Sportsbooks do an excellent job of providing a ę§ litany of betting options for its users across a variety of sports. However, one market that seems to go under the radar is âwinning marginâ. This guide will detail everything you need to know about the bet type, and how you can make a profit offâ the back of this knowledge.
Winning Margin Bet Explained
A winning margin bet is a type of single bet in which youâre attemptđŚing to predict how many points/goals the winning team will win by.
US sportsbooks offer various winning margin markets, with the high-scoring nature of the countryâs most popular sports â football and basketball â facilitating some margin ofđŚ error.
Instead of having you predict the exact margin of victory, sportsbooks will provide a point range (or bęŚand).
How Do I Place a Winning Margin Bet?
Winning margin markets are typically offered for an array of sports, including basketball. In the step-by-step guide below, we explain how to place a winning ę§margin NBA bet with FanDuel:
Log in to your FanDuel account by accessing the blue âLog Inâ icon located in the top right-hand corner of the homepage. CreateęŚ an account via the green icon alongside it if you need to.
FanDuelâs popular markets are prominent on their homepage. A âscroll down showed upcoming NBA events.
(Source: FanDuel) FanDuelâs NBA coverage is shođ§¸wn below. We opted to place a bet on the Miami Heat @ Philadelphia 76ers game.
(Source: FanDuel) To access all the gameâs markets, we clicked âMore đWagersâęŚ.
There are a multitude of different markets available on thđis game, so we had to use to horizontal slider to find FanDuelâs âMarginâ markets â shown below.
(Source: FanDuel) We optŕšed to place a âMargin of Victoryâ bet, deciding to back the Heat to win by 1-5 points. There were 12 different margins available in this sub-market.
(Source: FanDuel) Here is the wager in our bet slđip. Enter your stake and click the âPlace Betsâ icon to conclude the winning margin betting process.
(Source: FanDuel)
Best Betting Sites for Winning Margin Bet
The winning margin market may not necessarily be the most prominent, but the USâ leading sportsbooks will offer this bet type for a multitude of popular sports. Here are the best sportsbooks đfor winning margin betting:
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Examples of Winning Margin Bet
There are various winning margin bets you can place with your favourite sđportsbook. Hereâs a rundown of the options typically available to you:
Winning Margin by 2
âBy 2â indicates a precise prediction where youâre betting oân the winning team to win by a margin of two⨠points/goals.
As a result, such markets are typically provided for lower-scoring sports such as soccer, ice hockey, and baseball. Itâd be very tough to back exact margin of victđ˛ories for football or basketball games given how many points are scored.
If you bet on Bayern Munich to beat Real Madrid in their Champions League semi-final match-up âby 2â, youâll need Bayern to win by two goals â 2-0, 3-1, 4-2, etc. Anything but a winning margin of two wilđl mean your wager loses.
Winning Margin 4 Way
Winning margin 4-way simply means that you have four outcomes to choose from whenđ prâedicting the final score. There are four point bands, if you will.
For example, in an NBA matchup between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat, ęŚbookies could provide these winning margin 4-way markets:
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Boston Celtics 1-10
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Miami Heat 1-10
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Boston Celtics 11+
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Miami Heat 11+
In short, you can bet on both teams to win by one to ten poinđŻts, or by over 11 points.
Winning Margin 3 Way
3-way winning margin beđtting limits the punter somewhat, with the bigger point ranges lowering the odds in some instances.
The bookmaker will provide three different margin options for a match. DraftKings, for example, provides markets on either team to win by X number of points or more, as well as either team to wđin by fewer than X pointsâ.
Winning Margin 1-5
With this winning margin bet, youâre betting on the team to win by at least a point, but no more thanę§ five. If the point difference at the end of the game lands between this point range, youâve got yourself a winning bet!
For inđstance, if you bet on the Celtics to beat the Heat by 1-5 points, a 110-107 victory would be a winner, but a 110-99 win would be a losing bet.
Winning Margin 12 Way

This is the same premise as the 4-way winning margin markets. With 12-way, though, 12 different point ranges are provided, offering punters even greater specificity and greaáŁter odds as a result.
In the example above, DraftKingsâ is providđing six different winning margin ranges for each ęŚteam, starting out at 1-5 and working up to 26+.
Strategies for Winning Margin Betting
Here are four ways you can stand yourself in the best possible stead when đplacing winning margin bets:
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Check stats: This is fairly obvious, but a quick check of a teamâs attacking andđŚ defensive stats can help you gauge the margin of victory. Teams that defend well are typically going to be involved in closer matches, while those that attack proficiently are more likely to enjoy bigger margins of victoryđ when they do win. You can also check a teamâs average margin of victory or defeat.
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Head-to-head matchups: History matters, right? While teams tend to change and evolve rather quickly, recent matchups between two teams can help you gauge the nature of an upcoming bout. Are they tightly fought affairs, or does one team run ađ wđay with it?
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Check player injuries: News regarding player injuries and statuses is easily found nowadays thanks to the growing intertwining of sports and social media. Use these updates to your advantage in the betting world. A player missing a particular game could have huge ramifications when placing a winning margin bet. The ę§Miami Dolphins are less likely to blow a team out if Tyreek Hillâs injured, while Bayern Munich are more susceptible to defeatâs on the big occasion without star goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
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Understand the game: While we're not saying you need to improve your knowleŕšdge of the sport, itâs important to understand the context of the game in question. There are going to be occasions when the fixture means more to one team than it does to another, especially towards the backend of the season, when đteams are vying for playoff positioning or places in European competitions (in soccer). You might want to check out goal difference stats when placing soccer winning margin bets, as there might be times when a team needs to run up the score to move up a position in the standings.
Pros & Cons of Winning Margin
Let's now have a look at some of âthe advantađ§¸ges and drawbacks that come with winning margin betting:
- Allows for some margin of error when predicting the final score of a match
- These types of bets can provide bigger margins
- Useful for accumulator betting â bigger odds
- Sportsbooks provide an array of different winning margin markets and thus, point ranges
- It's particularly difficult to predict winning margin for high-scoring sports
- Research required to master winning margin betting
ThePuntersPage Final Say
⤠We believe that winning margin betting is an avenue that any avid sports bettor should explore. Leading bookie are providing an array of different winning margin options on a variety of sports and, if you do your research, thereâs certainly an opportunity for you to profit more with this market compared to mere match result bettđ¨ing.
FAQs
When placing a winningđ margin bet, youâre betting oęŚn the number of points/goals the winning team will win by.
This type of winning margin bet provides four dࡴifferent point ranges for the game â two for each team. 1-10 and 11+, for instance.
Football winning margin bettiđng involves backing a team to win by a certain number of points. Sportsbooks will provide various point ranges for each match, and you must choose which range â as well as the winning team â the winning margin will lie.
Itâs the same concept for every sport. âWith basketball, youâre betting on the margin of victory. Given the high-scoring nature of the sport, sportsbooks will supply a range of different winning margin markets as well as point ranges, which is up to 12.
A winning margin band are the points betwđeen the winning and losing team. There are various bands for each match and are displayed like this: 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, etc.