Markets

What Does GG and NG Mean in Betting?

05.08.2026

GG means both teams find the net; NG means at least one is kept out. Scoreline table, the maths behind the price, when the market is a trap, and how it settles if a match is abandoned.

GG means both teams score at least one goal in the match — Goal-Goal. NG is the other side of the same market, No Goal: it wins when at least one team is kept out, so 1-0, 4-0 and 0-0 all settle NG.

Nothing else counts — not the winner, not the total, not who led at the break. A 5-0 thrashing and a goalless draw settle the same way here: NG wins, GG loses. This guide is part of our cycle on markets, mapped in full in football betting markets explained.

In short

GG = both teams score. NG = at least one team fails to score. The result of the match is irrelevant.

GG/NG is the Nigerian name for what international slips call BTTS, Both Teams to Score, Yes/No. Same market, same settlement.

GG is not "over 2.5 made easier": 3-0 wins over 2.5 and loses GG; 1-1 does the opposite.

A one-sided fixture kills GG even when goals are expected, because one weak attack is enough.

Own goals count, extra time does not, and an abandoned match usually voids the bet.

GG and NG in scorelines

The quickest way to learn this market is to read it off finished scores.

Final score	GG	NG	Why
1-1	Won	Lost	Both sides scored.
2-1	Won	Lost	Both scored; the winner does not matter.
0-0	Lost	Won	Neither side scored.
1-0	Lost	Won	One clean sheet is enough for NG.
4-0	Lost	Won	Goals alone never settle GG.

Note the last row: four goals, and GG still loses. Treating GG as a friendlier over 2.5 goals is the most expensive misunderstanding on this market.

GG, NG, BTTS: one market, several names

On Nigerian slips the market sits under Goals as GG/NG. Internationally the identical market is listed as BTTS or "Both Teams to Score", with Yes and No in place of GG and NG. Some operators show both labels on the same coupon.

Combinations are a different animal: "GG + over 2.5" needs both teams to score and three goals in total. Each such pairing is its own market, priced with a bigger cushion than plain GG, and never a discount on it.

What the price is telling you

Turn the price into a percentage first: divide 1 by the odds. Across the pair the two percentages always add to more than 100%, and the surplus is the bookmaker's cut. The method is covered in how to read betting odds.

Example A fixture is priced GG 1.85, NG 1.90. Implied: 1 ÷ 1.85 = 54.1% and 1 ÷ 1.90 = 52.6%, adding to 106.7%. That 6.7% surplus is the mark-up. Strip it out and the bookmaker's real view of GG is 54.1 ÷ 106.7 = 50.7% — a coin flip, priced as though it were better than one.

Now put your own number beside it. Say you rate the home attack at about 1.5 goals in this match and the away attack at 0.9. Treating goals as rare independent events, the chance a side fails to score is e to the minus its expected goals: 0.22 at home, 0.41 away. So GG comes to (1 − 0.22) × (1 − 0.41) = 0.78 × 0.59 = 46%, or fair odds of 1 ÷ 0.46 = 2.17. At 1.85 the GG price falls well short. NG, fair at roughly 1.85 on the same estimate and offered at 1.90, is the side with something in it.

That is the whole discipline here: estimate first, price second. ₦2,000 on GG at 1.85 returns ₦3,700 for a profit of ₦1,700 — good-looking on a slip, poor value against a 46% reading.

When GG makes sense, and when it is a trap

GG earns its place when both attacks are credible and both defences are not: two mid-table sides that concede regularly, a derby where neither can sit deep, a second leg where both must score. The price is often mediocre because everyone can see it.

The trap is the mismatch. A league leader hosting the bottom club may well produce four goals, but if the visitors have been blanked in half their away matches, GG is fighting one bad attack rather than backing goals. High-scoring fixtures and both-teams-scoring fixtures overlap far less than the coupon suggests.

Important "Both teams scored in their last five" is not an argument — five games against different opponents say nothing about how these two match up. Read the shape of the fixture, then check whether the price pays for it. Stacking GG selections into one accumulator multiplies the mark-up on every leg at once.

How GG and NG settle

Only the 90 minutes plus stoppage time count, so a cup tie whose second goal arrives in extra time settles as NG, and shoot-outs never count. Own goals do count, credited to the team they are recorded against: a 1-0 win from an own goal is NG, and a 1-1 with an own goal in it is GG.

Abandoned and postponed matches are worth reading up on in advance. Most rulebooks void the bet and return the stake at odds of 1.00 when a match is abandoned or not replayed within the stated window. Some go further and settle markets already decided — if both sides had scored before the abandonment, GG is a fact and can be paid, while NG can never be settled early. Which applies is a rule of your specific bookmaker, so check it before staking.

FAQ

Does an own goal count for GG?

Yes. An own goal is credited to the team it is recorded against in the official match report and counts as that team's goal at settlement. A 1-0 win decided by an own goal therefore settles NG, because only one team registered a goal.

What is the difference between GG and over 2.5?

Totals count goals; GG counts teams. A 3-0 win clears over 2.5 and loses GG, while 1-1 wins GG and loses over 2.5. The two markets only line up when the sides are evenly matched. Where one attack is clearly weaker, the probabilities pull apart, often by ten percentage points or more.

What happens to GG if the match is abandoned?

Usually the bet is voided and the stake returned at odds of 1.00. Some bookmakers settle markets already decided at the moment of abandonment, which can mean a GG with both goals on the board is paid as a winner; NG is never decided early.