What Are Booking Points? A Complete Guide To Booking Points Betting

Booking points can seem an odd market with over 35 booking points being common. Once you know how they work they are a simple market to bet on.

Below you’ll find all you need to know about Booking Points betting including what they are, how you play it and where to find the best offers.

What Is Betting On Booking Points?

For every booking given in a fixture, points will be given by the bookmaker. This varies on the booking given, with points being given as follows:

Yellow Card – 10 Points

Red Card – 25 Points

Two Yellow Cards and a Red – 35 Points

Betting on Booking Points is essentially backing the correct number of points that will be scored by both teams combined in a game. This will usually come in an Over/Under format.

Booking Points Example – Football Betting

Let’s say you were using the Paddy Power app to play the Booking Points market.

The odds will look a little something like this:

Under 30 Points – 15/8

Exactly 30 Points – 7/2

Over 30 Points – 5/ 6

In the match, there were 5 yellow cards = 50 points. So the over 30 points bet would win. 

Other markets

There are other options as well as the over/ exactly and under markets – 

• Bookings points bands – 20-30 points, 40-50 points for example. 
• 2-Way market lines – Over/ under 34.5 points for example. 

What counts in betting on cards?

Only cards on players active on the pitch count.

The following do not count, in general with most bookmakers. 

• Bookings of managers, coaching staff or substitutes not on the pitch
• Bookings after the final whistle

What Apps Can I Bet On Booking Points?

You can bet on this market with almost every major betting company in the UK.

These are the main bookmakers and all offer this market –

• bet365 app
• Bet Fred app
• Coral app
• Ladbrokes app
• Paddy Power app
• Sky Bet app
• William Hill app

Here is how the markets look at Sky Bet. They probably have more markets for booking points than any other bookmaker. 

When To Bet On Booking Points

Of course, knowing when to play Booking Points odds is key. Just as you’d play the BTTS and win the market you need to consider a large number of factors before placing your bet.

Things to consider include:

The Referee

The Referee is an important factor when considering the Booking Points market.

You’ll generally see that certain referees are much more card-friendly than others. Naturally, a referee who on average hands out more cards will see punters bet on higher Booking Points numbers.

It is worth looking at stats for the season to see who the most card-friendly refs are. You can see the latest Premier League referee stats here. 

The Players on the Pitch

Similarly, the players on the pitch are also worth looking into. Player booking statistics are easy to come by and they’re well worth analysing before making your bet.

That’s on top of the reputations many players have whether that be putting in strong tackles or getting booked for diving. It is worth considering who will they be playing against – not the team but the player. For example, if you have a firey or inexperienced right-back going up against an in-form Salah it’s likely he’ll have a tough game. This increase the chance of getting a card. You can take a view of this across the pitch and work a view of where the cards will come from. 

As well as your personal knowledge there are numerous stats sites that track the number of cards players get. They’ll also track the number of fouls a player makes.

Our Conclusions

Booking points are an interesting market to bet on. The key thing is not to just look at games that look like there will be a lot of cards but to look at where the lines are and where the value is. If the match is Celtic v Rangers then the points lines will be higher than, for example, England v Andora. Following the stats and trends for teams and matches can help you to find more value in these markets. Use the stats to get a data related view of the matches and find your own value bets.