Win Both Halves & Half Time Full Time Markets

The "Win Both Halves" and "Half Time Full Time" markets, in football, are common bets that a lot of people get confused about. It is an easy mistake to make, as the wording of the markets can lead you to believe that they are the same thing - when in fact they are completely different. As a result of this confusion, a lot of people have wrongly backed and layed the two different markets, which can result in a loss of money. The aim of this guide is to clarify and explain both of these markets.

Win Both Halves

In brief, the win both halves market means exactly that! Your team needs to win each half of the game, by any score. Let's look at an example of this to help clarify this point.

We have backed and layed Liverpool TO WIN BOTH HALVES OF THE GAME

In this example, Liverpool are facing Real Madrid. We have backed and layed Liverpool to win both halves. So let's look at situations where the back bet would win and the then situations where the lay bet would win.

Back Bet Winning

AT HALF TIME, Liverpool are winning 1-0

In this scenario, the first half is complete, and at half time Liverpool are winning 1-0.

Liverpool score 2 more goals in the 2nd half, and win the match 3-0

The second half is played and Liverpool score a further 2 goals to win the match 3-0. So, in effect, they have won the second half 2-0.

This means that the “Win Both Halves” bet will win as:

Liverpool won the first half 1-0

Liverpool won the second half 2-0

Indeed with this as long as Liverpool win each half, so score more goals than Real Madrid do in each half, then the back bet will win.

Lay Bet Winning

At Half Time Liverpool are winning 1-0 and there are NO further goals in the game

So taking the previous example once more and Liverpool are leading 1-0 at half time. Now this time around, there are no further goals in the second half so the game finished 1-0 to Liverpool. In this situation, even though Liverpool win the game, your back bet will lose. Broken down this is because Liverpool failed to win both halves:

Liverpool won the first half 1-0

The second half was 0-0, therefore a draw

This means that Liverpool failed to win both halves and the lay bet, this time wins!

So essentially, with Win Both Halves, you need to split the football match in two and (in a sense) treat it as two separate results. The first result is the score at the end of the first half and the second result is the score at the end of the second half.

Half Time Full Time Markets

There are a lot of different permutations with this one, as you can see from the above screenshot from an example game. As we are doing a comparison between the HT/FT market and the win both halves market in the following examples we will assume that you have backed a team to be winning at half time, and the same team to also be winning at full time. Please be aware though of the many different variations that you will find within this market.

In brief, with this one, using the example that you have backed a team to win at half time and at full time, your selected team needs to be winning at half time and hold on to win the game in order for your back bet to win. If they fail to win the game after leading at half time, or are drawing/losing at half time then your back bet will lose. Let’s use an example once more to illustrate this.

Back Bet Wins

At half time Arsenal are leading 2-0 meaning our back bet is 'Alive'

With this one, we will use this example, backing and laying Arsenal to be winning at half time and at full time against Bayern Munich. At half time Arsenal are winning 2-0, so at this stage, our back bet is still alive as they are leading at the half time break.

Arsenal win the game 2-1 and in this example the back bet wins

The second half finishes, and with it the game finishes, and the final result is 2-1 Arsenal. In this situation, your back bet will win. This is because Arsenal were leading at half time and also leading, so therefore won, at full time. In comparison to the win both halves market, if you backed the team to be winning at half time and full time, it does not matter if they lose the second half so long as they are leading at half time and go on to win the game.

Lay Bet Wins

Once more Arsenal are leading 2-0 at half time but the game ends 2-2

So once again Arsenal are leading 2-0 at half time. This time though, Bayern score 2 goals in the second half and draw 2-2 at full time. In this situation, the lay bet will win as Arsenal, although leading at half time, failed to still be winning at full time.

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