WORLD CUP BETTING 2022: A HYPOTHETICAL TEST CASE

This is purely hypothetical. It didn’t really happen, and I certainly didn’t bet this way - although I might have tried it if I had thought of it earlier. Anyway, this is the hypothetical scenario: let’s say I am a long-time Singaporean football fan who has not been keeping up with the soccer scene for quite a while. But when the World Cup comes along I figure that a bit of betting would give me an added flurry of excitement as I watch the matches. So what do I do?

Well, let’s say I decide to go with the experts. Or to “follow the smart money/advice” as they say in investment lingo. Let’s say I decide on Chris Sutton who is an ex-England international and now a football pundit with BBC. One good reason is that he not only publishes on BBC Sport’s website which team he thinks will win but even sticks out his neck to provide his predicted scores for every match. Another good reason is that he is predicting the outcomes of all 64 matches of the World Cup. Just google “Chris Sutton’s World Cup predictions BBC Sports” and you’ll see what I mean.

Okay, let’s say I trust Chris Sutton’s judgement and bet entirely according to his predictions. I know that as a soccer fan this is a highly unlikely possibility. Soccer as a game invokes high passion. Every soccer fan will have his own likes and dislikes and opinions and perspectives on players and teams. But since this is just a hypothetical exercise let’s go for it. For simplicity’s sake (since this is just a hypothetical case) let’s say I only bet from the Quarterfinals onwards. Bets are based on betting odds provided by Singapore Pools Online (legal betting, okay). The odds can vary depending on when you make the bet, as most bettors will know. And for simplicity, let’s set the bets at $100 per bet.

Based on this hypothetical test case I made $432 all in. Not bad for a small-time bettor.

Here’s the breakdown of my gains/losses in the charts below: