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BTTS explained

Both teams to score means each side scores at least once. We show the probability from the price, the margin and a simple calculation from expected goals.

Short answer

BTTS (both teams to score) means each team scores at least one goal; the total number of goals does not matter. The implied probability of a price is 1 / odds; the Yes and No probabilities add up to more than 100%. In a simple Poisson model the probability that a team scores at least once is 1 − e^−λ.

BTTS Yes (both teams to score) means each team scores at least one goal; BTTS No means at least one of them fails to score. A 1-1 or 3-2 score is BTTS Yes; 2-0 or 0-0 is BTTS No.

Defined by the score

The total number of goals does not matter: 4-0 is BTTS No, 1-1 is BTTS Yes. Regular time is what counts.

From odds to probability

A synthetic example: BTTS Yes at 1.80, BTTS No at 1.95. The raw probabilities are 55.56% and 51.28%, 106.84% in total, so the margin is about 6.84%. With basic normalisation the margin-free probabilities are BTTS Yes 52.00% and BTTS No 48.00%. For the methods, see how to calculate the margin.

A simple calculation from expected goals

If each team’s goals are modelled with an independent Poisson distribution, the probability that a team scores at least once is 1 − e−λ. With λ = 1.5 for the home team and λ = 1.1 for the away team, the home side scores with probability 77.69% and the away side with 66.71%; the product gives BTTS Yes ≈ 51.83%. Independence is a simplification: the score changes how teams play, and the real distribution can differ. See BTTS, Over 2.5 and the full score grid for your own expected goals in the Poisson score calculator.

How it differs from Over 2.5

BTTS Yes and Over 2.5 often happen together, but they are not the same: 3-0 is over but BTTS No, 1-1 is BTTS Yes but under. You cannot get the probability of both by adding or multiplying the two markets’ probabilities; you need the joint distribution.

What to watch for

Observations such as “both teams scored in 8 of this team’s last 10 matches” are small samples: for 8 out of 10, the 95% Wilson interval is roughly 49.02%–94.33%. Try your own numbers in the sample interval calculator.

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Published 28 October 2026 · Last updated: 28 October 2026 · Responsible: Cortenscore editorial team · Spotted an error? Report a correction. This page is for statistics education; it is not a prediction or betting advice. Example odds are synthetic.