Is it permissible to place bets on football games? And if the term “bets” changed to “expectations” would this make it permissible? What is the ruling if these expectations are built on meticulous researches and thorough efforts?

First of all we need to differentiate between two different cases:
The first case is the case which is legally prohibited by all scholars which is betting and gambling. This case occurs when two people place their bets on something that could or couldn’t happen and one says to another if this thing happened then you owe me so and so and if it didn’t happen I owe you so and so and this kind of bets is called risk tasking.

The second case is beneficial contests which are legally permissible and the winning prize comes from the money of the organizers or any other independent entity to be offered to the winners. It is not legally permissible according to the unanimous opinion of all scholars that the money of the prize to be collected from all contesters as each of them would pay some money and the winner takes all the money which consists of the money he paid and the money which others paid as well. The reason for this impermissibility is that this type falls directly under the legally prohibited gambling. As for the money that is paid by all the contesters which fall under administrational and organizational fees, they are permissible because this money has nothing to do with the actual prize.

This is the clear difference between the two cases of prohibited gambling and legal contests because changing names is not the point as juristic rulings are bound to actions and not merely with its names. Therefore if the offered prizes in contests are given after evaluating the thorough researches and meticulous studies which are offered by different contesters and not given based on the accurateness of expectations, then it is legally permissible.

On the other hand if these prizes are given based on the correctness of the expectations then it falls under the prohibited gambling.