Even though a typical football match is 90 minutes long, only some football betting markets consider the complete time frame. You can put bets not only on a certain half of a game or even on intervals of 15 minutes but even on the first five minutes of the game itself. It may not be a very long time, but many players and coaches will tell you that this interval may set the tone for the remainder of the half or the match.
You can continue placing bets for the whole competition if you choose one of the websites that enables you to do so on a five-minute interval basis during the entirety of the game.
How exactly does the Five Minute Betting game work?
In most cases, when you participate in five-minute betting, you will be allowed to place a wager based on whether or not you believe a certain event will occur between the time the game begins and four minutes and 59 seconds into the game. This may include occurrences like a card, corner kick, or goal. You will also have the opportunity to predict which of a handful of possible circumstances in the match you believe will take place based on a list that will be provided to you (if any). These are both fairly simple betting alternatives, and each might produce quick profits. They are ideal for bettors who like having their bets settled immediately. They are also a nice choice for fans watching a little slice of a match but still want to place a wager on it.
The rematch action’s points total is one choice, albeit it is a somewhat more involved one. To do this, certain points are allotted to each significant occurrence, such as a penalty, corner, yellow card, or red card. Your mission at this point is to predict the total score after the first five minutes. Hence, use a low number if you anticipate a boring beginning spell with few talking points. However, choose a greater number if you expect an aggressive and close-fought competition since this should give more attraction to the audience.
First Five-Minute goals and objectives
Throughout the first five minutes of play during the first 182 matches of the 2021/22 Premier League season, 21 goals were scored. This indicates that a very early plan happened just 11.5% of the time. So, goals scored at such an early stage are more common than some fans may believe they are.
Man City was responsible for three of these 21 goals, but Southampton took the lead with four, which was quite unexpected. Man City scored three of these goals. Given that this is a relatively reasonable sample size, you should consider using this as a general recommendation for early goal betting. The next game had odds of 6/1 for a goal to be scored inside the first five minutes of play. This specific wager had a limited amount of allure since it was the final of the European Championship, which meant the game would likely start slowly.
At this price, the only way we would even think about putting money on yes is if there was one team that was far better than the other. If this occurs, you may conclude that there is a stronger possibility than 14.3% (6/1) of an early goal being scored. If you want to increase your chances of winning even more, consider placing a bet on a certain player to score inside the first five minutes of the game. But, given that even the greatest players sometimes reach the net at such an early stage, you have every right to demand a high fee for this.
Let’s look at some statistics on Cristiano Ronaldo to illustrate this idea more clearly. During a few months spent playing for Juventus, his career goal count temporarily reached 669 goals. At this point, which occurred in December 2018, the Portuguese superstar had scored 27 goals in the opening five minutes of matches, which accounted for 4% of his total tally of goals scored.
If we look at another player who scores many goals, Lionel Messi, we see he only achieves a tiny proportion of his plans in the first few minutes of games. When his career total was 602 goals in 2018, just 15 of that astounding haul came inside the opening five minutes; this is a measly 2.5% of his total goals. If his goals were scored at a consistent rate throughout the game, he would have scored 33 times in the first five minutes of the game.
First Five Minute Yellow Cards
There are a few factors to consider while betting on an early yellow card. The most critical factor is how card happy the referee is. Do they freely distribute them or prefer to keep their cards in their pocket? This is an essential factor since referee strictness may vary greatly due to the subjective nature of their responsibilities. David Coote (20 games) averaged 4.60 yellows and 0.10 reds per match in the 2021/22 Premier League season, whereas Martin Atkinson (26 games) averaged only 2.46 and 0.08.
Another crucial factor to consider is the teams engaged in the contest. If they gather more cards, they should be more likely to pick one up in the first five minutes. Although this is a reasonable assumption, it should be noted that even the dirtiest teams and players are unlikely to get a card in the first five minutes.
Cards are not allocated equally over a 90-minute contest for many reasons. In 2021/22, the average Premier League game saw 3.52 yellow cards, most of which occurred in the second half of games. One reason for this is that the booking threshold is greater in the early rounds of the game. While the rule book states that a bookable offense is a bookable offense regardless of time, referees do not function in this manner. Early yellows may be perceived as a means for the official to stamp their authority on the game. Still, it might eventually backfire and force them to deliver different yellows for similar offenses. This, in turn, may lead to red cards that are only sometimes merited, ruining what might have been a terrific match.
