A Betting Guide to the 2018 World Cup

With the World Cup coming up in a few short months, eyes across the globe will be glued to the TV screen as everyone cheers their country on. An event of this magnitude will also include tons of bets placed on each game, each group, and the entire tournament. Some people will say that money and gambling ruins the sport. This is a fair argument, however, gambling brings in excitement that wouldn’t be there otherwise. The purist would argue that they don’t want the gamblers watching because they have money on the line, and they want people watching who care about the beauty of the game . However, in today’s world, money is an integral part of society, without which events like the World Cup wouldn’t even be possible and so the more excitement around the world cup the better it will be for all parties involves. Since we are still a few months away, I would stay away from betting on individual games and even groups until you have a better sense of how teams are playing and you can understand the individual matchups. I am going to focus on picking the actual winner for the world cup and finding the best value bets.

Odds to win 2018 World Cup – per BetOnline.ag
Germany 9/2
Brazil 5/1
France 6/1
Spain 7/1
Argentina 8/1
Belgium 12/1
England 16/1
Portugal 25/1
Colombia 25/1
Uruguay 25/1
Russia 33/1
Croatia 33/1
Poland 40/1
Mexico 80/1
Switzerland 80/1
Sweden 80/1
Denmark 80/1
Serbia 125/1
Senegal 125/1
Nigeria 150/1
Egypt 150/1
Peru 150/1
Japan 200/1
Iceland 200/1
Australia 200/1
Morocco 250/1
Costa Rica 250/1
Iran 250/1
Tunisia 500/1
South Korea 500/1
Saudi Arabia 750/1
Panama 750/1

I am going to focus on the teams I think have a legitimate chance of winning. I will then look at the teams I think could be a dark house.

Germany

Brazil

France

Spain

Argentina

Belgium

Value Bets

References:

Darke, Ian. “World Cup 2018: Only Five Real Favourites to Win in Russia.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 28 Mar. 2018, www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup/4/blog/post/3433930/world-cup-2018-only-germany-brazil-argentina-france-spain-have-chance-to-win.

“FIFA World Cup News, Stats, Scores.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, www.espn.com/soccer/league/_/name/fifa.world.

“Sports Betting News and Vegas Odds.” VegasInsider.com, www.vegasinsider.com/soccer/story.cfm/story/1892706.