First up we go to Scotland’s top tier and with only two teams having won the competition since 1985, the duopoly that has been generated by both Rangers and Celtic is one that makes life rather easy when it comes to football betting.
With the Glasgow giants have created something of an arms race within the Scottish Premiership, no third party can get close to these two and you only need to look at the league table as evidence of this.
Although Hearts are considered the third best team in the land, Robbie Neilson’s men currently find themselves 28 points behind Celtic at the top. You may expect that figure at the end of the season, there is still a quarter of the campaign to go at the time of writing.
Two Horse Race
While because Rangers and Celtic run roughshod on their opposition, picking these two teams to win is usually a good way to get a double over the line. It may not be the most generous of odds that the bookmakers will offer but sometimes you need to just go where the money is.
There Are Only Two Horses In The Scottish Title Race
Not only that, but because the Glasgow pair are light years ahead of the 10 other teams in the division, they usually have a habit of racking up the goals and as a consequence, value can be found in the over 3.5 goals markets.
By the same token, a lack of quality in the rest of the division, also means that goals are at a premium elsewhere and bar Hearts who are doing their best to bridge the Glasgow gap, the other nine teams can beat each other on any given week.
Not great news if you are looking to place a league wide accumulator but great news if you are looking to place bets on under 2.5 goals outcome. With little attacking prowess towards the bottom of the table, matches such as Kilmarnock versus Dundee United are ripe for plucking.
2) Austrian Bundesliga
If those supporters who follow Scottish football but do not lend their allegiance to either Rangers or Celtic complain from time to time, their complaints would be even louder if they supported an Austrian Bundesliga club instead.
When It Comes To The Austrian Bundesliga, RB Salzburg Are The Only Horse In Town
A club that is not RB Salzburg that is and with the team that is backed by an energy drink having managed to win each of their last nine editions of Austrian football’s richest prize, any potential duopoly should read as a monopoly instead.
Red Bull Gives You Wins
Like with the Scottish Premiership, there are only 12 clubs that compete in the league each season and with one of those being head and shoulders above the other 11, backing RB Salzburg is almost akin to buying money at times.
Again, this is not something that has escaped the attention of the bookmakers and they are not in a rush to offer too much when RB Salzburg come out on the top, Then again, the nine-time and defending champions rarely slip up either.
3) Major League Soccer
With the way that America’s Major League Soccer (or MLS) operates, their overall business model does not allow one single entity to pull clear into the distance and unlike our first two examples, there is a much greater parity within the competition as a whole.
This parity is constantly in place due to the salary caps that each of the teams or franchises as they are perhaps better known must stick to and although the balance of power displays far greater equilibrium across the season, there is still plenty of opportunities to beat the bookies.
Take It Easy
While the reason for this is because there is no promotion or relegation model in place and in essence, this rewards the worst performing franchises with a safety net each year. With no fear of the drop, these outfits can coast in the second half of the campaign.
MLS Operates With The Safety Net Of No Relegation
However, those franchises that are looking to secure a place in the end of season playoffs, will show no mercy to these also rans and when you see a team in the top six of either the Eastern or Western Conference go up against one in the bottom, a win for the former group is but a mere certainty.
Not only that, but because the league has an overall perceived lack of quality, it is usually the defences that came under greater scrutiny. Scrutiny that comes in the shape of conceding goals and once again, over goal betting is the market of most interest.
4) French Ligue 1
A larger league than its European counterparts in both Scotland and Austria but still the same logic in terms of a dominant force ruling the roost. It may not be a team that resides in either Glasgow or Salzburg but it is a team that resides in Paris.
Paris Saint-Germain or PSG for short are no strangers when it comes to spending an embarrassment amount of riches and such a display of wealth from their Qatari owners has also bought an embarrassing amount of silverware over the years.
PSG are not invincible that must be put forward first, but they are very close to it at the same time and with the likes of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi to call upon in attack, this trio do not just win football matches but they hurt the opposition at the same time.
European Super Leagues
In comparative leagues such as the English Premier League or German Bundesliga, regular five or six-nil wins for championship hopefuls against midtable outfits is not a regular occurrence. When PSG take to the field, the same statement is certainly less valid.
To the point where if you want to find value from their bets, over 4.5 goals in total usually does the trick and it is a bet that usually gets over the line and although Paris’ finest do act as almost perennial champions, there is still plenty of intrigue elsewhere.
Intrigue that comes in the battle to be the best of the rest and with the likes of Marseille and Monaco always looking to fill that role, this is the best league when it comes to finding value in the both teams to score market.
