What Does BTTS Mean in Betting

When navigating through betting markets at the best sports betting sites, receiving promotions from sportsbooks and reading betting tips, sooner or later you’ll come across mentions of BTTS betting.  

But what does BTTS mean in betting, why is it such a popular betting market and in which sports can you play this market?

In the process, we’ll also talk you through how to actually place a BTTS bet at one of the best football betting sites out there. 

It stands for ‘both teams to score’.  

When football betting went online some 25-30 years ago, the most popular market involving goals was the over/under 2.5 goals market where in many matches, you had an almost 50% chance of the match having over 2.5 goals, or staying under 2.5 goals, with the odds reflecting that.

But a few years down the line, the BTTS market was created as an alternative and has become just as often played, if not more so, than the over/under 2.5 goals market. 

So, what’s BTTS in betting in practical terms?

It’s exactly what you’d expect it to be based on its name: either both teams each score at least one goal in the match, or they don’t, making it a simple, easy-to-play two-runner market.

For the most part, BTTS is a football betting market so let’s look at how it would work in the context of a football match.

Let’s say it’s Barcelona v Real Madrid in the Champions League and you’re looking at the Sky Bet both teams to score market. Its odds might look something like this:

Both teams to score:

Yes – 1.6
No- 2.4

If you go for ‘yes’ then all you need is for both sides to score at least once, with the actual outcome in terms of home win, draw or away win, totally irrelevant.  Any of these final scores would be a winner if you’d backed ‘yes’: 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 3-1. 4-1, 5-2, 6-1, 3-3.

If you’d backed ‘no’ then you’d just need one of the two sides to keep a clean sheet. You don’t need them both to do so, just one. So, any of these scores would produce a winner if you’d backed ‘no’ on the BTTS market: 0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 0-1, 0-2, 0-3.  

Do Extra-Time Goals Count in BTTS Bets? 

No, like with the vast majority of betting markets, bets only apply to the 90 minutes plus injury time, not extra time.

However, many Sportsbooks may offer a new ‘both teams to score market’ that is completely separate to the initial 90 minutes market and is specifically for extra-time.

Given that the market would only be for 30 minutes rather than the usual 90 minutes making up a full match and you’d expect ‘no’ to be favourite. Even if it wasn’t favourite, ‘no’ would at least be available at much shorter odds here than it would be for the full 90 minutes.   

Placing a bet on the ‘both teams to score’ market is the same process as with any other bet.

Navigate to the match in question, go to the ‘both teams to score’ market and choose whether you want to bet on ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

Choose your stake and process the bet. 

Yes, it can. But only in certain circumstances. First of all, it’s worth remembering that not all betting sites offer the Cash Out product to begin with, so you’d have to be betting at a Sportsbook that did. 

You also need to remember that even Sportsbooks who do offer Cash Out don’t do so on all betting events. And though they may offer Cash Out on some betting markets like match winner or over/under 2.5 goals, may not always do so for both teams to score as well. But here are two examples of how you could Cash Out for a decent profit. 

You back ‘yes’ at 1.8 for £10 …

After 5 minutes it’s 1-0 and you get a Cash Out offer of £16 (including stake) based on the fact you only need the other team to score once with 85 minutes to go. Your payout won’t be for the full £18 as it would be if you let it ride but it would provide a good profit, nonetheless. 

You back ‘no’ at 2.3 for £10

After 70 minutes it’s still 0-0 and not only is it looking somewhat unlikely that one team will score but it’s looking very unlikely that both will score. So, you could expect a Cash Out offer of around £19, which could be worth taking rather than holding out for the full £23.

Betting on goals in football is popular enough and unlike other markets like correct score or exact number of goals, just needs you to get a goal-a-piece when betting on ‘yes’ rather than being 100% on the money. Or just needing one of the two teams to keep a clean sheet when betting on ‘no’.

Another reason for its popularity is that it’s a nice selection to add to both traditional accas and Bet Builders.