Table Tennis Betting at Bally Bet Sportsbook

A sport played by millions all over the world, table tennis made its breakthrough onto the global sporting stage when it was accepted into the Olympic Games in 1988.

It has been a fixture ever since, allowing viewers to get a glimpse of the amazing skill and speed of the players first hand.

As table tennis has expanded as an international sport, the number of major tournaments has also increased. That's good news for bettors, who now have more opportunities to make their knowledge count courtesy of table tennis betting markets, readily available throughout the year.

Here at Bally Bet, you can wager on the biggest competitions in the table tennis calendar, utilizing pregame and live odds to get the very best value out of your selections.

In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into table tennis betting, and answer questions like: What do the lines mean? What types of bets are available? What are the key table tennis betting terms?

By the end of it, you should feel more than ready to place your first table tennis wager.

How to Read Table Tennis Betting Odds

Later in this guide, we’ll walk you through the best table tennis bets to placedepending on your preferred strategy and budget. But for now, let’s stick with two broad categories: Game betting and futures lines.

The method of reading the odds of these table tennis markets is the same, although the markets themselves are slightly different.

First, let’s take a look at game betting. For a singles game, you will be presentedwith betting lines for the two players. They’ll look a little something like this:

• Wang Chuqin (-200)

• Fan Zhendong (+150)

You’ll notice that one of the players has a negative number next to their name, and the other a positive. But why?

Any negative betting line indicates a favorite in a particular market. So, in this case, Wang Chuqin is favored to win by the odds compilers. The actual number, when considering minus odds, is how much you need to wager to win $100, which, in this example, would be $200.

Of course, you can scale up or down your bet size as you see fit. Your potential payout will be determined by this $200 stake, $100 profit ratio.

Conversely, for positive betting lines, your potential payout is determined by the ratio of how much you would win from a $100 bet. In the case of Fan Zhendong above, that would be $150 in profit (plus your $100 stake returned). Again, you don’t actually have to wager $100 if you don’t want to, this is simply a guide to what your payout ratio will be.

These concepts are the same when betting on table tennis futures lines, although before the start of a tournament it’s likely that all of the players in the field will have positive odds, like so:

• Wang Chuqin (+250)

• Fan Zhendong (+300)

• Liang Jingkun (+500)

• Felix Lebrun (+750)

The smaller the number that accompanies a player, the more fancied they are to lift the trophy — as ever, the odds should be used as a guide only when analyzing the strength of each player.

Popular Table Tennis Bets

After learning how to bet on table tennis, you can start exploring the many different betting markets and lines that are available.

Game Winner

As we mentioned already, the most popular of the table tennis bet types is game winner.

This market appeals to many thanks to its simplicity. For your bet to be successful, you just need your selected player to win the game.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a one-sided contest or a tight battle that goes down to the wire, simply choosing the correct winner will be enough for your bet to land.

Totals (Over/Under)

Generally speaking, a table tennis game is played out as the best-of-five or best-of-seven individual games.

To win one of those, your player needs to reach eleven points before their opponent. Or, if the score goes to 10-10, be two points clear under traditional tie-break rules.

As such, there are dozens of points to play for in a table tennis game, which helps to explain why the points total market is one of the most popular betting options.

Books offer you lines relative to the expected points tally for a game. You can then wager on the over or under side of the line, depending on how you expect the action to play out.

Spread Betting

You can enjoy table tennis spread betting for many best-of-five and seven games.

These markets are made up of two elements. The favorite will be given a minus spread to try and clear. For example, they may be listed at -1.5 games. In this case, they would need to win by two or more games to clear their spread.

On the other hand, the underdog in a game might be given a +1.5 spread. In this case, they can win the overall contest, or even lose by a single game margin, and spread bets on them will be settled as a win.

For some of the more prestigious tournaments, you may also be able to bet on points spreads. These are calculated by either subtracting or adding the spread line to the total number of points in the game.

Player Points

Like the total points market detailed earlier, you can also wager on how many points one or both of the players will rack up individually.

Your bet will be based upon how you think the game will play out. Do you expect one of the players to win comfortably, or are you expecting a contest that's more closely fought? This will help to shape your player points betting.

Correct Score

When you know how many games there can possibly be, you can begin to plot possible correct score lines based on your perception of the two players involved.

For example, in a best-of-five game, you know either Player A or Player B can win 3-0, 3-1, or 3-2, as these are the only possible combinations.

Sportsbooks offer odds for each possible score line, depending on the relative strength of the two players, and how close they expect a game to be. You can wager on the outcome that you believe to be the most likely.

First Game Betting

Sportsbooks also provide odds for a number of lines aimed at the first game of a contest.

You can wager on who you believe will win the first game, how many points either player will score in it, first game spreads, and how many total points will be scored.

You can also bet on the first game correct score, whether or not extra points will be needed (tie break), and a first game-overall game double, by choosing who you think will win the first game and the game overall.

Live Betting

Many of the wagering options outlined above are available as live markets as well, so you can still place your table tennis bets even after the game has begun.

Perhaps watching the first few rallies and points will offer some insight into how the overall game will play out, and so sometimes saving your bets until later and then taking the live odds can prove to be the smarter play.

Table Tennis Betting Tips

In many sports, the weather and playing conditions can be a factor in determining the outcome of your bets. For indoor sports like table tennis, that's not really the case. Even so, there are common table tennis betting tips that can add some context to your wagers.

The first is to examine head-to-head records between the two players. It’s possible that one will have a winning record over another, and while that could just be down to coincidence, it could also be because the playing styles of the pair lend themselves to one dominating the other.

Another piece of table tennis bet advice is to consider the world rankings of the two players in a game. This information is readily available online.

However, their current form should also be taken into consideration. As with any sport, winning breeds confidence, and can become a happy habit to have.

It’s also worth being cautious when betting on players that are returning from an injury layoff or a period of absence. Table tennis is such a fast and skillful sport that it can take time for a player to get back up to speed with the action.

Other table tennis betting tips are universal to all kinds of wagering. It makes sense to only bet a small percentage of your bankroll on each selection, and you should never chase your losses. Managing your bankroll effectively will help you to maximize your enjoyment of your table tennis betting.

Table Tennis Betting App

As we discussed, live betting on table tennis can be an advantageous strategy, as with it you can watch some of the game before committing your bets.

The best way to do this is with a betting app that features table tennis. With the Bally Bet app, you can place your bets quickly and easily with just a few taps of your mobile device's screen.

All of the most popular markets and bet types are available on our betting app, which you can download for free and with no fuss to your chosen device.