Total goals have become one of the most popular football betting markets, and this guide tells you everything about the over 4.5 goals meaning.
What Does Over 4.5 Goals Mean?
Over 4.5 goals is a specific bet selection within the total goals betting market. In a nutshell, it is a bet on the combined total of goals (in this case, over 4.5) that will be scored for a particular game over 90 minutes + additional time.
Understandably, when making over/under predictions, the over 4.5 goals is riskier because you need five or more goals scored for the bet to pay out. With the increased risk comes better odds. As a bettor, you must determine the probability of the bet winning and decide if the bookmaker’s odds represent value.
Over 4.5 Goals Examples
The best way to fully grasp the meaning of over 4.5 goals is to see it in action. Below, we’ve taken some real examples to analyse from two of South Africa’s top betting companies.
Over 4.5 Goals Meaning Betway
To locate over 4.5 goals on Betway, navigate to the soccer section and choose a match. After selecting a particular fixture, look for over/under market followed by over 4.5.
The example we’ve chosen is Simba SC v Mtibwa Sugar from the Tanzanian Premier League. Over 4.5 has odds of 5.40. Therefore, if you bet R1,000 on this selection and the bet wins, the total return will be R5,400.
As well as soccer, ice hockey is another sport that has over/under total goals. This match from the NHL between Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning is offering odds of 1.33 on over 4.5. The prices are much lower for hockey games because more goals per game are scored (on average) compared with soccer.
Over 4.5 Goals Meaning Hollywoodbets
Of course, the over 4.5 goals meaning is the same with Hollywoodbets, but there are two important differences in comparison with Betway. Firstly, Hollywoodbets labels the market as Additional Goals. Also, this betting company uses South African decimals, which don’t include the stake. Therefore, the prices displayed are -1.0, for instance:
- Betway – European decimal odds 2.00. An R100 bet returns R200 (R100 winnings + R100 stake)
- Hollywoodbets – SA decimal odds 1.00. An R100 bet wins R100 + R100 stake is returned.
We’ve taken the same soccer match (Simba SC and Mtibwa Sugar) for the over 4.5 goals bet. The odds at Hollywoodbets are 5.2.
This means if you bet R1,000, you win R5,200, + your stake (R1,000) is returned. For this one bet selection, the payout is far superior to this betting company (compared with Betway).
Over 4.5 Goals Strategies
Regardless of the betting market, it’s highly improbable that a bettor will win every wager they place. Although it’s not nice, losing is a part of betting that all punters must accept.
This is particularly relevant with over 4.5 goals betting because you will lose certain bets. However, the objective is to win frequently enough to (hopefully) cancel out the losses. With that in mind, we’re going to share some important tips for betting on this market.
Patience
These are some statistics from the 2021-22 English Premier League season:
- 63 out of 380 games had over 4.5 goals
- The overall percentage (63 from 380) is 16.15%
- 11 of Manchester City’s 38 games had more than 4.5 goals (29%)
- Only 5% of Liverpool’s home matches ended with more than 4.5 goals
What we can take from this is that most matches (in the EPL) do not produce over 4.5 goals. Therefore, it’s not a bet you want to place all the time. You need the patience to wait for the right teams and fixtures, which brings us to our next point.
Research
There are no guarantees with soccer betting, but putting in some research can help you find more ‘likely’ matches while avoiding the potential low-scoring fixtures. You can check out recent forms to see which teams are scoring/conceding, home and away records, and also the lineups.
Understand Both Sides of the Market
Knowing under 4.5 goals meaning, which is effectively the other side of this betting market, will help you find value. Bettors can use over and under odds to calculate the bookmaker’s margin. Along with the probability you’ve come up with from your own predictions, this will determine if the price is high enough for you to place the bet.
How to Place Over 4.5 Goals Bet?
How to place over 4.6 goals bet?
- Login to your betting site.
- Go to the soccer games and select a match.
- Scroll through the markets to find over/under (note that some bookmakers use different terminology).
- Click/Tap on ‘Over 4.5’, and the selection is added to your bet slip.
- Enter your bet amount and click/tap to confirm the wager.
Over 4.5 Goals Meaning FAQ
We answer some frequent questions now.
The match needs to have 5 or more goals to win an over 4.5 goals bet. It doesn’t matter which team scores the goals as long as there are over 4.5. For example, 5-0, 4-1, and 3-2 are all winning over 4.5 bets.
Over 4.5 goals predictions are made by tipsters on the matches they believe will result in a successful bet. Of course, you should also do your own research to confirm the predictions.
Plenty of research is the key to predicting over 4.5 goals soccer matches. Even then, you won’t get each one right. However, if you can predict one correct over 4.5 result from every 5 bets, you should slowly increase your bankroll (depending on the odds).
Over 4.5 goals market is calculated by the total number of goals scored in a match, excluding extra time and a penalty shootout. Simply add the number of goals together to calculate if the bet has won.
