1X2 betting is making a wager on the home win (1), the draw (X), or the away win (2) in a suitable sporting event. It is most common in football, but 1X2 betting is also available in a few other sports. In this guide, we’ll explain how 1X2 betting works, where to find 1X2 predictions and how to improve your chances of success.
The 1X2 bet is one of the simplest you’ll find anywhere. It’s available at all online betting sites on any event between two teams or players that can also result in a draw. All you have to do is predict the result of the event. If your chosen prediction turns out to be correct, your bet will win, and it will be settled at the 1X2 odds given for that outcome.
Let’s illustrate what we’ve just said with a real-life example of 1X2 betting online. Below you’ll see the main 1X2 football betting market for a match between the USA and Uruguay. The odds being offered for the USA winning are 29/20 (2.45), the Draw is priced at 11/5 (3.20), and the odds for a Uruguay win are 2/1 (3.00).
In this example, you might decide to bet £10 on the USA winning the match. If they succeed, your return would be your stake multiplied by the decimal odds of 2.45, which is £24.50. You staked £10, and so your profit would be £14.50 (see Betting Odds Explained if all of this is new to you.) Of course, if Uruguay were to win or the match resulted in a draw, your bet would lose.
Many fans of this kind of wager like to follow 1X2 predictions. These are widely available from a number of different sources. Here are some of the main ones:
While newspapers aren’t as popular in this ‘breaking-news before it happens’ internet age as they used to be, the sports pages can still be very useful. They will often give useful event previews and often an expected result according to the expert writing the piece.
There are plenty of sports news websites that provide stats, analysis and previews of events completely free of charge. You can keep an eye on the predictions offered by these sites for a while before deciding whether or not they are worth following.
There are quite a few professional tipsters who share their 1X2 football prediction knowledge in return for a subscription fee. Not all such tipsters are equal, and there is never any guarantee their 1X2 betting predictions will be successful. Another downside is that you will need to land a few winning bets just to cover the subscription costs, which isn’t ideal.
Perhaps the best source of 1X2 tips is much closer to home, by which we mean you. By studying the teams involved, reading up on football betting strategy and getting a feel for the game, you’ll find that your ability to make winning 1X2 betting predictions improves over time. You won’t get the results right every time, of course, but then, neither do the bookies.
The 1X2 bet is one of the most popular, especially in football, and there are a couple of good reasons for that. Consider the following:
As you’ve seen, 1X2 in sports betting is very easy to understand. There’s nothing at all difficult about it. This makes it a bet that can be made by anyone, from the least experienced casual football fan to the most expert stats-mad enthusiast.
All bookmakers offer 1X2 betting markets as standard. In fact, when non-bettors talk about betting on team sports that can result in a draw, they’re usually referring this this type of wager. That wide availability means that betting 1X2 is something you can do virtually anywhere.
Just because 1X2 betting is easy doesn’t mean that winning comes automatically. You still need to be able to make correct predictions for your bets to give you a return. Here, then, are a few 1X2 betting tips and strategies that you can use to improve your chances of success over the long term.
We love 1X2 betting, but it isn’t the only way to bet, by any means. Here are some alternative bet types that you might also like to consider making:
This is a bet that you can place on either one of the two teams or competitors. The difference here is that you can’t bet on the draw. That’s because, if a draw occurs, your bet will be cancelled and you’ll get your stake money back. See our Draw No Bet page for more details.
In this type of market (see Double Chance) you select any two of the three possible outcomes (home win, draw, or away win) and if either of those outcomes takes place, your bet wins. This makes it much easier to land a winning bet, but the odds you’ll get for success will be smaller than 1X2 betting odds.
Instead of betting on the result of a match with football 1X2 betting, you can bet on both teams scoring during the game. If both teams score, the bet wins, regardless of the match result. This is explained in detail in our BTTS Meaning guide.
1X2 is the most popular football market in the world, and it can also be found in some other sports. Now that you’ve seen what 1X2 in betting means, how it works and how to improve your chances of winning with it, all that remains is for you to give it a shot. Who knows – you might just score on your first attempt!
Betting 1X2 means betting on a sporting event (most often a football match) resulting in a home win, a draw, or an away win. Those outcomes are represented by 1, X, and 2, respectively.
A 1X2 winning prediction is simply a prediction about whether an event will end as a home win, draw, or an away win. You can find 1X2 predictions online or in newspapers, but ideally, you should work on coming up with your own 1X2 betting strategy.
1X2 in boxing (and other compatible sports) works in exactly the same way as 1X2 works in football. The big difference is that draws aren’t nearly as common in boxing, so the odds for that outcome will usually be much more generous.
This is a particular type of betting market that allows you to bet on two of the three possible outcomes. For example, you could bet on a game being a home win or a draw, or on another game being a draw or an away win.
All betting sites offer 1X2 betting, so you have plenty of choice. We would recommend using one of the bookmakers recommended on our main Football Betting page, such as BetMGM, bet365 or BetUK.
Ian Bruce joined Safest Betting Sites in 2024 as Senior Sports Editor to oversee the quality and usefulness of its gambling content. He originally developed an interest in betting after landing a winning Yankee on his first attempt. He then spent years figuring out how to replicate that success. Along the way, he became one of the UK’s leading writers on the topic of betting and gaming. Ian’s career has now spanned more than three decades, and his enthusiasm for systematic and responsible betting hasn’t waned one bit. However, his preferred approach to winning these days is Dutching, for the simple reason that “It’s a lot easier than landing Yankees.”
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