What does Both Teams to Score mean?

BTTS Yes wins if each team scores at least one goal in the match — any scoreline like 1–1, 2–1 or 3–2 pays out. BTTS No wins if at least one team fails to score, including 0–0, 1–0 or 2–0 results.

Do own goals count for BTTS?

Yes, an own goal counts as a goal for the team it is credited to. Most bookmakers credit the goal to the attacking team, so it typically helps a BTTS Yes bet settle.

Is BTTS a safer bet than picking a winner?

It removes the need to pick a winner, which some find simpler, but it does not remove the bookmaker margin. BTTS carries the same built-in house edge as any other market.

Both Teams to Score (BTTS) Betting Explained

What Both Teams to Score means

Both Teams to Score — usually shown as BTTS or GG/NG (goal/no goal) — is one of the simplest football markets going. You are not betting on who wins. You are betting on whether each side finds the net at least once.

BTTS Yes wins if both teams score. A 1–1, 2–1 or 4–3 all pay out.
BTTS No wins if at least one team is kept out. That covers 0–0, 1–0, 3–0 and any other clean sheet.

The winner is irrelevant. A 5–0 thrashing and a 0–0 bore draw both settle BTTS No. A tight 1–1 settles BTTS Yes. That decoupling from the result is exactly why the market is popular.

A worked example

Suppose a bookmaker prices a match:

BTTS Yes at 1.80
BTTS No at 1.95

Stake £10 on Yes. If the game ends 2–1, both scored, so you win £10 × 1.80 = £18 (£8 profit). If it ends 2–0, only one team scored, and your £10 is gone — even though there were plenty of goals.

That last point trips people up. BTTS is about coverage, not quantity. A 3–0 has more goals than a 1–1 but loses a Yes bet, while the lower-scoring 1–1 wins it.

Where the bookmaker edge hides

Add the implied probabilities of the two prices above. At 1.80 the implied chance is about 55.6%; at 1.95 it’s about 51.3%. Together that’s roughly 106.9% — well over 100%.

That excess is the overround, the bookmaker’s margin. It is the reason the operator profits over time no matter which way results fall. You cannot see it in a single price, but it is present in every market on the coupon.

Being honest about this matters: BTTS is not a loophole. It feels intuitive, and intuition can make you overconfident. The margin still needs beating, and the average bettor doesn’t beat it. Comparing prices across our best betting sites list trims the margin you pay, but it never deletes it.

Reading the BTTS market without fooling yourself

A few honest inputs people use:

Both teams’ scoring form. Sides that score regularly and concede regularly trend toward BTTS Yes. Two leaky, attacking teams are the classic Yes profile.
Clean-sheet records. A team that keeps frequent clean sheets pulls toward BTTS No. Strong defence is the enemy of Yes.
Game state and motivation. A team chasing a win late may throw players forward and leak at the back — helping Yes. A side happy to defend a lead can shut up shop.
Injuries to key attackers or defenders. A missing striker can quietly kill a Yes bet; a missing centre-back can revive one.

These are reasonable angles, but the bookmaker prices them all. They give you occasional grounds to disagree with a line — not a system that wins long-term.

BTTS combined with other markets

BTTS is often paired into combination bets, which look tempting but stack the margin:

BTTS + Over 2.5 — needs both teams to score and three or more goals. Longer odds, harder to land.
Win + BTTS (result and both teams score) — e.g. “Home to win and BTTS” needs a scoreline like 2–1, 3–2.

Each extra condition multiplies the odds — and multiplies the bookmaker’s edge into the price. The more legs you add, the more margin you’re paying. Our guides break down how combination and same-game multiples compound the house advantage.

Common mistakes

Confusing BTTS with high-scoring. They are different questions. Back the one you actually mean.
Assuming “attacking teams = Yes”. If both defences are strong, two attacking sides can still produce a clean sheet.
Backing Yes and No on the same game. You just pay the margin twice for a guaranteed small loss.
Trusting short streaks. “BTTS hit in the last six” is a tiny, noisy sample — not evidence of a trend.

Before funding any account, check our independent reviews so you know the operator settles BTTS fairly, credits own goals correctly, and pays out without fuss.

Own goals, injury time and edge cases

A goal in stoppage time counts — many BTTS bets swing on a 90th-minute equaliser, which is part of the appeal and the pain. Own goals almost always count toward the total and are credited to the attacking team, helping a Yes bet. Extra time and penalty shootouts in cup ties normally do not count unless the market explicitly states otherwise, so always read the settlement rules.

The bottom line

BTTS is a clean, easy-to-follow market that sidesteps the awkward job of picking a winner. That accessibility is genuinely nice — but it is not an edge. The margin lives in every price, own goals and late goals add real variance, and no form-reading system reliably beats the maths.

Bet BTTS for the fun of it, keep stakes small and proportionate, and never treat “simple” as “safe”.

18+. Gambling involves real financial risk. If it stops being fun, take a break — play responsibly.