Hat-Trick Betting Explained

This guide looks closely at the concept of betting on a hat-trick, exploring the following key areas:

• What is a player to score a hat trick bet?
• How common is hat trick occurrence in football?
• Benefits and risks of hat-trick in betting
• Facts and records about hat-trick betting
• Should you bet on a hat trick?

What Is a Player to Score a Hat-Trick Bet?

Before exploring hat tricks in betting, we should explain what the concept means in sports. Generally, a hat trick refers to a player’s achievement of three positive feats during a single sports event. The term comes from the cricket world, where a player who takes three wickets in consecutive deliveries gets awarded a hat. However, football unsurprisingly became the sport where hat tricks happen most. But, like in most other sports where this concept applies, the term in football refers to a player scoring three goals during a single match.

“A player to score a hat-trick bet” is the betting market that predicts that a specific player will score three or more goals during a single game. You will only win the bet if your selected player bags at least three goals in the upcoming fixture. While the rules may vary depending on the sport or bookmaker, the goals scored don’t have to be consecutive to win this bet. Due to its difficulty, the odds for this bet type are usually high, offering significant potential winnings.

How Hat-trick Betting Works

To fully understand this type of betting, let’s go through a practical example and calculation. Let’s say there is an upcoming EPL fixture between Manchester City and Liverpool. Typical bookmakers that offer hat-trick betting can offer the prices in the table below.

Let’s say that you believe Haaland will bag a hat-trick in the game and decide to stake $100 on the prediction. In this case, you will only win the bet if Haaland scores at least three goals by the end of the game. It will result in a payout of $550 (i.e., $100 x 5.5), netting you $450 in pure profits. But if Haaland scores anything less than three goals, the wager loses.

It’s essential to note that according to the standard hat trick betting rules for most betting sites, goals scored outside of regulation time, including extra time and penalties, do not count towards the bet settlements. For example, if Haaland had only managed to bag two goals in the usual 90 minutes and then recorded his third goal during the extra time, the bet wouldn’t win. Also, own goals don’t count in hat-trick bets.

You should also note that the odds offered by high roller betting sites for this bet generally vary from one player to the other, usually depending on their playing position and skill level. For instance, the odds prices offered on attacking players are typically lower than the ones on the defenders.

How Common Are Hat-Tricks in Football

Before you bet on a hat-trick, knowing how often it happens in football games is essential. Hat-tricks are not-so-common achievements in football matches, so they are among the most thrilling for players and fans. After all, every striker aims to score a goal at least in a match, so the chances of one scoring three are slim. Also, defenders and goalkeepers are in these games to stop the opponent from finding the back of the net, so getting even one goal can be challenging for a player.

However, certain football events witness more hat trick occurrences than others. So, let’s explore different leagues and tournaments to see how often they record hat-tricks.

Hat-Tricks in the Premier League

The English Premier League (EPL) is one of the most prominent football leagues in the world, known for its competitive environment, exceptional players, and high-scoring matches. As a result, the league has recorded several instances where players scored three or more goals in a single game. Virtually every league season will see a few players achieve this incredible feat. There have been 374 hat trick occurrences in the EPL over the last three decades since the league started. That is why the Premier League hat-trick betting markets can be a rewarding option for punters. 

The table below shows the records of this feat over the last 7 EPL seasons and the players responsible for them.

La Liga

As one of the world’s oldest football leagues with decades of history, the Spanish La Liga has also witnessed many players scoring hat tricks. At this time, the number of occurrences since the league started over 90 decades ago stands at 1,342. So, La Liga is usually one of the go-to-market for hat-tricks in football betting.

Naturally, this is not surprising as the league is one of the most competitive in the world, featuring some of the best clubs. Top-class players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Luis Suarez, among many others who have graced the league over the years, have contributed to the frequency of these feats. After all, Lionel Messi, on his own, recorded 36 hat-tricks during his time playing for Barcelona, and Cristiano Ronaldo came in second with 34 hat-tricks when he was on Real Madrid’s team.

The table below shows the record of the occurrences of hat tricks in La Liga over the last six seasons.

The Bundesliga

The German Bundesliga league is also not left out regarding hat trick occurrences in football, as it features fast-paced and high-scoring matches. Since the league debuted six decades ago, over 50 players have achieved this incredible feat at least once, resulting in 253 occurrences. That is why this league’s hat-trick sports betting market also gets much attention from punters.

The table below shows Bundesliga hat trick occurrences over the last six seasons.

Serie A

Another go-to league for most bettors when they want to place hat-trick bets is the Italian Serie A. After all, as the oldest of the current top football leagues, it has had its fair share of hat trick occurrences. The league features world-class clubs, top-notch players, and a highly competitive environment that fosters high-scoring matches to aid this feat. Since its inception over a century ago, more than 250 players have scored three or more goals in a single Serie A match, resulting in over a thousand occurrences of hat tricks in the league.

The table below shows the occurrences of hat-tricks during the last six seasons of the Italian Serie A league.

