Cyberfootball, the world-famous FIFA game controlled by artificial intelligence, which features competitions between electronic football players controlled by “bots” and on whose matches real, rather than electronic, money can be earned.
So, FIFA betting is the new word in the betting industry from Russia’s leading bookmaker. Let’s take a closer look at what cyber football betting is all about and how to earn enough to rent a VIP box at a real Champions League final.
Yes, for the purposes of this review we will cover both cyber football controlled by the AI (computer) and the one where the joystick is in the hands of the cyber athlete.
Table of Contents
What is FIFA betting at the betting shops?
To begin with, let’s get a sense of what this game is all about.
FIFA is the most popular (PES fans, sorry) football simulator of the world, developed by Electronic Arts, and which, in different years, probably everyone has played.
Year after year, EA Sports has been delighting us with the release of a new installment of the game and now that eSports is no longer just entertainment, betting companies are actively incorporating the FIFA, NBA and NHL series into their lineups.
The teams, the most famous clubs in the world that every football fan knows, are controlled by artificial intelligence that evaluates the club on hundreds of thousands of different parameters, simulates their encounter and broadcasts it to the fans in real time.
The version of the game is updated annually, rolling out improved graphics, physics and player models. The vast majority of eSports tournaments are played with the latest version of the game, but there are also many fans of older, fan-favourite versions (up to and including the legendary FIFA 07). The most common ones to be found in the BK line-up are:
- FIFA 17 – the version that came out on a completely revamped engine that radically changed the physics of the game, making this version of the emulator one of the most memorable;
- FIFA 18 – which didn’t change the gameplay, but made it much more atmospheric;
- FIFA 22 – the current version, with all the updates and new features.
Features of cyber football betting
Talking about the specific features of cyber football betting, we can say that they are all inherent to most other cyber sports disciplines. In particular, we can highlight:
The transience of matches, which last only 10-25 minutes;
- The high number of events and goals. Despite the rapidity of the matches, even professional cyber-sports matches in FIFA often end with a hockey score;
- A modest betting line-up. As a rule, a more or less extensive number of variants are only found in play;
- A small number of injuries – both to cyber athletes, who are at most threatened by colds and the like, and to digital teams playing on the field, where injuries heal immediately after the match (I wish it were like this in real life);
A large number of tournaments. Yes, although the roster, as we found out earlier, is modest in most cases, there are plenty of tournaments nowadays, and most of them, however significant, are represented in bookmakers’ lines, so it makes sense to focus only on individual ones, without spreading your attention too thin.
FIFA Betting Strategy
How can you make money on cyber football, when there is no need to look at statistics, when there are no injured players, bad team spirit, etc., and when all is decided by a sober calculation of a powerful computer?
I’m sure that experienced gamers who have tried to conquer the top of cyber football championships themselves (especially in career mode) will agree with me that computer-controlled matches often follow the same scenario.
In order to see the general trend and find out how most encounters end, just run the demo match a few times on your home computer, there you will see who the favourite is, because the artificial intelligence reads all the parameters of the playing clubs and gives the result based on a comparison of playing styles.
Let me remind you that the playing styles will remain the same for your PC and for the League of Betting Championships, because this has been included in the game by the developer, and there are no transfers or anything else in the cyber football championship.
Yes, you shouldn’t bet on the exact score, but you can see which team has the best chance of success without too much difficulty. It only takes a few hours, during which you keep playing the demo game over and over again. You don’t even have to keep track of it. It’s enough to record the results so that you can use them to establish a general trend. That’s as far as FIFA pre (pending) bets go.
And when it comes to live betting, it’s even simpler. The AI often suffers from the spectators’ unfavourite ‘one-player game’ – the first team constantly presses the opponent, while the second hardly ever comes close to the opponent’s penalty area. And it is recorded from the opening minutes.
The computer does not take too kindly to unexpected turns and cannot make strong-willed gambles, so if you catch the machine’s mood and its preferred strategy, you can easily win with live betting. Yes, the odds in this case will be lower, but the probability of a positive outcome is an order of magnitude higher.
Let’s also consider a few strategies for betting on cyber football matches, in those where the control is in the hands of real people.
Betting on the winner of the match
A basic and most common betting option, where a wager is placed on one of the sides in a match. This betting strategy is characterised by its simplicity and is based on the style of play of the teams (or the athletes who manage them).
Betting on total in cyber football
Another basic betting option, where it is crucial to consider the above mentioned features of all cyber sports matches and their performance. In particular, we suggest you to consider the betting options for betting on the TM of the match in play, after the first half.
Betting on individual match formats
Depending on the tournament and its particular stage, the matches in cyber football can take place in best-of-1, best-of-2, etc. Each of these formats, and consequently the matches held within it, is characterized by a whole set of specific features, which it makes sense to take into account to increase the percentage of winnings.
The Werth Strategy
At one time this strategy was extremely popular, it is based on betting on the match total, which is made within 4 possible scenarios of events in it:
20th minute of the match, score 0-0 – bet on TM (2.5) of the whole match, but only if the odds for this market are in the range 2.1-2.2 or higher;
25th minute of the match, 3 goals scored – bet on TB (5.5), the odds in this case are not so important, because it is always good for breaking the high total;
45th minute of the match, score 0-0 – TB (1.5). A dry draw in cyber football is a rare occurrence and therefore one can bet on a near-minimal total even if the first half ended in a draw, but, as a strategy, it is advisable to choose odds on this outcome from 2.3 and above;
70th minute, score 0-0 – bet on TB (0.5) – again, a goalless draw in football is rare, and therefore this bet makes sense. This is the only scenario within Werth’s strategy that you can “catch up” in case of a defeat by betting with a catch-up. But, remember that the overtake is extremely risky, so betting on it should be done with caution.
All in all, we can say that cyber football is the future of online betting, and the sooner you start getting into it, the better for yourself. But, that being said, you need to understand that the degree of risk here is even higher than in betting on standard ‘live’ football, because it is much easier to change the course of a computer game by turning it upside down than in a real match. It is highly recommended that you simply watch a few matches first to decide whether or not to bet on it.