Best US Online Cricket Betting Strategy Guide
Find the Best Cricket Betting Sites in USA
Although Cricket is not as prominent as football or basketball in the US, its fanbase in other parts of the world rivals those of America's favorite sports. Indeed, it is a very global phenomenon and for many, cricket is sports betting heaven. With more and more states opening up the sports betting market for everyone 18years and older, this great game is becoming more and more prevalent in US online sportsbooks. The biggest online bookies are looking to attract every sports enthusiast of the legal betting age, and for that reason, Cricket games are becoming a standard at US online sportsbooks.
Cricket games are held throughout the year in its two biggest markets, India and the UK, so you always have matches to bet on. This is undoubtedly one of the harder sports to understand as the number of bets can quickly go into the hundreds, and its rules might be foreign to you. Hence why we at Sports Betting Guide are bringing you all there is to know about the game, right from the basics down to the match types and the best betting strategies. With this guide, you will be able to identify the four main betting routes:
Table of Contents
- Find the Best Cricket Betting Sites in USA
- What is Cricket?
- States that offer legal betting on cricket
- Tried and Tested Cricket Betting Strategies
Through the different topics, you will learn about nearly all aspects of the game. To help you even more on your way to placing your first successful online cricket bet, you will find some useful tips at the very end of this article.
Best Cricket Betting Sites in USA - Editor's Pick
What is Cricket?
Cricket is a bat-and-ball sport where teams are trying to score the most runs in a match. A bowler (similar to pitcher) will try bowl (throw) all 11 batsman out as quick as possible by hitting the wicket (sticks) behind the batsman. Points are awarded to batsman according to the number of runs made while the ball is in play. When they hit it outside of the barrier, 6 points are awarded for a groundless hit and 4 points when the ground is touched. The team with the most runs wins, as straightforward as can be.
There are three formats of cricket matches you will see in US sportsbooks. These are:
- Test matches
The traditional form of the game takes five days in total and has hundreds and hundreds of In-game bets that spice up the viewing excitement significantly.
- One-day Internationals
A one day format in which matches only last 50 overs (6 consecutive throws by a side's bowler). Quicker and more enjoyable, you can find this format for the FCC World Cup, where online betting is at its peak.
- Twenty20 Internationals
T20 internationals are the latest and greatest from the cricket organizations. This match format is gaining popularity with Cricket fans everywhere. Only 20 overs are required, which allows a game to finish within 3 hours. More tournaments in this format are popping up. Expert bettors can take advantage of the relatively inexperienced public who bet on this format.
With this small summary of the game, it is already enough to start enjoying a competition. Online betting on cricket is a whole other game. Let's look at the types of bets you can make.
States that offer legal betting on cricket
A lot of states in the US have legalized cricket betting and there are for sure more to come in the future, for example in Florida where something might be happening soon. The states who offer legal cricket betting at the moment, you'll find here:
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Michigan
- Illinois
- Mississippi
- Montana
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- Nevada
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Tennessee
- Virginia
- Washington DC
- West Virginia
Types of Online Cricket Bets
Like we mentioned before, cricket has three main categories of bets. Whether you are new to the betting side of cricket or are a veteran, who is looking to brush up his skills, here you will find all you need to know. To start, we show you the most popular of the three, the individual match bets.
Individual Match Betting
Seeing that cricket games can be so long and sometimes have hundreds of bets tied to them, most people stick to individual match betting. Match bets divide into two categories, team and player betting. Team bets only look at the outcomes and situations happening with one or both sides in a game. Player bets are limited to individual players and their achievements (or failures) during the contest.
Team betting in individual matches
- Moneyline
This is similar to other Sports Betting Guide featured markets and is a bet on who you predict will win the match. For first-timers, this is probably the safest betting choice. Note that cricket games can result in a draw. Most online sportsbooks will offer a push in these cases Hence, there is a three-way option in cricket, which leads us to the next kind of bet, but make sure to check the rules of your bookmaker.
- Tied game
Yes, cricket draws are so frequent that there is a betting option for it. Draws will happen around 25% of the time, depending on the format used. As such, most bookies allow bettors to wager on the game ending in a draw. In recent years, draws have become rarer. Online sportsbooks are updating their odds to correlate for that, but errors are possible. Look for favorable lines in tie bets for those extra profits.. You will also find variants like the Double Chance. With the double chance, you can place a stake on "one side to win or draw" or for "either side to win" without a draw.
