First you have to ask yourself what are fantasy bets at all? You can easily set a bet for them at 22Bet. A short definition of fantasy bets can also be found in our Wettbasis betting ABC. However, we would like to deal with it in more detail here, look at a concrete example, and explain the associated advantages and disadvantages in detail. We take the sports betting provider Tipico out as an example, but the other providers also offer this type of bet.
If you look at the match pairings, you probably ask yourself: ‘Excuse me, since when does Arminia Bielefeld play against Kayseri Erciyesspor, as in our example, although it is a regular match day and this is not a friendly match?’ Quite simply, since there are so-called fantasy bets. The bookmakers come up with fictitious match pairings that are not played directly.
These games are then virtually combined into a single game, decided on the basis of the number of goals and subsequently evaluated. Caution is advised because it is somewhat complicated and one can quickly make a “thinking error”.
For such bets, we recommend that you always take enough time and go through the final results well in the form of a simulation. What does a 1-0 win mean compared to a 2-0 win and so on. Due to 2 different match pairings, there are also a bit more variations here.
In fact, the two scheduled teams do not play against each other but against their “real/true” opponents. In the end, the goals scored by the teams from the fantasy bet are considered from both match pairings and used for “comparison”. So it is elementary not to compare the strengths of the two fantasy opponents with each other, but to estimate correctly the probable number of goals scored by the two fantasy opponents against their real opponents!
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
This type of betting is mostly offered towards the end of the season or during the breaks between games (summer/winter). Why? Probably, the betting companies choose this type of bet because there are still many important decisions to be made at the end of the season and there is even more uncertainty about how the games in question might go. Many teams are still fighting to stay in the league or for European cup places (Champions League, Europa League). During the breaks in friendly matches, it is basically very thankless to guess the outcome of the match correctly, because there is sometimes a lot of experimentation going on, be it with the playing system or simply with various team lineups. It can easily happen that a much better team doesn’t win against an underclass opponent or doesn’t win by the expected amount. The assessment is not easy for anyone in such games.
In addition, it can unfortunately happen that with a few providers – mostly the lesser known ones – this type of bet is insufficiently explained. Most of the time, it is only stated that it is a fantasy bet, but what it actually refers to or what is decisive is not always stated. Nevertheless, you can assume that the number of goals is always meant. Tipico states: “The result is decided by the number of goals scored by the respective teams.” Of course, it is also quite decisive that it is clearly recognizable to which two real games of the two teams the fantasy bet refers to and how their real opponents are to be assessed.
