Both teams to score (BTTS): how often it lands and how it works
What a BTTS bet is, how often both teams score across thousands of football matches, how it ties in with totals and which scores are most common.
Both teams to score is offered on almost every football match, and tipsters on X bet it regularly: BetBuddyRank has graded 1,193 such picks against final scores. To see what the bet is worth, we went through the scores of 20,997 senior football matches: below is how often both teams score, how that ties in with totals, which scores are most common and how tipster picks perform.
A both teams to score (BTTS) bet is graded on regular time plus stoppage time. “Yes” wins on 1-1, 2-1, 3-2 or any score where both teams have a goal. “No” wins when one team keeps a clean sheet, including 0-0. There is no push.
Only whether each team scores matters, not how many: 1-1 and 4-3 win a “yes” alike, and 5-0 loses it just like 0-0.
In 20,997 senior football matches both teams scored 54.9% of the time, and at least one failed to score in 45.1%. The fair price of “yes” in an average match is about 1.82 in decimal odds, of “no” about 2.22.
| Result | Share of matches | Fair odds |
|---|---|---|
| BTTS: yes | 54.9% | 1.82 |
| BTTS: no | 45.1% | 2.22 |
In a given match the chance depends on the teams: when one side is clearly stronger, the weaker one is usually less likely to score. The average share does not replace judging the game.
The two markets are linked but not the same. This is how matches split across both bets at once:
| BTTS | Over 2.5 | Under 2.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 44.4% | 10.5% |
| No | 12.1% | 33.0% |
“Yes” with under 2.5 happens only at 1-1 (10.5% of matches). “No” with over 2.5 means clean-sheet wins of 3-0, 4-0 or more (12.1%). BTTS and over 2.5 together land in 44.4% of matches. How often the total itself hits is covered in the guide to over 2.5 goals.
The most common score is 1-1 (10.5% of matches), followed by 1-0 (8.6%) and 2-1 (8.3%). The full table, regular time:
| Home / away | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 6.2% | 6.8% | 4.7% | 2.6% | 2.0% |
| 1 | 8.6% | 10.5% | 6.6% | 3.3% | 2.2% |
| 2 | 6.6% | 8.3% | 5.2% | 2.3% | 1.3% |
| 3 | 4.0% | 4.1% | 3.0% | 1.3% | 0.6% |
| 4+ | 3.4% | 3.3% | 1.8% | 0.8% | 0.4% |
Every cell outside the first row and the first column is a “BTTS: yes”.
Tipster picks from X on this market win 59.7% of the time against 60.0% expected, with an ROI of +4.1% on priced picks. The expectation comes from the odds or, without them, from similar matches given the teams’ strength. By side:
| Pick | Picks | Hit rate | Expected | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | 1,156 | 59.6% | 60.4% | +2.6% |
| No | 37 | 62.2% | 50.0% | +84.5% |
Tipsters pick “yes” far more often than “no”, so the “no” numbers rest on a small sample.
What does “both teams to score: yes” mean?
The bet wins if each team scores at least once in regular time: 1-1, 2-1, 3-3 and so on.
How often do both teams score in football?
In our data in 54.9% of senior football matches.
Is BTTS or over 2.5 the better bet?
Neither on its own: the odds decide. BTTS yes wins at 1-1, where over 2.5 loses, and over 2.5 wins at 3-0, where BTTS loses.
Does an own goal count for BTTS?
Yes. An own goal counts for the team it is credited to, just as in the match score.
What is the most common score in football?
In our data 1-1: 10.5% of matches end that way, followed by 1-0 and 2-1.
- 1Turn the BTTS odds into a probability with the odds converter and compare it with the share of matches.
- 2Compare with over 2.5 using the table above: at 1-1 and 3-0 the two bets part ways.
- 3See how often a given tipster’s picks on this market win with the tipster lookup by handle.