The March Madness betting tournament is only a week away from crowning its latest champion. When that happens, fans, media and sports gambling sites alike, will need a new sport to focus their attention on. Baseball would still be a week away, so why not handicap soccer, right here. Soccer is played globally, and offers bettors an intriguing amount of options. Here is a guide on how to bet on soccer.

Soccer handicappers focus on lines in two ways, that are comparable to the big four North American sports. Firstly, soccer uses the universal straight bet, known as the moneyline. At first glance, all you do is bet on either the favorite or the underdog to win the game outright and then place your money. However, that isn’t all that happens, as soccer provides an option that the big four sports do not, the ability to tie. If you wager on a game to tie, and one of the teams wins the game, then your bet is a loss. On the other hand, if you bet on a team to win and the game ends in a draw, your bet is considered a loss. Since the tie happens often, you would bet the same as if you were handicapping an MLB underdog. In other words, you would bet less to receive more.

Another option to wagering on soccer is by using the goal line. Similar to the run line or puck line in the NHL and MLB, you are giving an advantage to the underdog, by requiring the favorite to score more goals to win the game. Here is how it appears

Manchester City -1.5 (+300)

West Ham +1.5 (-200)

In this example, the bettor requires that Manchester City win by a score of two to nothing to win the game. Since Manchester City is at a disadvantage, bettors taking them to cover the one and a half goal deficit need only risk $100 to get back $300. Conversely, because West Ham only needs to lose one to nothing or draw with Man City, bettors taking them are required to risk $200 to get back $100.

Selection Sunday was last night, and already March Madness betting handicappers are in a state of panic over what teams to wager upon. One of the biggest issues heading into the 2012 edition of the tournament is that sports betting enthusiasts are unfamiliar, with whom the best teams against the spread will be. After all, three of the four top seeds in the tournament, ranged from awful to okay against the spread this season. Here is a look at some of the best teams against the spread.

There are plenty of trends that bettors can put credence in as the 2012 March Madness tournament gets underway later this week. One trend we are always surprised at is that despite winning all 84 games since 1991, the number one seeds are only 48-35-one against the spread verses 16 seeds. This tells us, that while they may not be winning the games outright, the 16^th ranked teams annually are getting better and may one day be able to win outright against a top seed. Another interesting trend is that while top seeds have a winning record against the spread, second ranked teams tend to struggle. In the same study from 1991 to present, the teams ranked second, have gone a disastrous 35-45-five against the spread, and 80 and four straight up. Meaning to say, picking an upset, is better statistically on two v 15 then one v 16.

For fans looking for straight up upsets, that game would come from one featuring the fifth seed taking on the 12^th seed. In a study calculating upsets from 1988 to 2012, the 24 year study, showed, that a 12^th seed has failed in upsetting a fifth seed only twice. Looking at a smaller sample, of the last five years, the 12^th seed has gone five and seven straight up and eight and four against the spread. Thus indicating, 12^th seeds are often better then fifth seeds on the NBA trade deadline March Madness betting line.