Gaelic Football Betting Ireland 2024

By far, one of the best things to happen to the gambling industry is the shift of casinos and sportsbooks online. With just a few clicks on their mobile or desktop devices, punters can conveniently place wagers on their favourite sporting activities from the comfort of their homes, using any of the plenty of sports betting sites available out there today. 

Gaelic football is naturally also available on these websites. The only downside is that due to the sport's uniqueness, Gaelic football betting is not as popular as football betting, basketball betting, tennis betting, etc. 

More than enough Irish betting sportsbooks offer betting on various Gaelic football tournaments and championships. That said, we should mention that our team of betting experts at Irishluck offer some of the best betting sites where Irish punters can engage in Gaelic football betting. This includes Paddy Power, William Hill, Ladbroke, Boylesports, and much more. You will find some of the information on these sites on this page right above. 

History of Gaelic Football

While the Gaelic football sport may seem strange to many people outside of Ireland, it is not new to the Irish people. It is a sport that is said to date as far back as the middle ages when different rough and tumble forms of the sport were common in Ireland. However, the precise history of the sport remains a common debate amongst loyal fans. It was not until the 17th century that the sport garnered a lot of popularity and became a popular sport in different places across the country, with tenants playing on their landlords' vast expanse of land. It also gained the patronage of the gentry and ruling class, which is why wagers on the outcome of the game were commonplace even then. The earliest reported Gaelic football match took place at Slane, Co.Meath, in 1712 when Meath played an inter-county game against Co. Louth.

In response to England establishing the Rugby Football Union and the Football Association, Ireland founded the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in 1884. The GAA became the body tasked with developing and promoting sports of Irish origins. In keeping to its mission, Gaelic football became one of the four games governed by the GAA and the formal playing codes that will later become the rules that govern the Gaelic football sport until today were established. Since then, the GAA has put in place various competitions attracting thousands of spectators from all across Ireland and beyond, making the sport one of the most popular and most-watched sports in Ireland. Gaelic football has flourished a lot and even progressed outside the confines of Ireland with thousands of Gaelic games and clubs in every continent.

How Gaelic Football Works

As mentioned earlier, Gaelic football is not a new sport to Irish people. The game's workings are understandable to many, if not all, Gaelic football enthusiasts. However, if you don’t understand the game, you don’t have to fret as our team of betting experts at Irishluck has done extensive research on the subject.

The Rules

Gaelic football is basically a mixture of sports like rugby, soccer, and basketball, although it predates them. It is played with two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch with H-shaped goalposts at the two ends of the pitch. The goalpost is the same shape as rugby goalposts, except the lower crossbar. Plus, there is a netting similar to that of a soccer net below the crossbar. During the game, a player can carry the ball in hand for a distance of four steps, during which he can kick or hand-pass the ball. After every four steps, the player must pass the ball to a teammate or solo the ball by bouncing it on the ground or dropping it on foot and kicking it back to the hand. However, the ball must not be bounced twice in a row.

Scoring

There are two methods you can use to score a goal in Gaelic football. First, a player can send the ball over the crossbar to earn one point between the uprights. Secondly, a player can send the ball under the crossbars and into the goalpost, earning the team three points. Naturally, the team with the highest points at the end of the game wins. If a match results in a draw, it must be replayed.

Tackling

While tackling is allowed in Gaelic football, it is confined only to tackling the ball. As such, it is illegal to trip, pull, drag, punch, hold, pull, or roughly attack another player. However, it is legal to make full-body contact with an opponent as long as it is an apparent attempt to win the ball. A player can also block the ball as it leaves an opponent and knock the ball out of an opponent’s hand with one of their hands.

GAA Football in Ireland

As we have mentioned earlier, Ireland established the Gaelic Athletic Association to promote local sports in the country, and this includes Gaelic football.

Tournaments

Since as far back as the Gaelic Athletic Association was established, various sporting events for Gaelic football have taken place. Today, several competitive Gaelic football events are taking place throughout the year. The GAA often organizes these events independently or in association with other organizations. There are intercounty competitions, interclub competitions, intervarsity competitions, intercollege competitions, interfirm competitions, and even outside Ireland.

The single most prestigious of these tournaments is the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, which typically involves about 33 teams competing for the coveted Championship title and the ultimate prize that comes with it, the Sam Maguire Cup. In the table below, our team of betting experts at Irishluck has helped us compile a list of some of the most prestigious Gaelic football championships/tournaments in Ireland, the number of competing teams, and other information about them.

GAA Stadiums for Gaelic Football

You will agree that Gaelic football is a national pride for the Irish people and a trendy sport with millions of fans. Ireland features many different stadiums in which the various Gaelic football tournaments in Ireland often take place. The tables below will find the top 5 most prestigious GAA stadiums used for Gaelic football in Ireland.

GAA Betting Odds

As is with most sports betting, you won’t go far in Gaelic football betting if you don’t understand how the GAA betting odds work. When you know how the odds work, you will naturally be able to gauge the risk-reward ratio, the process, and of course, the winnings you could potentially walk away with if your predictions prove to be accurate. 