World Cup Hat-Tricks

As the ultimate battleground for international football, the FIFA World Cup is a highly competitive tournament where nations and individual players strive for excellence. So, a player scoring three goals in any World Cup game is a relatively rare achievement, and only a few players have achieved this feat. Hence, the best hat-trick betting sites usually offer very attractive odds for this occurrence anytime the World Cup comes around.

There have been 54 instances of hat trick occurrences during the World Cup by 48 players. And even fewer players, including Sándor Kocsis Kocsis (1954), Just Fontaine (1958), Gerd Müller (1970), and Gabriel Batistuta (1994 and 1998), have managed to do it twice.

The table below shows a record of hat-trick instances in the last 7 World Cup editions.

Players That Often Score More Than One Hat-Trick

As mentioned, every punter interested in hat-trick betting must never forget that the occurrence isn’t very common. Many players don’t even get the chance to achieve this feat throughout their careers. However, some prolific players have recorded the achievement once or multiple times.

Regarding the currently active players, Cristiano Ronaldo has also made an incredible achievement of scoring 63 hat tricks. Ronaldo’s fiercest rival, Lionel Messi, follows closely behind with a record of 57 instances. Others include Robert Lewandowski and Luis Suarez (with 30 occurrences each), Erling Haaland (with 18), etc.

Benefits & Risks of Hat-trick Betting

Like most forms of wagering, hat-trick sports betting has different benefits punters can enjoy when they place the bet. Conversely, it also has its fair share of downsides that make it risky. So, let’s weigh the pros and cons of this bet market.

Facts about Hat-Trick Betting

There are many exciting facts about players scoring a hat trick. Here are some of the most interesting ones:

• Fastest hat trick: In a Guinness world record-setting time of 70 seconds, Alex Torr, the captain of the Rawson Spring, scored the world’s fastest hat trick during a British Amateur League game in 2013.
• Youngest hat-trick player: A former Greek footballer known as Ntinos Pontikas became the youngest to score a hat-trick during a single game as a 14-year-old starter for Haragi.
• World Cup hat trick heaven: The 1954 World Cup in Switzerland recorded eight different hat trick occurrences, the highest ever in the tournament.
• Quickest EPL hat-trick in succession: Erling Haaland became the individual to score two, three, four, and five hat-tricks in the quickest sequence in the English Premier League records.
• Hat trick goalkeepers: As expected, very few goalkeepers have achieved a hat trick in their careers. Some notable mentions in this category include Ilija Pantelic, José Luis Chilavert, and Grigorios Athanasiou.
• Oldest hat-trick player: The oldest player to score a hat trick in a football game is the former Hungarian superstar Ferenc Puskás at the age of 38 years in 1965 while playing for Real Madrid.

Hat-Trick Records

While the chance of a hat-trick being scored in a game is generally low, certain players have managed to achieve the feat and set a record while at it. These range from the most recorded hat tricks to the most consecutive and many more.

Now, let’s explore some of football history’s most famous and exciting hat-trick records.

Erwin Helmchen – Player with the most hat-tricks in history (RSSSF)

One of the names in the annals of sports history that only a few would remember today is Erwin Helmchen, a former German football player active between 1924 and 1951. According to the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF), Erwin scored the highest number of hat-tricks in football history, with 141+ instances. Of these instances, the German player was said to have recorded some pretty big tallies. It includes 8 goals in two different games, 7 goals in three separate games, 6 goals ten different times, and 5 goals 15 separate times.

On top of this, Erwin Helmchen is also considered the most prolific goalscorer in official matches, according to RSSSF, having netted 987+ goals in 577 official games.

Cristiano Ronaldo & Lionel Messi – Active players with the most hat-tricks

Many active players have also achieved incredible hat-trick feats over the past few years. At the top of the list are Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, two of the greatest football players ever. 

Of the duo, Cristiano Ronaldo holds the record for the most hat-tricks scored in games, featuring 63 instances across several leagues. An impressive detail about this record is that the 38-year-old Portuguese superstar only had 30 hat-tricks on his record when he clocked 30. He achieved the remaining 33 within the last 8 years. Ronaldo also holds the record for the most hat-trick scorer for a national team, with 10 occurrences.

Lionel Messi is not far behind on the list of most hat-tricks scored, with 57 instances during his incredible career so far. Messi is among the few players who scored some of the most hat-tricks for national teams, with 9 occurrences.

Stjepan Lucijanic & Josef Bican – Players with Most Consecutive Hat-Tricks in History

Another major record worth mentioning is football players with the most consecutive hat-tricks. Two players have made their marks in the category by scoring a hat-trick in five straight games —Josef Bican and Stjepan Lucijanic.

Josef Bican, a former Austrian-Czech professional footballer, achieved this feat in 1940, becoming the first to do so. He scored 5 consecutive hat-tricks, totaling 19 goals in the Bohemia and Moravia league between 17 November 1939 and 19 March 1940. Aside from this record, Josef Bican is also considered the second-most prolific goalscorer in history, according to RSSSF, with over 950 goals scored in 624 official matches.

Stjepan Lucijanic, a lower-division Croatian football player, made his mark in recent years by scoring five consecutive hat-tricks with 20 total goals in November 2016. He made this Guinness Book of Record-making achievement while playing for NK Dračice Dakovo in the Croatian seventh division.