Did you know that Gaelic sports such as Hurling are available to bet in Ireland? Getting started is easy. This article aims to teach you everything you need to know about it in 10 brief steps.

Online bookies accepting Irish players are as common today as sand on the beach – there are hundreds and hundreds to choose from. So, how do you know which one to pick? Things that you might want to consider include:

Far from every sportsbook offers betting on hurling as it’s one of the more uncommon sports. Among those that do, we recommend playing with a site that is licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority or the Irish Revenue Commissioners. These respectable entities will ensure the bookie is trustworthy.

While all sportsbooks offer a welcome bonus to new players, this can vary widely. It can be anything from a small free bet of €10 to a deposit bonus that will match your first deposit all the way up to €1,000. If you have a big budget, you would obviously want to go with the latter option.

However, if you want to start small, more importantly might be to check what the minimum deposit is at the bookie. Most sportsbooks allow you to deposit a minimum of €10, but there are also those that allow for small deposits as low as €1.

Once you’ve chosen a bookie, you must create a personal account. This step is pretty straightforward. You will be asked to provide details such as:

While the process of signing up is simple, it’s important to enter only the correct details. Upon withdrawal of winnings, these will have to be verified and if you haven’t provided the right ones, you could get in trouble.

As previously mentioned, all betting sites offer a welcome bonus to new players. How this is activated can vary quite a lot from one bookie to another. Most commonly, it is activated as you make your first deposit to the site. You will simply be prompted with the option to activate it as you visit the cashier.

However, to be sure, there is only one way to find out and that is by heading to the promotional page of the bookie and reading the details of the bonus. You would want to do this anyway as all bonuses come with certain terms and conditions that are important to be aware of.

Before you can place a bet, you must fund your betting account with money. This account is where all bets are paid from and where winnings will be credited.

Depositing to a bookie is not much different than making an online purchase. By heading to the cashier at the site, a range of payment options will appear. Most commonly, this includes Mastercard, Visa, Skrill, Neteller and Bitcoins. However, finding ecoPayz, MuchBetter, Jeton and Paysafe card is not uncommon either.

Once your account is funded, head to the sports betting section at the site and select the category that says Hurling. Here, you will find all hurling matches that are currently up for betting.

More often than not, bookies have two different pages for bets; one displaying upcoming matches and one displaying matches that are currently live. You can bet on both; upcoming matches as well as those that are already playing.  

By selecting a match, you will see the odds provided by the betting site. These show you much you can win from your bet. The standard odds format in Ireland is decimal, which means an odd could be displayed as 1.20 or 2.50.

To find out how much you would win from placing a bet, you simply have to multiply the odds with the amount you wish to stake. For instance, a €10 bet would earn you a total of €12 from an odd of 1.20 (a €2 profit), while an odd of 2.50 would earn you €25 (a €15 profit) for the same bet size.

While analyzing odds is an important part for advanced bettors, beginners don’t have to care too much about this. As you proceed with placing your bet, the bookie will automatically calculate the potential payouts for you.

In hurling, you can always bet on the team that will win the match; the home or away team, or, if the match will end in a draw. However, at times, there are other bets you can place as well. For instance, if the total score in the match will be over or under a certain amount. These different bet options are known as markets.

Once you select a match to bet on, all available markets and their odds will appear. Clicking on these markets will add them to a bet slip. You can add as many markets as you wish to this. The bet slip is where your stake will be entered and your bets confirmed.

Before confirming your bets, you must know that there are three ways you can bet on hurling:

Single bet is the standard bet type. However, if you add more than one market to a bet slip, you will get the option to select combination bet and if you add more than three, you can also select system bet.

A single bet means that all markets added to your bet slip are treated individually. For each and every market, you would have to enter a stake.

A combination bet means that all markets in your bet slip are combined. This means that the odds for each market are multiplied by each other, boosting your win potential. However, this will turn all selected markets into one bet that only requires one stake. It also means that in order to win, all of your selections must come true. If one prediction is incorrect, you lose.

A system bet is a way to place multiple bets out of the markets you have chosen. It’s an advanced betting strategy that comes with several different options. For instance, if three markets are added to your bet slip, there will be three system bets to choose from. One of these, known as system 2/3, will create three different combination bets out of your selections (market A + B, market A + C and market B + C).

Once your bet type is decided, all you have to do is to enter the preferred amount you would like to stake and confirm your bet slip. Money will be instantly debited from your betting account and the bet slip saved. At any time, you can view the bet slip and the status of it under your account profile.

Shortly after a match you’ve bet on has been played, your bet will be settled by the bookie. If your prediction was correct, winnings are instantly paid out to your betting account.

However, at many betting sites, you don’t necessarily have to wait for the match to finish to get money out of your bet. A feature known as “early cashout” is common to find these days.

If the feature is supported for the match you’ve bet on, you will see an option on your bet slip that allows you to close your bet in the middle of a match.

What this means is that if you’re bet is currently winning, you can take a lower, but guaranteed profit by closing the bet. It also means that if you’re bet is currently losing, you can get some money back by closing the bet early, which would reduce your losses.