It would be best if you also considered player behavior. No player wants to spend the entirety of a game on a caution because one mistake may result in an early bath. As a result, players tend to play it safer early on, but as the game progresses, they become more ready to accept a yellow, even if it is just for a tiny gain to the team. Also, tensions tend to be stronger towards the conclusion of matches since a single occurrence has had more time to aggravate them.
Obtaining statistics on the proportion of yellow cards issued in the first five minutes is incredibly difficult, but looking at the worst offenders may give you a fair sense. In the 2020/21 Premier League season, for example, John McGinn, Connor Gallagher, Harry Maguire, and Kalvin Phillips each received 44 yellow cards, making them the season’s most card magnets. With an equitable distribution, two or three yellow cards should be issued during the first five minutes.
Yet, for the reasons stated above, none of them did. In reality, just one card was issued in the first 20 minutes of the game, much alone in the opening five minutes. In contrast, seven cards were shown during second-half injury time. At this point in the game, a yellow card has no consequence (other than pushing a player closer to an inevitable ban). Hence players are significantly more willing to accept them.
Corners in the first five minutes
Unlike cards, corners are more equally spread out throughout a match. There is still some second-half bias, but it is modest. Precise figures vary by league/competition, but a common example would be that a game averages 4.5 corners in the first half and 5.5 in the second. With many leagues and tournaments averaging four to five corners in the first half, seeing one in the first five minutes is not unusual, and the pricing reflects this.
We believe that ‘no’ will be the shortest odds choice for this market across all matchups. Even if it is a match between two sides who attack with tremendous breadth and win a lot of corners, five minutes is a limited window to earn one. Finally, this market is a bit of a lottery since there is little reason to forecast whether or not there will be a corner in the first 300 seconds.
But, several circumstances might assist you in tilting slightly in one way, such as if one team has an ambitious habit they attempt from the start. Nevertheless, you will be mostly left to judge this based on your gut instinct since detailed corner figures during the first five minutes are not readily accessible.
Penalties for the first five minutes
Bettors in this market can earn up to 20x their investment in less than five minutes. It may seem tempting for any ambitious bettors looking for a quick gain, but we believe this is a wager best avoided.
From 2011 through 2022, the Premier League averaged one penalty per four matches (92 spot-kicks per 380-game season). If penalties were equally likely to be granted at any moment in the game, the chances of one occurring in the first five minutes of a match are about 1.4%. On the other hand, a regular price of 20/1 has an implied chance of 4.8%.
To obtain a chance of 1.4%, increase the odds to 70/1. We continue to operate on the mistaken idea that a penalty is just as likely to be granted in the opening five minutes as in any other five-minute period. A glance, however, reveals that this is different.
One hundred three penalties were granted during the 2021/22 Premier League season. However, none were awarded in the first five minutes. Crystal Palace came the closest, winning a penalty kick against Norwich in the sixth minute, which was converted by Odsonne Edouard two minutes later. This is not some strange aberration since there are many reasons why extremely early fines are so uncommon.
Similarly to yellow cards, many referees have a significantly greater bar for issuing a penalty so early in a game. Moreover, the ball will spend less time in the penalty area during the first five minutes of the game than it would throughout the rest as teams seek to ease into the game and not commit too much moving forward. When you combine this with the reality that defenders will be more risk-averse early in the game, you get relatively few penalties under five minutes.
Are First Five Minutes Bets Worth It?
From a margin standpoint, betting options in the five-minute markets have a conventional house advantage. Take the three cases below: the bookmaker advantage is 6.15%, 7.35%, and 6.62%, which is normal if a little on the high side for football.
Nonetheless, we would only look at five-minute betting occasionally because most selections include a significant element of chance. With many football bets, you may conduct your homework and place a reasonable wager that you are confident in. Constructing a persuasive argument for anything occurring throughout a match or even a half is far simpler than during the first five minutes.
Nonetheless, there may be moments when you wish to try your luck with five-minute betting. A very early goal, for example, is something you may fairly predict in certain situations and can sometimes obtain at a reasonable price. Similarly, the early corner market is a good alternative for a short bet since you might have some foundation for choosing yes or no.
Backing penalties and cards, on the other hand, are occurrences that occur so seldom in the first five minutes that we would rarely, if ever, wager on them. Of course, unlikely circumstances may be worth supporting, but the odds would have to be much greater for us to be intrigued. You can wager ‘no’ rather than ‘yes’ for both, but the odds are usually so small that they should also be avoided.
