Nowadays, you can bet on a wide variety of sports. Think of a sport, and we guarantee that there are bookmakers out there that will offer you betting markets for it. However, when it comes to sports betting, I feel that there is one sport that offers more than any other sport, apart from maybe football, and that is cricket.
Cricket is a Huge Sport
When it comes to most popular sports in the world, football sits at the top of the list, but cricket is not as far behind as many people think. Us Brits, like we also did for football, created cricket and it was spread around the world during the time of the British Empire.
When you look at many of the big countries that play cricket, they all have one thing in common and that is that they were ruled by the British at one point in their history. The country where it is the most popular is, without a single doubt, India. You will struggle to find someone in India that does not love playing or watching this sport. According to cricketonlinebetting.in, an estimated 55 million play cricket at some sort of level in India, and as even great number enjoy betting on this sport.
To give you some sort of idea as to how popular cricket betting is, especially in places such as India, it is estimated that Indians spend around $400 million every single time that their team takes to the field. Yes, you read that correctly – that is not a yearly figure, that is for every match that India participates in. To add to this, around $50-60 million is bet on every Indian Premier League match that takes place.
So, when you add all the cricket betting revenue from other cricket mad countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, England, Australia, and New Zealand, it is obvious that the cricket betting industry is worth billions of dollars every year. It is little wonder why you will not find a sports betting site nowadays that does not have a cricket betting section.
Why is Cricket Betting So Popular?
So, I have shown just how popular cricket betting is, but what is it that makes it so popular? Well, one of the main reasons is that there are just so many different betting options available to cricket fans. There are some sports out there where you can only bet on a handful of things, and this ultimately leads to boredom.
However, when it comes to cricket, there are more markets available than you can shake a bat at. Don’t believe me? Check out the following list and see for yourself. This is an extensive list of all the different things that you can bet on in a cricket match:
- Match winner
- Tournament winner
- Top batsman
- Top bowler
- Player of the Match
- Total runs scored in match
- Total runs score in an over
- The number of runs scored off the next ball
- Number of sixes
- Whether a batsman will hit a half-century or century
- Mode of dismissal
- Coin toss winner
I should add here that this list is not even complete, so head on over to some bookmakers to get a thorough understanding as to all the things that you can bet on in cricket. Many of these markets also come with really good odds because it is not that easy to predict them correctly. For instance, trying to guess the Player of the Match is quite difficult because there are 22 players that can end up winning the award.
The Importance of Knowledge
When it comes to cricket betting, you can, if you want, just choose one of the many betting markets that are available and hope that your luck is in, but this is a strategy that is going to see you lose more money than you end up winning. Yes, you might win every now and then, but that is going to be the exception rather than the norm.
What you need to do to ensure that you are a successful cricket bettor is do plenty of research before you go ahead and place your wager. Knowledge, as they say, is power and being knowledgeable about cricket is something that will improve your chances of winning.
For instance, let us take the top batsman betting market as an example here. Let us say that England and India are playing in an ODI, and you want to pick an England player to score the most runs. If you know next to little about cricket, you will just be taking a shot in the dark with a very high chance of losing. However, if you do your homework, you will find out who their best batsmen are and then you can make an educated pick based on current form. With the Internet at your disposal, there really is no excuse for finding out as much information as you can before you make a bet.
Always Remember to Gamble Responsibly
Cricket betting is really fun, and you have the chance to win decent sums of cash by betting on this sport. However, just like with all types of gambling, there is something you always need to make sure that you do and that is gamble responsibly.
Before you sit down for a cricket betting session, you should set yourself a budget with a set amount of money that you can afford to potentially lose. Obviously, I hope that you do not go and lose it all, but you never know with gambling, so it is always wise to prepare for the worst. Once you have lost your budget, go and occupy yourself by doing something else.
Under no circumstances should you convince yourself that it is okay to go beyond your budget to try and recuperate your losses, and you definitely should not start using money that you need for bills and rent to pay for your bets. Gambling is meant to be something that gives you entertainment, but if you start using money that you cannot afford to lose, then the entertainment will quickly wane.
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