League football will be back soon. This means not more friendly matches and now seriousness. Well, this also means more money for bookmakers or stakers (those that place bets).

You hear many people saying they lost a fortune to football betting or betting in general. This would not have happened assuming they follow certain rules.

We have to take betting as a game just like football. There are 3 things involved. You either win, draw or lose. Nobody wants to lose. Everyone wants to win to make profits or at least draw so his/her stake can be returned.

Let us look at the 3 golden rules to follow so you can minimize your loss and maximize your profit.

                   Play with your spare money

This is where most stakers/punters miss it. Many people play with money they want to use for something else. At the end of the day, when they lose, you see them lamenting.

The first rule of betting is to play with your spare money. This way even if you lose, you don't feel much pain. Many will want to double their money meant for another purpose. They might get lucky and win. What about if it results into loss. That will be bad. So please, when next you want to bet on any game use your spare money.

                          Bet based on statistics

Many just place bets randomly hoping for luck. This is not different from buying ticket to watch a football match in the stadium then hope you can get on the goalscorers sheet. Many place bets based on club love or hatred. Please and please, this is not advisable. Placing a bet out of love or hatred for a club will only result in you losing your hard earned money.

You should always consider statistics before placing any bets. In football, Home and away form, players injuries, suspensions, goals scored and so on are statistics that must be considered when making a prediction to decide the outcome of a match.

                                 Choosing the right market

Choosing the right market/bet-type to bet on is not an easy task. It is the hardest rule to follow for newbies. Many do feel like, so out of over 100 markets for a particular fixture I cannot win with my chosen ones. The problem is knowing what to pick for a particular match.

This can be solved based on the results you got from your statistics. When you fully analyse a fixture, you can get statistics based on different markets. The goal markets can show you the estimated amount of goals to score if much or low. You can also see who is likely to win or not.

When you follow this three rules well, you are sure of minimizing your loss.

I am zoneboy the Human curator and supporter of Nigerians on Scorum. Check our introductory post here