One of the biggest features that online sportsbooks offer is live streaming. While it can be seen as simply being a tool for the entertainment and excitement of watching a sports fixture, it has another, arguably bigger function.
Because you can watch a sports match in real time via betting sites live football streaming, it conveniently ties into the live in-play betting markets for that match. This is a big benefit to the punter and their sports betting.
But how does live streaming help with betting? Here are some of the benefits of using this feature.
Informed Decisions On The Fly
The big boon of having a betting site that boasts live streaming is that you can make better-informed decisions about your bets. It's harder to explore live bets on a football match for example, if you aren't watching it and all you have to go on is second-hand information via biassed commentary.You are not going to get the same in-depth, nuanced insights that you can pick up from viewing. You want to see and judge for yourself the flow of the game, to get a better sense of the teams' performance levels, form, tactics, and motivation.
Watching live matches at betting sites allows you to react quickly to big moments like a red card, an injury or tactical substitutions. Having that extra layer of involvement means that you can feel more invested in the outcome.
Better Odds
There's no way to judge exactly how a match is going to go before the kick-off. Even strong favourites have their bad days at the office, where they don't play anywhere near their best. One dodgy penalty decision can cause a huge upset.By patiently waiting until after the kick-off, the odds you see in-game will better reflect what is happening. Even waiting just 20 minutes into a fixture where no one has scored yet, will see better odds than pre-match markets.
If an underdog is comfortably holding out and gets to the half-time whistle level, then the odds of the favourite winning from that point will get longer than pre-match. Those better live in-play odds can be used to leverage some great opportunities.
Cash Out, Hedging And More
If you have placed a pre-match win single on favourites Bayern Munich in a league match, but they are trailing 1-0 after 25 minutes, what could you do in play? You could go and place an in-play bet on their opponents to win or cover both the draw and Bayern's opponents in a Draw No Bet.Basically, you would try to offset the pre-match bet in case it loses, by backing the opposing market options. Shortly after seeing Bayern Munich fall behind, it would also be a great time to snap up the odds of them completing a comeback.
If you are watching a live stream of the game then you can judge the likelihood of Bayern actually launching a comeback. Are they just playing badly, or are they on the front foot and likely to get their breakthrough?
Alternatively, if you have a bet that is winning and judging by what you see on a stream, you don't feel like that team is going to hang on until the final whistle, then you could cash out your bet. That means settling the bet early for an offer by the bookmaker, to offset the risk of letting the bet ride to its conclusion.
Other Live Streaming Benefits
Live streaming is restricted by geolocation, so for example, in the UK you are not going to get Premier League streams. But you could see Serie A, Bundesliga and La Liga matches instead for example. So with live streaming, you may get access to more leagues and matches than you normally would.Another important thing about streams is that they are slightly delayed from real-time action. So you aren't going to beat a betting market on the match! Many different in-play betting strategies can be employed to work in conjunction with live streams. Like backing Over 0.5 Goals on a match that's 0-0 at the 80-minute mark. Or playing for Over 2.5 Goals when the score is 0-0 after 20 minutes.
Live streaming gives you access to a lot more information than you will have had pre-match. It is therefore a great tool to use when you can. A lot of the leading bookmakers have free live streams which can also be accessed on mobile betting apps, allowing you to monitor the action and your bets wherever you are.