- Total and Over/Under bets
Total and over/under are similar types of bets with a distinct difference. The totals bet allows you to wager on the number of runs or outs that will occur in a given match. Another team bet is the Over/Under. It is similar to the total bet, but in this case, it is the online sportsbook that sets the total number with a handicap of 0.5. You will be betting on whether one or both teams will go over or under the bookie's benchmark. Wagers involving only one team or two teams are both optional. The same goes for the second category here, over/under bets. Over/under bets allows you to say if the total number of runs, outs, will go over or under the amount set by the bookie.
Payouts for the over/under bets are lower, seeing as they are easier to predict than the complicated total bets.
All the bets below are available in both over/under and total betting:
- Match score - How many total runs a match will see.
- First inning score - How many runs will happen in the first inning of the game.
- Total fours - The number of fours scored
- Total sixes - Same as with total fours.
- Most run-outs - The objective here is to see which side will have more run-outs.
- Total wides - Similar to a ball pitch in baseball, a wide occurs when the bowler throws the ball outside the hitting zone of the batter.
- Total opening partnerships - In cricket, batters always come out in duos, which is called a partnership. A run is only valid when both hitters are in their respective zones.
- Highest 1st 15 overs - Instead of betting on the entire game, you can bet on who will be ahead after the first 15 overs.
That's mostly it when it comes to team betting. Other bets you might find are prop bets, which we don't recommend betting. Prop bets are the most unpredictable and generally have nothing to do with the actual outcome of the match. Some team prop bets include:
Win Toss - A bet on the winner of the coin toss at the beginning of the match.
Toss combination - A bet on the winner of the coin toss plus whether the team will bat or bowl first. You have to predict both correctly to win the bet, and given the added risk, the odds are higher.
Odd or even run scores - Whether the total number of runs will be an odd or even number.
Finding value in prop bets is difficult in any sport. Cricket is no exception here, and there are already plenty of other bets to choose from.
Those are the major team bets available for any cricket match. Player bets, on the other hand, are fewer and typically require a bit more insight. Seasoned vets are well-versed in finding the hidden value in player bets. To win a player bet, you have to predict who is most likely to have a standout performance.
Player betting in individual matches
Each cricket side has 11 players to their disposal. All players will go at-bat, and one of them will be the bowler as well. Although any player can win the award for the best batter, it tends to only go to a few players. Some players stand out from the rest with their exceptional skills. Winning player bets is all about identifying who the next big start will be or who might have an outstanding performance way above their average level.
The question is, what markets are there for the player to excel in? We listed them below:
- Man of the match - Same as an MVP, chosen by either the public or the organization. This is the player who receives the top honor at the end of a single game or series. This award is available mostly for international contests. And the winner is chosen by either the organization or the public.
- Top Batsman - The objective is to predict which batsman will score the most runs correctly. Choose which batsman will be the best in a series, best in a single match, or best for one side. The player has to be among the starting eleven and must actually bat.
- Top Bowler - Similar to the top batsman bet, but this award is for the player who performs the best in bowling.
- Individual bowlers' wickets - Correctly predict the number of wickets a bowler will make.
- Batsman match-ups - Pitting one batsman against the other, who do you think will bat the best?
- To score 50 runs - Predict the player(s) who will hit this fantastic score.
- Century - A century is when you hit the magical number of 100 runs. The bet is a simple one, will the match see one, yes or no?
Data from all players are all over the internet nowadays. Once you get more familiar with the teams and competitions, finding value in these bets is the way to go. Look for the diamonds in the rough that you think will be the next superstar. Especially the ones the online bookmakers are not recognizing. There are several proposition bets for the adventurous punter who would like to spice up their getting experience
Tournament betting
Some tournaments can drag on for weeks on end, and even single matches, like test matches, might take five days. Future bets that involve betting on a series or an entire tournament are a way to make those long drawn out series a lot more fun to watch. Choose from the following two options:
Series winner bet
The objective of wagering on this bet is to pick which side will win the greater part of the series. For instance, in "The Ashes" - a five-part game series between England and Australia - you can bet on who will win the best of five games.
Outright winner
Here, punters bet on who will emerge the winner of the entire tournament. It is a prevalent betting option for competitions such as the ICC Champions Trophy, the Cricket World Cup and the World Twenty20.
Great for the casual bettor, these bets rarely offer excellent value for the experienced punter. These bets are the perfect way to get started for you in cricket betting, low risk, but loads of fun.
