By Mario Tuzzi

Soccer gambling proved a popular past time within the United States when the World Cup came around two years ago and online sportsbooks catering to this market did not witness the sharp decline in business they normally see immediately following March Madness.

Truth be told, most North American friendly sports betting shops now offer lines on the more popular world soccer league match ups, though they do not have a leg up on their European and Asian counterparts just yet. However, it may be worthwhile to sign up with a wagering shop like Bet Mill or Bodog that feature some soccer gambling events for the mere sake of value.

What do we mean by value? Well first of all, try finding a European based bookmaker that offers up to 25% in free signup cash not to mention re-deposit bonuses. Bet Mill specials include 10% free cash with deposit plus 15% match play while Bodog regularly shifts between a 10% and 20% bonus.

Then there are the lines. The Caribbean and Central American bookmakers simply do not have expertise when it comes to soccer. Therefore, one is bound to find some lines out of whack thus providing an excellent betting opportunity.

There are some obstacles that a soccer bettor must overcome. The fact is that bookmakers tend to maintain a hold of more than 10% with soccer as opposed to barely holding 5% with American football. In layman's terms, this means the bookmaker has a pretty strong advantage over the punter.

When betting soccer it is important to compare the winning potential of opposing teams and making an assessment of the predicted outcome using a form of probability distribution.
Football.co.uk provides the following example:
Manchester United v. Arsenal:
Probability Distribution
Home Win 55% - Draw 25% - Away Win 20%

On its own, this probability distribution does really mean much other than the most likely outcome of this match is a Home Win for Manchester United, which is pretty much a no-brainer unless of course the two teams are terribly matched with the weaker link being Arsenal (not the case here). However, given that the average probability distribution of league match outcomes is 46% home win, 27% draw, 27% away win (for English league matches), it is far from clear that betting on a Manchester United victory makes good betting sense. To utilize this match information in a meaningful way, we need to have a look at what betting odds are being offered by the bookmaker.

Soccer gambling is fun, addictive and fairly easy to master even if you're residing in the United States and don't know a lick about the game.

Source: www.1800-Sports.com