Both Teams to Score (GG/NG): What BTTS Means in Betting

What does both teams to score mean?

Both teams to score asks whether each side scores at least once during the match. Bookmakers show it under different names. You may see Both Teams To Score, BTTS or GG/NG, and the rules are the same whatever the label says.

GG means "goal goal" and wins when both teams score at least once. NG means "no goal" and wins when one team, or both, finish on zero. Here is how some common scorelines settle:

Look again at the 0-0 and 4-0 rows. Many new punters read NG as "no goals in the match", but it only means that both teams did not score, so a one-sided win pays NG just like a goalless draw.

How do bookmakers settle GG/NG bets?

Only goals in the 90 minutes plus injury time count. Extra time and penalty shootouts are ignored, so a cup match that is 1-0 after 90 minutes settles as NG, even if the other team equalises in extra time. A penalty given during normal time counts like any other goal.

Own goals count too. They go to the team that benefits, so an own goal can complete a GG bet.

What if a match stops early? At most bookmakers, a GG bet still wins if both teams had already scored before the match was abandoned, because nothing after that can change the result. If they hadn't, the bet is usually void and your stake comes back. Postponed matches often get a 24-hour window: if the game is played within it, bets stand.

Rules on abandoned and postponed matches differ between bookmakers. Read the betting rules page of your site once, before you need it.

Worked example: GG/NG odds on an NBC Premier League match

Say Azam FC host JKT Tanzania in the NBC Premier League, and your bookmaker prices the market at 1.85 for GG and 1.95 for NG. These are example prices to show the maths, not real odds for any match.

Your stake is TZS 10,000. Decimal odds show your total return with the stake included, so the sums are short:

• GG at 1.85: TZS 10,000 x 1.85 = TZS 18,500 back if both teams score (TZS 8,500 profit)

• NG at 1.95: TZS 10,000 x 1.95 = TZS 19,500 back if at least one team fails to score (TZS 9,500 profit)

Now the final whistle. A 2-1 win for either side pays the GG bet and the NG bet loses. If Azam win 2-0, NG pays out. A 0-0 draw also pays NG.

Odds also show how likely the bookmaker thinks each outcome is. Divide 1 by the price: 1 ÷ 1.85 is about 54%, and 1 ÷ 1.95 is about 51%. Together that makes 105%, not 100%, and the extra 5% is the bookmaker's margin.

So GG at 1.85 is only good value if you believe both teams score in more than 54% of matches like this one. We use decimal odds across our Tanzania betting strategy guides because this sum is so quick to do on a phone.

When does a BTTS bet make sense?

It makes sense when you have a real reason to expect goals at both ends, but the price still has to match that view.

Start with both sides of each team: how often they score, and how often they concede. A team that scores most weeks but rarely keeps a clean sheet is the kind GG punters watch. Two sides that keep winning 1-0 point the other way.

Team news comes next. If a team's main striker is injured or suspended, its chance of scoring drops, and that hits GG directly. A missing first-choice goalkeeper or centre-back works in the opposite direction.

Then think about the match itself. Big games can be tight, because nobody wants to lose. Before the Kariakoo Derby between Simba SC and Young Africans (Yanga), for example, you'll hear plenty of talk about goals, yet tense derbies can still finish 1-0. Recent meetings tell you more than the hype.

In the Ligi Kuu Bara, it also helps to compare home and away records. Some teams attack freely in front of their own fans and defend deep on the road, so the same two clubs can produce very different matches depending on the venue.

NG fits the opposite picture: a strong defence against a team that struggles to score, or an away side that will happily defend for a draw.

You can also wait until the game starts. Most bookmakers keep GG/NG open on their live betting markets, and the price moves with every goal and every big chance. If one team scores early, GG gets shorter. A goalless first hour pushes it out.

GG/NG variations and combos

You'll often find GG/NG joined with another market in a single selection. The two most common partners are over/under goals and double chance, and each part works exactly as it does on its own.

Combos pay more than plain GG or NG because both conditions have to come true. The same logic applies when you add GG legs to an accumulator: every extra match raises the odds, but it also adds one more game where a single clean sheet can lose the whole slip.

How to place a both teams to score bet

Open an account with one of the licensed betting sites in Tanzania first, and check that it shows a Gaming Board of Tanzania licence.

Then add funds. Most Tanzanian punters top up with mobile money such as M-Pesa, Mixx by Yas (formerly Tigo Pesa), Airtel Money or HaloPesa. After that, the bet itself takes less than a minute:

1. Open the football section and choose your match, for example an NBC Premier League fixture.

2. Find the market. It may be called Both Teams To Score, BTTS or GG/NG, often under a Goals tab.

3. Tap GG or NG to add it to your bet slip.

4. Enter your stake in TZS and check the potential return on the slip.

5. Confirm the bet and follow it under My Bets until it settles.

Before you confirm, check that the slip says full time and not first half. The two lines often sit next to each other in the app. A wrong tap there can cost you a bet you actually called right.

Common BTTS mistakes to avoid

Three mistakes come up again and again.

The first is reading NG as "no goals". NG wins on 3-0 as well as 0-0, so if you expect a one-sided win, NG may be the market that fits your view.

The second is forgetting the 90-minute rule in cup matches. A late goal in extra time can feel like a winner, but for GG/NG it never happened.

The third is backing GG at any price. Two attacking teams can still play out a 0-0, and at odds of 1.50 you need GG to land two times in three just to break even. That's a high bar.

Responsible gambling

Betting in Tanzania is for adults 18 and over, and it should stay a bit of fun on top of the football, never a way to make money. Set a budget before the weekend's matches and keep to it, even when a GG bet misses in the 89th minute.

Licensed bookmakers let you set deposit limits, take a break or self-exclude if betting starts to feel like pressure. The Gaming Board of Tanzania sums it up in its campaign Makinika Kijana, Kubeti Sio Ajira (Be smart, young person: betting is not employment).