In-play betting
Such long run times of the matches must mean in-play betting is available, right?
That's absolutely right; during a match, you can bet on all kinds of outcomes. Let's look at some of the more popular ones.
- Batsman runs - Before the next batsman comes up, you can take a gamble on how they will perform. Mostly in the shape of an over/under bet, you will bet on the number of runs. When the batsman is already in play, the betting window closes.
- Runs out next ball - When one of the batsmen don't have a part of their body or their bat on the line when the other team breaks the stumps, it is called a run-out. For each next throw, you can bet on whether this will happen.
- Method of dismissal - In cricket, there are five ways for the batter to be dismissed; Bowled, Caught, LBW, Run Out, or Stumped. Choose the one you think the current batsman will be dismissed with. Risky, but payouts are enormous.
- Over/Under Totals - The same bets as we talked about in the team section of our article. During the game, over/under totals are regularly updated according to what the score is.
With the betting types listed above, you are more than ready to start wagering on cricket games. The best part is that with the variety of options you have ample opportunities to bag a winning wager. These are the most critical bets in all of cricket, and when understood, will give you a solid foundation to work with. Did you learn them all? Then let's go to the next section, where we give you the bests strategies and tips to make a profit. To help you out even further, we at Sports Betting Guide decided to include in this feature a couple of the bests cricket strategies and tips to make a profit.
Tried and Tested Cricket Betting Strategies
- Try to get as much information and statistics about the game and especially upcoming matches. The difference between an amateur and an expert bettor is the wealth of gaming knowledge that the latter possesses.
- Set a percentage of your total betting fund to wager on each bet and do not exceed it. Bankroll management lets you limit the number of unnecessary losses that may accrue from sporadic wagering.
- In a short-length game, like the T-20, the line between the favorite and the underdog could sway at any moment, so it may be wise to bet on both teams.
- When betting on an outright winner in a series game, it is difficult to pick a team because there are so many sides to choose from. A good strategy is to select two or three potential winners and bet on them. The odds for this bet are significantly higher, so this is the safest way to ensure a profit no matter which one succeeds.
Top 3 Tips for the Win
- Know the game inside and out
Knowledge is power, and with cricket, this rings true as well. The more you know about the sport, the more accurate your bets will be. Learn everything about the players, teams, playstyles, and all the unique rules that cricket has in the hold.
- Bankroll management
Coming up with a strategy on how to handle your bankroll is incredibly important with sports betting. You might get lucky with randomly guessing where to bet and how much to bet, even if you have all the information possible. When it comes to long term betting, you need to start thinking about bankroll management. Figure out what percentage you allow yourself to wager on a single bet and stick with that — allowing you to play safe no matter if your bankroll goes down for a bit or when it starts skyrocketing.
- It's not a bad idea to bet on both teams!
A strategy often witnessed in T-20 cricket matches; this one involves tapping into how a game's momentum can swing abruptly. A favorite can quickly turn into an underdog and vice versa. In such a scenario, if you've put your money on the underdog, and that team's price gets shortened, it may be wise to bet on the favorite, to earn yourself a guaranteed return.
Online Cricket Betting FAQ
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What types of cricket matches can I bet on?
In the US, only international matches and competitions around the world are available for betting. Each year it gets a little better, and smaller games like national competitions are offered as well. -
What is the minimum bet for cricket?
The minimum bet amount all depends on the online sportsbook you are using. Anything ranging from $1-2 is decent enough for you to get your feet wet with cricket betting. -
Do I need to be a cricket expert to bet on this sport?
You do not need to be a cricket expert to bet on cricket, but knowing the sport inside out will unmistakably improve your chances of winning. -
What are the chances of winning a wager on a cricket match?
The chances of winning a wager in cricket or any other sport depend on the kind of bet you choose to make. Basic bets like the Moneyline, tied game, and totals are easier to predict and have a higher probability ratio. On the contrary, prop bets are a "high-risk, high-reward" kind, so the chances of winning those are much slimmer. -
Which kind of Match format is best for first-timers?<
First-timers usually opt for the Twenty20 cricket matches. It is the most recent format of the game and is very appealing because compared to its lengthy counterparts, it concludes in only three hours. -
When does the cricket season end?
Fortunately, cricket is one of those sports that never run out of matches. Tournaments and single events are available throughout the year from countries like India, England, and Australia.
