The introduction of a professional soccer league in America came in the form of the MLS in 1993 as part of their bid to host the 1994 Soccer World Cup. The league now compromises of 18 teams who battle in a league format until the playoffs where the top 10 teams go head to head in a knockout style format, before crowning the champion.
You can find a table on this page with the best sites to bet on MLS. If you are from the United States you may want to have a look at our article on where to be online from the United States. If you are from the UK you may want to have a look at our list of UK online bookmakers.
Soccer betting is one of the largest markets online to date and there is great value to be had from that of MLS betting. At Best Sports Book Bonus we have compiled a complete MLS betting guide to assist you in making profitable wagers.
As the MLS continues to thrive in America, the game is being spread on a global stage with the introduction of some of the best players in world including David Beckham and Thierry Henry. Both players have played at the highest levels internationally and domestically and have been at the forefront of the MLS growth in recent years.
As the league continues to grow, online bookmakers have seen fit to offer up betting markets and once again look to cash in on a sport that is starting to emerge from the shadows of the larger US based sports.
Whilst the MLS still has someway to go to matching the popularity and revenue generated from some of the European leagues such as the English Premier League and Spanish La Liga, there is no doubt that the expansion and coverage of the league is rapidly expanding.
MLS betting sites
The growth of the MLS is widely reflected on most of the major online bookies websites in terms of games that are covered and markets that are run. It’s safe to say that the availability of betting options has seen a massive boom in recent years.
One of the most popular forms of soccer betting comes via betting exchanges. These exchanges allow punters to bet person-to-person, eradicating the need for the online bookmaker. Prices on the exchanges can be anything up to 25% more favourable compared to a ‘regular’ bookmaker.
With soccer being such a worldwide brand these days, the MLS is a league which is ever expanding and whilst the majority of bookmakers will be knowledgeable on the sport itself, the league may still see odds that do not necessarily reflect that of the standard of teams that are represented. Generally targeting non US based betting sites could offer up markets that host stronger value bets, compared with that of US based sportsbooks.
Which markets offer the best value?
We’ve already touched on how big soccer is globally, so finding markets that offer extremely good value can be tough, even for the MLS. The bigger markets such as the ‘correct results’ are ones in which we should probably look to avoid, or at least reconsider if it’s outright value you are after. Let’s take a look at some lesser markets than may be more profitable.
The ‘correct score’ market is often one favoured with bettors who are willing to invest their time in researching a game prior to it kicking off. Looking through past results, and even head to head meetings between the two teams, can give you a better understanding as to how many goals they either score or concede be it at home or away from home. You can then apply this information to the ‘correct score’ market to render a result. The odds on the ‘correct score’ market are much more appealing compared with most soccer betting markets.
Now that the MLS is synonymous with its high scoring games, a market that increasingly grows in soccer betting is that of ‘both teams to score’. Compared with leagues around the world, they actually have a higher goal per game ratio than most. Whilst the odds for each game in this market won’t make you rich (unless you wager a considerable amount of money), the ‘both teams to score’ market works brilliantly well in an accumulator system. This means that you can select a few games which you think will be open and possibly high scoring and back both teams to score. Conversely, you can adjust your bet in tight games stating that you don’t think both teams will score.
The live betting markets are also extremely popular with soccer betting. For any given game an internet bookmaker can open up over 100 in-play markets. Some of these markets can be extremely obscure such as choosing what time you think the last goal will be scored, whilst accompanying them will be your more familiar markets such as the ‘correct score’ market.
If it’s live betting that you are after, then in our MLS betting guide we have compiled a series of tips to make your experience as profitable as possible.
Research before the game – When betting live you have 90 minutes to place whichever bets you think will make you the most money. As you have such a short timescale, it’s imperative that you do all your research on the two teams playing before the game kicks off. This way you have all the information you need in order to make the most profitable decisions in game time, rather than wasting time researching as the game progresses.
Make sure you are ready to react to the market – As the game plays out, each market will change depending on what is happening. It’s up to you to then make your betting decisions, whether that is to back or lay, as quickly as possible to react to these changes in the market.
Be readily available – If you want to bet live, you must be live! By this we mean that you should be watching the game to see for yourself what is happening. Don’t rely on just getting updates on the score before placing bets. The score may not totally reflect what is actually happening in the game. You simply must give yourself every opportunity to make bets in game time situations.
Don’t panic – Soccer games can go at lightening pace with incidents taking place every few minutes. Live betting requires you to have a cool head and not make any rash decisions that could consequently cost you a lot of money. Take a few seconds to think your bets through and let the market settle before placing any bets that could jeopardise your profits.
MLS betting strategies
If you were to spend just a few seconds typing ‘soccer betting strategies’ into Google it will likely give you hundreds of thousands of websites all claiming to have the perfect betting strategy. Well, we can guarantee that 99% of these ‘strategies’ will probably be useless. What we won’t do is claim we have the solution, because we don’t, but we can offer you some extremely solid betting strategy foundations that, executed correctly, will yield a profit in the long run.
The concept is relatively simple; lay the draw on any of the top betting exchanges, then back the draw when a goal is scored to lock in a tidy profit on any result. However, there’s a little more to it.
The majority of soccer games seldom finish 0-0 and it’s this that we base our strategy around. The idea is to lay the draw before the game at odds around 2.80 to 4.0. Once we have done this we simply wait for a goal to be scored. After a goal is scored (by either team) the likelihood of the game to finish as draw will be lower due to the fact that one team is leading at that time. The odds of the draw will drift meaning we can then back it at longer odds for less money resulting in us making a profit on any result.
Most betting exchanges will have a live profit or loss calculator on their site. This means we can tinker around with the exact amount we need to bet to make all results in our favour and guarantee a profit.
What we would recommend for this strategy is do a few live dummy runs before using any real money. If you can find an exchange that offer a ‘free play’ service then even better. But make sure you are familiar with how the system works and how the markets will fluctuate after each goal.
There are variables which will affect the amount in which the odds fluctuate, such as if the underdog scores the first goal. In this event the odds will change only slightly, reducing profit margins. It’s important that we still back the draw off at this point and either pocket the small profit or breakeven. Don’t get greedy as there will be plenty more MLS games to wager on in the future. Ideally the favourite will score first and the odds on them will fly, meaning we bank larger guaranteed profits.
