Long-term betting can be fun for betting enthusiasts but requires patience and time.

In this case, there is a significant chance factor, since, for example, a team that is offered a fairly high odds on winning a tournament is not among the favourites to win it. However, if, as time goes by, this team starts to string together good results and to get a positive inertia and, in addition, the other favourites suffer major injuries, extra-sporting problems and other factors that affect sporting performance.

Take Leicester’s Premier League title in 2015/16 as an example. Before the start of the season, the odds for Leicester to win the championship were 5.00. This odds, which remained stable for the first few rounds, began to fall as the season progressed and Leicester won games and held on to the lead, to the point that in the last few rounds it would be reduced to just a few euros.

This is an example that perfectly demonstrates the key to this type of long-term betting.

How do long term bets affect the odds?

As mentioned above, because there is such a long period of time between placing the bet and closing it, the chances of the odds fluctuating are enormous, as there are a multitude of factors and circumstances that can affect the final outcome.

In addition, we always have the possibility of closing them early, in case we detect that the prediction we have made may end up failing and, therefore, even if our final odds are lower than the initial one, it will always be better than ending up failing the prediction completely.

On the other hand, it is worth remembering that in those bookmakers that offer the possibility of trading, long term bets are a more than recommendable option, as we could take advantage of those odds variations to place long term bets more frequently.

Tips for profitable long term betting systems

As with almost any type of sports betting, it is advisable to follow a number of tips to help you make the most of your long term bets.

Research sports and bookmakers

Carrying out a previous study of the competition on which we are going to bet is fundamental in any type of bet, that is to say, it is advisable to know which teams participate, how they arrive or what is their recent history in the tournament, since all this information will help us to detect who is really the favourite and which teams, outside the main ones, may have options to win the championship.

It is also a good idea to compare different bookmakers, as in many cases they often offer different odds for the same event. Therefore, it may be more profitable to place a long term bet at a particular bookmaker. You can check our sports betting odds comparator here.

Anticipate as much as possible

Most long term bets tend to offer quite high odds on the big favourites, but only in the pre-tournament or early rounds, before the teams play their first matches and bookmakers really assess how well they can perform.

Thus, for long term betting it is essential to bet as early as possible and to pick either a top favourite to secure a bet or an ‘outsider’ candidate, i.e. a team that is underdogs in the odds but has the potential to cause a surprise. This is especially useful in the short cup tournaments, as in a league it is difficult for a team to win over 9 months against all odds.

Patience and self-control

Finally, it is necessary to have the right mentality to place long term bets, bearing in mind that these are forecasts for the future and that, perhaps, luck and chance will not be on our side. Therefore, it is important to maintain a certain self-control that does not make us risk too much or bet more than what is destined for this type of predictions.

Bookmakers offering long term betting

All bookmakers offer long odds, some more than others or offer better odds on certain events. Therefore, the key is to find out which bookmaker offers the best odds for your long term bet. Some of the bookmakers that tend to offer the best odds are Bet365, Luckia, William Hill, Betsson…