BTTS meaning: both teams to score betting explained

BTTS is a two-way market: Yes or No. Only one question matters, did both teams get on the scoresheet?

A few settlement details worth knowing:

• Own goals count for the team they're credited to. If the away defender puts the ball in his own net, that's a goal for the home side.
• Extra time and penalty shoot-outs don't count. Only regular time does, as in the 1X2 market.
• Abandoned matches are usually void unless the result was already decided. A BTTS Yes bet can stand if both teams had scored before the abandonment; check the house rules.

BTTS margins are often a little higher than on 1X2 or over/under 2.5, so it's worth comparing prices across bookmakers.

Many bookmakers offer BTTS combined with another market in one bet. The price is higher because both parts must win.

BTTS & over 2.5 is a common source of confusion. A 1-1 draw is BTTS Yes but only two goals, so the combo loses. A 3-0 is over 2.5 but BTTS No, so it loses too. Read more about goal lines in over/under goals.

BTTS No & win (often called "win to nil") is the natural bet on a strong team against a side that struggles to score.

Combos are bookmaker-built multiples, and they often carry a bigger margin than the two separate markets. You can't easily check the fair price unless you work out the correct-score probabilities yourself.

BTTS is a market where simple numbers go a long way. The key question splits in two: will the home team score? and will the away team score?

1. Scoring rate. How often each team scores at least once. A side that scores in 80% of matches is a much better BTTS Yes bet than one at 55%.
2. Clean sheets. How often each team keeps the opponent out. A high clean-sheet rate pushes towards BTTS No.
3. Home and away splits. Many teams score more at home and concede more away. Use home numbers for the home side and away numbers for the away side.
4. Goals expected. Expected goals (xG) for and against show whether a team's scoring or clean sheets are sustainable or lucky. See xG and football stats.
5. Context. Injuries to key strikers, a goalkeeper change, a cup match with rotated line-ups, or one team happy with a draw all change the picture.

You'll find scoring and clean-sheet numbers on our stats pages, and the teams with the longest BTTS runs on trends.

This method is rough. It ignores the strength of the opponents and assumes the two teams' scoring is independent, which isn't quite true: a goal often opens a game up. Use it as a sanity check, not a magic formula.

A slightly better method uses expected goals and the Poisson distribution. If the home side is expected to score 1.5 goals, the chance it scores at least once is 1 − e^(−1.5) = 77.7%. If the away side is expected to score 1.1, it's 1 − e^(−1.1) = 66.7%. Multiply them: 77.7% × 66.7% = 51.8%, a fair price of about 1.93.

BTTS No is the less glamorous side, but it wins whenever one team draws a blank, which includes every 1-0, 2-0 and 0-0. It tends to suit:

• A strong favourite against a weak attack. If the underdog rarely scores away from home, the whole bet hangs on that one side.
• Cautious matches. Derbies, cup ties between evenly matched teams and end-of-season games where a draw suits both sides often stay tight.
• Teams in poor scoring form with low xG. If a side isn't creating chances, a short run of goals is less likely to continue.

As with Yes, compare your estimate with the price. If your estimate for BTTS Yes is 48.75%, your estimate for No is 51.25%, a fair price of 1.95.

• Following the last result only. A 3-3 last week says little about this week. Use 10–20 matches.
• Using overall numbers instead of home/away. A team that scores freely at home might struggle away.
• Confusing BTTS with over 2.5. They overlap but aren't the same: 1-1 is BTTS Yes and under 2.5; 3-0 is BTTS No and over 2.5.
• Stacking BTTS Yes in accumulators. Each leg is close to a coin flip, so four legs together fail far more often than they land.
• Ignoring team news. One missing striker on the weaker side can change the BTTS chance more than any long-term stat.

Our BTTS predictions list today's matches where the numbers point towards Yes or No, with the price and the reasoning. Combine them with your own check of the scoring rates and the team news before you bet.