Ian Bruce became interested in betting in 1987, when he landed a winning Yankee on his first attempt. That stroke of luck (and he admits that's exactly what it was) sparked an interest in understanding the strategies behind successful wagers. Over the years, he has become one of the UK's most prolific writers on betting and gaming, and is best known for his systematic approach to winning. Ian's career in the industry now spans over three decades. His favorite betting method is Dutching because, in his words, "It's the one I win with more often than not."
Get to know Ian Bruce betterThe answer to the question, What is Double Chance in betting? is fairly simple. Double chance is a type of bet that allows you to select two possible outcomes in the same event. If either of those outcomes takes place, the bet wins. In this guide, we explain how double chance betting works, why people use it, and how to do it.
Double Chance Betting and How It Works
Double chance betting is most commonly associated with football, so we will use that sport to explain how it works. In a football match, there are three possible outcomes – a home win (1), a draw (X), or an away win (2). A normal bet involves picking any one of those outcomes (1, X, or 2) and staking money on it, as in the image below:
With double chance betting, however, you get to pick two of the three outcomes, so the market you’ll see at online betting sites will look something like this:
As you can see, instead of quoting odds for 1, X, and 2, the double chance football market quotes odds for 1X, X2, and 12. The odds are lower than in the main market, but that’s only because we have a much bigger chance of winning with this kind of bet. Let’s take a look at each of our three options in turn.
Double Chance 1X Meaning
This is a bet that the match will result in a home win or a draw. Make this bet, and either of those two outcomes will result in your bet being settled as a winner. However, if the away team wins the match, the bet will lose.
Double Chance 2X Meaning
Here you are betting that the match will either be won by the away team or end in a draw. Again, if the match ends in either one of those outcomes, your bet will succeed. A win for the home team, however, would cause the bet to lose.
Double Chance 12 Meaning
As you’ve probably gathered already, this is a bet that the game will be won by either the home team or the away team. Your bet will win as long as one team beats the other, but it will lose if the match ends in a draw.
Example of Double Chance in Betting
Having explained what does double chance mean in betting, we can now show you how the bet works in practice. Let’s say that we’re at Betfred and that we want to bet on an upcoming match between Swansea City and Cardiff City. The odds we see in the main market are as follows:
We fancy Swansea to do the business, but we don’t expect Cardiff to be a walkover. We’ll therefore look at the double chance market to see what the odds are there.
Here, we see that the odds of Swansea winning the game or holding Cardiff to a draw are 1/4. That’s not a massive price, but we think it’s a fair reflection of our confidence that the match will be a home win or a draw, so we go ahead and place a bet. If we bet £20 and Cardiff win or draw the match, we’ll get £25 back.
What Sports Have Double Chance Betting?
Double chance betting is most popular among football bettors, so you’re likely to find double chance markets at almost all of the best football betting sites. In theory, the market can be offered about any sport that has three possible outcomes, but in practice it is usually only found in a few of them, such as ice hockey and some darts tournaments.
If you want to bet on a sport that doesn’t offer double chance betting, you can often achieve a similar thing by making separate bets on two out of the three available outcomes. Adjust your stakes according to the odds of the two outcomes you are betting on so that you achieve roughly the same return in either case.
Why Make a Double Chance Bet?
There are several good reasons for making a double chance bet. Some of the main ones that are given by customers of online betting sites include the following:
Improves Your Chances of Winning
The number one reason for using double chance in betting is that it can dramatically increase your chances of winning. Consider a hypothetical football game in which both teams are perfectly even in terms of form and ability. In that match, the chances of a home win, an away win, or a draw taking place would be around 33.33% in each case. Make a double chance bet on the same match, and your odds of success would double to 66.66%.
Decreases Your Risk
Because a double chance bet improves your chances of winning, it also decreases your risk. That makes this kind of bet much more suitable to risk-averse bettors or those who are just starting out and want to build their bankroll as safely as possible. It’s also a great market to look at when you want to take advantage of betting offers and have a good chance of getting a return from any free bets that you might get.
Simple to Understand
As you’ve seen, double chance betting isn’t at all complicated. That makes it ideal for anyone who is new to sports betting and wants an easy introduction to the hobby. For example, if you wanted to start betting on football, double chance football betting markets would let you do so in a more user-friendly way than the main match-winner market, which only lets you cover one of the three possible outcomes.
Potential Drawbacks of Double Chance Betting
All types of betting markets have their drawbacks, and double chance is no exception. Here are the two main disadvantages you’ll want to be aware of from the outset:
Profits Are Lower
Because it allows you to cover two outcomes instead of just one, the profits from a successful double chance bet will be lower than those offered in the main market. For example, the odds for a win or draw in the match we discussed earlier between Swansea and Cardiff City were just 3/10 (1.30). That’s a lot less than the odds for picking just one of the 1X2 options in the match-winner market. Of course, the lower potential profits reflect your higher chances of winning, but it’s still an important point to bear in mind.
Profit Caps May Also Be Lower
All bets that you place with bookmakers are subject to maximum payouts. Some bookmakers put a lower payout cap on double chance bets than they do on match-winner markets. Again, that’s simply because you have a much better chance of winning with a double chance bet. The payout limit shouldn’t be a problem for most bettors, as they will still be fairly generous. However, if you intend to bet with large stakes, it’s worth checking out the terms and conditions beforehand so that you know what the limit is with your chosen bookmaker.
Double Chance Betting Tips
At this point, you know the double chance betting meaning, and we’ve outlined the advantages and potential drawbacks of betting double chance instead of in the regular match winner market. We will now provide you with a handful of tips that can help you to practice double chance betting in a safe and sensible manner.
Study the Form
Betting on double chance markets might improve your chances of winning, but you should still take time to study the form of the teams involved in each event. The better you get at assessing form in football (or whatever other sport you choose to specialise in), the more confident you will be when it comes to making your betting selections.Consider the Odds
You should note that, in some matches, double chance betting really isn’t financially viable. For example, if you fancy a football team to win that is heavily odds-on, the odds for that team to win or draw would be significantly shorter. So much so that you might have to risk £10 to make a potential profit of just £1. In those cases, we would advise a different approach or that you skip the match altogether for betting purposes, as the potential reward just isn’t worth the risk.Use Free Bets
If the terms and conditions allow you to do so, consider double chance betting whenever you get free bets from an online betting site. This will give you a great chance of converting the free bet into real money that you can then use as and when you please.Beware Surprises
Surprises in betting are a lot more common than most people think. For evidence of this, just take a look at the BBC’s list of the Top 10 World Cup Upsets. That means you can’t simply assume that covering two out of three possible outcomes is a foolproof way to make money. It isn’t. There is always a chance that the third outcome you haven’t covered will scupper your bet and lose you money. Remember this at all times, practice responsible gambling and stake accordingly, never betting more than you can comfortably afford to lose in a worst-case scenario.Try Double Chance Accas
We’ve said that the odds for a double chance bet are lower than for a straightforward 1X2 bet. One way to improve potential payouts might be to put several double chance bets into one accumulator. For example, if you have three double chance bets, each at odds of 1.30, you could put them into a treble for combined odds of 2.19. See our accumulator betting guide for more details on how that type of bet works.
Conclusion
The double chance wager can be very useful when betting on football and other sports that allow this approach. While the odds that are paid for success with this type of bet are more modest than you’ll get in the main market, the likelihood of you winning is correspondingly greater. Consider double chance the next time you make a bet, and good luck!
Double Chance in Betting FAQs
What is a double chance bet?
What is an example of a double chance bet?
How do double chance bets work?
Can you lose a double chance bet?
What does double chance 1X2 mean in betting?
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