Generally, just like most sports betting, when it comes to GAA betting odds, most Irish betting sites will offer Fractional and Decimal formats, with some even providing the American format. Of course, the Fractional odds format is the popular option that most Irish punters prefer when they engage in Gaelic football betting. It usually displays prices as 9/2, 1/2, 1/1, 2/1, 100/1, and so on. This format succinctly expresses a punter's potential profit against their stake. For example, a punter puts down a €100 stake on a prediction with a 7/1 price. 

If the prediction the punter made proves to be accurate, he will get a profit of €700 (€100 x 7) while the total potential return will be €800 (the €700 profit plus the €100 returned wager). Prices such as 9/2, 2/7, 3/5, and so on are tricky to calculate but not that hard since they use the same principle we just mentioned. With the 9/2 price, a bettor will receive a €9 return on every €2 wagered, which when simplified means that the bettor will receive €4.5 for every €1 wagered. So, if a punter wagers €100 on a bet with a 9/2 price, he will receive a €450 profit (€100 x 4.5) and a total of €550 (€450 profit plus €100 wager).

Naturally, you won't have to worry about these calculations if you decide to place your wager via online bookmakers. These sites calculate all this automatically and display the results on players' bet slips. In theory, wagers that come with longer odds are ones that the bookmakers believe are less likely going to occur, and the ones with shorter odds are the ones that have a better chance of happening.

Betting on GAA Football

You will agree that Gaelic football is unique, unlike games like football, rugby, and other popular sports. Due to this, many might expect that Irish punters wouldn't have access to that many options when it comes to betting. As with most sports today, the number of betting markets open to Gaelic football gambling enthusiasts is vast, though not as many as that of soccer. Unsurprisingly, many of these bets/markets are adapted from what you usually find when you bet on other sports online. That said, this guide will look at some of the most popular types of Gaelic football bets and markets that you can place bets on when you access Gaelic football online betting sites.

Match Betting

Match betting is by far the simplest and most popular option when it comes to GAA football betting markets. It is a pretty simple market that involves a player predicting the eventual outcome of the entire match. 

Within this market, there are two sub-options that players can make:

• To win: This is the bet type that many sportsbooks’ customers make when they pick their favourites to win the game. This can be a home win or an away win based on the circumstances of the match. In this case, a punter will only succeed when their selection or selections win the game. On the other hand, they will naturally lose their wager should their selections not win the game.

• To draw: This is the type of bet that an Irish punter places when they predict the outcome of a Gaelic football match will end up a draw. It is noteworthy that ties are often rarely played out due to the nature of the game that often involves high scores from both opposing teams. As such, the value of odds for these bet types is usually much higher than that of a home win or away win.

Winning Margin

In Gaelic football, competing teams can score in several ways, from putting the ball into the net and scoring three points to sending the ball over the crossbar and scoring a single point. As a result, you will often see high-scoring games and variable winning margins between the opposing teams. That said, the winning margin market involves placing a bet on a team to win by a certain margin (i.e., score difference). 

This is usually given as a range of 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12, etc. As predicting both the team that will win and the extent to which they will beat the opposing team can be challenging to get right, these markets often provide great value and come with good odds. So, for punters who have vast experience with Gaelic football and have good knowledge of the competing sides, making the best winning margin betting strategy that will bring notable return is not impossible.

The Draw No Bet

As we have mentioned earlier, there are three eventual outcomes of any Gaelic football game: a win (home win or away win), a defeat, and a draw. When you place a winning bet, you will only succeed if the team you are backing beats the opponent. And if the team you back loses or ends up in a tie, you also lose your stake.

However, you have another betting option: the "Draw No Bet." The Draw No Bet negates the draw from your result, and in the instances where a game ends in a tie, you will not lose your stake. Instead, the bet will become void, and your stake will be returned. This bet type tends to safeguard a player’s bankroll when betting on tight Gaelic football games between two evenly matched teams. It is noteworthy to mention that the GAA odds price difference between this bet and the regular win bet is usually pretty minimal. So, it makes sense to utilize this market in the off chance of an event ending in a draw.

Handicap Bets

The handicap betting market’s popularity has shot up in recent years across many sports, and the Gaelic football sport is not left out. Naturally, there will be many occasions when you want to back the favourite to win a game, but more often than not, the odds on the favourites will be very short because they are less likely to lose. 

This means that a punter will have to put down a lot of money to have a chance of walking away with a big payout. The handicap bet, also called spread betting, was introduced to deal with this downside. Handicap betting allows online sportsbooks to offer more attractive longer betting odds on favourites through extra conditions and terms. Essentially, this market assigns a handicap that must be overcome to win. For instance, let’s say you want to bet on a handicap between Cork and Dublin. It may look like this:

• Cork (5)

• Dublin (-5)

If you back Dublin to win in this instance, you will win your wager only if Dublin remains the winner after you subtract 5 points from their final points. Alternatively, if you decide to back Cork, you will win the wager only if Cork’s final score with 5 points added to it is greater than that of Dublin.

