A Guide to Futures Betting - NZ

Futures Betting: What Is It?

When you place futures bets, you predict the winner of a competition or event consisting of multiple stages, such as game weeks or rounds. For instance, if you bet on Liverpool to be the winner of the English Premier League (EPL), you predict the Anfield team will collect the most points during the season and win the EPL title.

Similarly, if you are betting that the Brisbane Heat will win the Australian Twenty20 Big Bash League (BBL), you are backing the team to be the eventual winner of the BBL title. Lastly, if you place a futures bet on the Los Angeles Dodgers and say they will win the World Series, you are backing the LA baseball side to be the outright winner of the biggest event in world baseball.

And you don't only bet on teams. You can also place individual player futures bets. For example, you can expect Brock Purdy to be chosen for the Super Bowl MVP award, or you can predict that Nikola Jokic will be crowned Most Valuable Player of the regular NBA season. Other examples include betting on Jaren Jackson Jr. to win the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award and Harry Kane to be the Bundesliga's top goal scorer.

Futures Betting Markets and Examples

Futures betting markets are easy to understand even without going into details about specific outright markets and examples. That said, looking at the types of futures bets will help you better understand how futures betting works. These are the most common types of futures bets.

Futures Bets on Teams

Most online sportsbooks will give you team futures betting markets. That goes double for the top online bookmakers we feature at Betpack. As the name implies, when you place team futures, you are backing one team to win a particular competition or predicting where that team will finish in the final standings once the season is over. Most of the time, bookies will allow you to place team futures bets before the season starts, but you will often get the chance to bet on these markets when the season begins too.

Competition Winners

One of the most common futures bet types Kiwi bettors choose is betting on which team will win a particular league or tournament. As you might imagine, this is a pretty straightforward wager. In other words, you have a winning bet if the team you picked wins the competition.

Let's look at several examples. For instance, if you are an NFL fan, you probably know that the Cowboys, Chiefs, Eagles, and 49ers are among the strongest candidates to win the Super Bowl. So, after carefully analysing all the data, you decide to go with the Kansas City Chiefs. If they win the Super Bowl, you have a winning futures bet.

You can also bet on the Kansas City Chiefs in other NFL futures markets. In addition to backing them to win the Super Bowl, you can also tip the Chiefs to be the division winner, as well as to be at the top of their conference at the end of the regular season. If the Patrick Mahomes-led side is the top team in the division and conference it competes in after the final game of the regular season has been played, you have another, or shall we say two, winning bets.

To Qualify

You might think of futures bets as wagers that you can use to predict the winners of various competitions. However, you can also bet on teams to place in a particular position in the standings and not necessarily win the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, or World Series.

For instance, if you are an American football betting enthusiast who enjoys wagering on the NFL, you can place a bet predicting that the Green Bay Packers will reach the Super Bowl. Or, if you are a football betting enthusiast who likes to bet on the Spanish La Liga, you can place a bet predicting that Atletico Madrid will qualify for the UEFA Champions League. As you can see, you are not backing the Madrid-based side to win their national championship. Instead, you only want the team to finish in one of the top places on the table, which would qualify them for the Champions League.

Something similar can happen if you are betting on the NBA Championship. If you are an NBA bettor, you can predict whether a team will qualify for the playoffs or make it to the NBA finals. In other words, the team you choose doesn't have to win the league championship. It should only qualify for the post-season or progress to the next stage of a competition.

To Get Relegated

It might sound counter-intuitive, but you can also wager on futures sports betting markets that deal with which teams will get relegated or eliminated. For instance, you can bet on a futures line saying Burnley will be relegated from the English Premier League. If the Clarets do indeed drop a division after the season ends, you have won your bet. Similarly, you can predict that Germany will be eliminated from the FIFA World Cup in the semi-finals or that Nigeria won't make it past the quarter-finals in that same competition.

Player Futures Betting Markets

Sports bettors in New Zealand also have the option to place future bets on individual players. As with teams, the goal here is to predict which player will win a tournament or receive a particular reward or recognition. For example, if you think Iga Swiatek is going to win the Australian Open, you can back the tennis star to win the first Grand Slam of the year. If Swiatek wins on Melbourne's hard courts in January, you will celebrate a successful wager.

You can also predict whether a player will achieve a particular milestone or get recognised for their efforts. For instance, you can place a future bet that Erling Haaland will be the top goal scorer in the UEFA Champions League or bet on a college football player to win the Heisman Trophy. Similarly, you can back Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks to win the NBA MVP or predict that Kylian Mbappe will win the Ballon d'Or. If all of these players receive these recognitions, you will have winning bets.

Conclusion

Futures betting options allow you to wager on future winners of tournaments, leagues, awards, and recognitions. In other words, when you place futures bets, you stay engaged for the entire season with only a single bet. So, they are ideal for punters who only place bets from time to time, but they are also good options for betting veterans. Another great thing about futures is that most sportsbook operators have them.

However, that doesn't automatically make all bookmakers good choices for your futures wagers. At Betpack, we analyse and examine the best online bookmakers in New Zealand and tell you which bookies have the most competitive futures odds and markets. We also inform you which sportsbooks offer enticing bonuses, have bettor-friendly payment methods, and provide the most reliable support. So, if you are looking to place futures bets, these are the best NZ bookmaker options for you.