lets you down, your bet will be a losing one. 

Euro acca calculator

Because the potential returns of an accumulator bet can be hard to work out, some betting sites will have acca calculators that you can use to work out the best odds.

In an acca calculator you input all the odds of your selections and the calculator will work out the final odds value of all of these selections. This will enable you to see what your potential returns could be. 

If you want to work out your odds yourself, it can be a little tricky. What you will need to do is multiply each of the odds together but also include the stake. 

For example, let’s say we want to bet on four different teams and place a £10 bet. If each team has a 2/1 chance – we would multiply 3 x 3 x 3 x 3. This includes our stake and the 2/1 odds for each leg. When calculated this would result in overall odds of 81/1.

Although the stake will always remain the same, different values can make working out your own odds difficult. Therefore, we would always recommend using a calculator.

If you are looking to place a bet on this summer’s European Championships, then the one thing you will be inundated with is odds – but what do odds really mean?

At its heart, odds dictate how likely a team is to win a match or how likely a specific outcome is. The smaller number of the odds, the more likely a team is to win.

The best place to start is looking at even odds – these will be positioned on sports betting sites as either ‘Evens’, ‘1/1’ or ‘2.00’ depending on what odds metric you decide to choose to have your odds presented in.

Essentially if you back a team at evens – this would mean that your betting stake would simply be doubled. Any odds shorter than even odds would mean that you would get less than your stake back in potential returns. 

If you encounter odds like 8/11 or 10/11 – this would indicate that the team or event carrying those odds is a very heavy favourite. 

If you see odds such as 2/1, 3/1, or 4/1, these odds mean that a specific outcome is viewed as a slightly longer shot to occur. If you bet on a team to win at 3/1 and that team were to win – you would triple your initial stake in winnings. The bigger the number – i.e. 10/1, 25/1 – the more unlikely the outcome is likely to be.

Millions of bettors all around Europe will be participating in Euro 2024 betting. With the opportunity to make some nice returns, there are some bettors who will look to employ some specific strategies, in the hope that these strategies could yield some profitable returns. 

Let’s look at some of these below.

Free bets

If you are new to sports betting or fancy placing bets with different betting partners, then you could take advantage of football betting sites running free bet incentives.

The UK online sports betting scene is incredibly competitive and to keep attracting new customers, betting sites will try and hit customers with enticing offers. 

One of the most popular incentives are free bets. Usually awarded once a new customer makes their first deposit, free bets can be awarded covering a range of different values. There are some sites that offer free bets up to a value of £50.

Free bets are a great way to bet on the Euros as you can place bets on any match knowing that you won’t be incurring any losses. Free bets should let you explore the different bets that you can place so that you can find the bet type that you might want to bet on in the future.

Tournament Trends

As the tournament progresses, there will be trends that start to emerge. With matches starting at different times, there might be a trend that the earlier kick offs see more goals than the later kick offs. 

Some groups may see an abundance of goals, whereas other groups may be tighter. After the first round of matches, bettors will be able to see on average how many goals are being scored, how many cards are being picked up and how many corners are being won. 

All these types of trends could enable you to make more accurate bets and should be something to keep a real eye on.

Matches might change as the tournament reaches its business end

Most tournaments see a significant shift in goalmouth action as a tournament progresses through the rounds. 

Whereas the group games can see a lot of goals, the knockout rounds are usually a lot cagier. With teams knowing that a defeat will end their tournament hopes, games can often be low scoring affairs and it isn’t uncommon for matches to be settled in extra time or penalties.

If you are anticipating a tight contest, betting on ‘Under’ markets can be a sensible thing to do and these ‘Under’ markets can really come into play during these more nerve-wracking matches.

Live in play betting has grown massively in popularity over the last few years and for some bettors they love to place bets as the action is unfolding rather than trying to predict the outcomes of a game before a ball is kicked.

Most decent football betting sites will offer in play betting and a massive choice of markets can be bet on such as the overall winner, next goal bets, the timing of the next goal, the method of the next goal and who will pick up a booking.

What makes in play betting so fascinating is that the odds can shift so dramatically. If a favourite for the match concedes the first goal, they might suddenly become very backable. Alternatively, if you backed a long shot and the favourites experience a red card or has a bad day at the office, your long odds may look like a steal if the price shifts dramatically.

If betting live in play, the odds can shift every ten seconds so be aware that if you want to place a bet you will need to act quickly!

Other features

As well as betting in play there are other features that you can take advantage of when placing bets on this summer’s Euros.

• Cash out – Cash out is a feature that most football betting sites offer. If your bet is hanging in the balance, you might be able to cash out your bet early. Although you won’t make the full return of your bet, it is nice to know that you have an insurance policy and can still make some returns.
  
• Build a bet – Football betting sites like to put you in control and rather than using all their bets, some sites will let you create your own bets. Usually known as ‘Build a bet’ you can usually choose up to five different bets and combine them into one bet. This would create a unique set of odds that you can bet on. It gives you the power and the option to customise your bets as you see fit.
  
• Acca Boosts – Some betting sites will offer Acca boosts on all Euro 2024 markets. What this means is that the more matches you bet on, the bigger the odds boost that you will receive. Accumulator bets are usually lucrative, but odds boosts can make them even more rewarding.

The savviest of bettors will often look at different stats when trying to make the perfect bets. Stats can provide bettors with an edge and in some cases, stats can paint a different picture to some of the odds that might be available to you.

If you are new to the world of stats, here are some of the most common stats that you can look to apply when making your bets.

Head-to-Head

Head-to-Head records are always a great place to start when deciding which team to bet on. 

Usually widely available, Head-to-Head data will reveal the history of the previous matches between the two teams. As well as being able to see who has won the most matches between the two teams, you can also see who has had the better of the fixture in the last few years. One team may have a brilliant record over another and that could make backing them an easier choice than normal. 

Individual records

For some reason there are some teams that certain players love playing against. There will be some strikers that make it a habit of scoring against certain opposition and if this is the case it might be worth backing them to score in a match between the two.

Individual records don’t just apply to players. It could be that the two opposing managers may have a history. One manager may set up his team to consistently beat the other and this could be worth remembering when placing a bet.

Tournament stats

Looking back at past tournaments can often be a good indicator. 

Take England for example, despite being one of the strongest sides in European football, they have never won the Euros and always seem to fall short. This could be good to know for the latter stages of the tournament and could be worth bearing in mind if you are looking to back or take them on.

You may also notice current stats when the tournament is in progress. For example, are the favourites often winning, how many goals are being scored on average, are more teams finding the back of the net more than offers? All these trends and patterns can help with your bets and should try to be monitored as the tournament progresses.

As we have touched upon a few times in this article, betting on the underdog is a tactic that many bettors will choose to adopt.

The underdog is the team that has been allocated the longer odds and it is the bookmakers’ way of telling us that they don’t think that team is capable of winning.

The great thing about football and the Euros is that throughout its history there have been plenty of upsets. A largely unfancied Danish team won the tournament back in 1992. Greece shocked the world when they won the 2004 iteration of the tournament and who can forget when Iceland sent England packing back in 2016.

Backing underdogs does require a slight leap of faith as there is usually a reason as to why they aren’t fancied to win. However, if you back underdogs regularly, just one or two wins could see you make some nice profit.

One great way of betting on the underdog is through live betting. After the game begins you may be able to see how the underdogs are performing and if you feel they are holding their own, it could be a good time to back them rather than at the start.

As this article has hopefully revealed, there are plenty of different ways that you can bet on the Euros and there should be plenty of markets that you can get involved in. 

Getting started is easy and all you need to do is follow these simple steps.

1. Choose your bookmaker
2. Sign up and register your account. Be mindful of any bonus codes that you may need to enter in order to claim any welcome bonuses. 
3. Once you have signed up, visit the cashier and enter your first deposit. This will need to align with the minimums set by the bookmaker and certain amounts may need to be deposited to trigger a welcome bonus.
4. Once deposited, find football in the list of sports to bet on.
5. When opened, you should see a tab for Euro 2024 bets. This should then reveal all available bets.
6. Find your bet.
7. Click on the odds you wish to select – this should load your bet slip.
8. Once your bet slip appears enter your stake and the possible returns should show. 
9. If happy, press confirm and your bet should be placed.
10. If you want to bet on multiple teams, you will need to select all the different teams you want to back. These teams should populate on your betting slip along with all the different bet types. Once happy enter your stake and your combo bet should be placed.