Goal Scorer Market

Another popular betting market open to enthusiasts of Gaelic football betting has to do with goal scoring. For example, you can wager on who the first goalscorer in a game will be or, better still, the team that will register the first goal point. Alternatively, there are also markets for the last team or player to score before the end of a game. These markets are often varied, but they are straightforward to understand.

Outright Market Bets

Another popular bet type in the GAA football betting market is outright bets. Outright betting markets are unlike the regular betting markets where punters place bets on individual matches. Instead, the outright market involves making wagers on a league, tournament, or championship competition as a whole. The most basic of this market involves placing a bet on a team to win the league or competition. 

In addition, you may find other outright markets like the team or player to score the most goals in the tournament, and so on. These markets are regularly updated as the tournaments/championships progress, and usually, the earlier you place your bet, the more generous the betting odds you get.

Half-Time/Full-time Betting

Halftime/fulltime betting is another popular sports betting option that punters can also make use of when placing bets online. Like most spectator sporting events, Gaelic football is played in two halves; the first half and second half, and while one team may be the winner of the first half of the match, they may not end up as the winner after the fulltime of the game is up. This type of bet capitalizes on these situations.

The bet requires that a punter predict which team will be leading come halftime and which team will win the match. For example, you can bet Team A - Team B, which means you expect to be in the lead come the first half, but team B will come back to win the match. You can also add a tie into the mix or have a draw for both halves. Naturally, both selections need to be correct for this bet to succeed.

Over/Under Bets

You will find several sports betting sites offering the over/under market. With this bet type, a punter will essentially be betting something to happen more times or fewer times than a given number. The most common type of bet is the Over/Under Total points, which is the number of points scored by both teams. Take, for instance, a betting market displays Over/Under 14. Betting on 'Over' means that you expect the total points that both teams will score to be 15 or more. On the other hand, betting on 'Under' means you expect the entire score to be less than 14.

Gaelic Football In-Play Betting

You will agree that one of the best features of online sports betting is the in-play or live betting services. It used to be that a player could only place wagers on the outcome of sporting events before the game starts, and as soon as the game begins, no more bets will be allowed. However, what changed this status quo is in-play betting, also known as live betting. The live betting feature makes it possible for punters to place wagers while a game is in progress. This way, sports betting enthusiasts can thoroughly analyze a game and predict its outcome based on what they see happening during the game. As a result of the nature of the live betting options, betting odds are updated to reflect the action taking place on the pitch. 

Punters can also place wagers on some exciting markets, like the next team to score, the next player to foul, and so many others while the action is taking place. It is also noteworthy that due to the nature of the live betting option, not all markets are open for live betting in Gaelic football. However, the options available are still quite extensive and enough for any Irish punter to have fun playing.

GAA Betting Tips

Like most sports, predicting the outcome of GAA football sporting events can be challenging, especially given how competitive the sport can be between the top-level teams. This is why punters need to be creative with their betting strategy when making wagers on GAA football events between counties, clubs, or other tournament teams. Our team of betting experts at Irishluck has prepared a list of a few GAA betting tips that will prove helpful to you when you place bets on GAA football. 

Naturally, these tips don't guarantee anything, but they will nonetheless help any punter's winning chances.

• Check the form: Always take a detailed look at the state of any team you are thinking of backing in a GAA football betting market. Doing this will help you gauge where the team stands and whether they have a winning chance.

• Pay attention to everything: Gaelic football, like most sports, can be significantly influenced by any changes in the status quo, like the absence of a few key players. So, always keep your ears to the ground for any news leading up to a game to ensure you are not missing suspension, injuries, or anything that could weaken your selected team.

• Target leagues games: Betting on league games often has better value than bigger championship games.

• Stick with local counties to begin: If you are just venturing into GAA football betting, you should stick with games from your local county. This is because you will most likely have better knowledge here than venturing into betting on teams you don’t know much about.

How Did We Find Gaelic Betting Sites For You

As we have mentioned, there is a massive list of options available to players when placing bets on the Gaelic football sport. Naturally, some sites are better than others, and it is often difficult to find the best option to use, especially for newbies. 

To make the right choice, we have considered several factors for you:

• Availability of Gaelic football betting market: Naturally, the most obvious thing to consider when deciding which site to use is whether or not Gaelic football is available. So, while making your choice, make sure Gaelic football is part of the sports offered by the betting site.

• Competitive odds: Consider the sites that offer the best or at least competitive odds.

• Comprehensive coverage: Consider the sportsbooks covering many different Gaelic football tournaments and championships.

• Plenty of betting markets: Only consider the platforms that offer many betting markets for Gaelic football betting.

• Bonuses and promotions: Only consider the sites that offer the best bonuses and promotions.

Closing Thoughts

To sum up, Gaelic football is an impressive spectator sport that will keep attracting thousands of viewers alongside tons of sports betting punters. Although the betting market for Gaelic football betting is not huge, there is more than enough market open to GAA gambling enthusiasts.

References

• Gaelic Football, Wikipedia
• Getting Involved in Gaelic Football, GAA Ireland