Sports Betting Strategies
Betting is an exciting thing, but it is only good if you win. If you lose, your money is gone. Because of this feeling of pain and loss, there is a proliferation of self-appointed pundits out there who promise sports betting strategies that work.
The truth is that there is no guarantee strategy in any kind of betting. The odds are always balanced, and that is how bookies design the system. However, there are some strategies that may improve your chances.
1. Line Shopping
Line shopping refers to looking for various sportsbooks odds on different websites. What you want to do here is to get the best deal. This process is tedious, as you would have to register for online accounts in many sports betting online facilities.
To the untrained eye, small differences in odds do not matter. However, a smart bettor knows this is not true. A five-point difference in the odds between two bookies matters a lot.
Here is an example:
Sportsbook A - odds for Lakers are -145
Sportsbook B - odds for Lakers are -130
As you can see, you need to wager $145 in Sportsbook A to win $100. However, you only need to wager $130 at Sportsbook B.
While $15 may not sound big, doing this over a dozen times, even a hundred times a year, means that you would have saved a lot of money.
2. Arbitrage Betting
Arbitrage betting is a process where you place bets on two opposing sides from different sportsbooks. For example, you will be on one team at VulkanBet online, and then you will bet on an opposing team at Ladbrokes.
Arbitrage is a way to exploit gaps between different sportsbooks. Their statisticians make mistakes from time to time, and their odds are a little off compared with their competitors. Read below for an example.
Let us say that VulkanBet has these odds:
Lakers - 1.9
Spurs - 1.9
Then, Ladbrokes offers these odds:
Lakers - 1.4
Spurs - 2.5
What you want to do here is to bet on Lakers in VulkanBet, and then bet on Spurs in Ladbrokes. To succeed in this, you need to be able to do the math.
Here is an example:
Bet $59 on Lakers at VulkanBet. If they win, you’ll get $59 x 1.9 = $112.1.
Bet $41 on Spurs at Ladbrokes. If they win, you’ll get $41 x 2.5 = $102.5
When you place bets on both sportsbooks sites, you spent a total of $100 ($59 for Lakers and $41 for Spurs).
No matter what happens, you earn a profit. If Lakers wins, your prize is $112.1, with a profit of $12.1. If Spurs wins, your prize is $102.5, with a profit of $2.5. It will not make you a millionaire, but it guarantees you do not lose.
3. Matched Betting
The last strategy is called matched betting. It is a process where you take a bonus from a sportsbook, use it to bet, and then bet on the opponent in a betting exchange.
Here are the steps to do it:
Find a sportsbook that offers a free bet, like VulkanBet. In our example, let us say that you need to deposit $10 to unlock a free bet of $30.
You place a backed bet; for example, you bet $10 that Lakers will win at odds of 2.0.
Whatever happens, VulkanBet will give you back $30 as your bonus.
Now, find a betting exchange that offers “lay bets.” An example of this is BetFair.
Look for odds like 2.1 on Spurs at BetFair. You wager about $9.76, but you really pay $10.74 because there is a betting exchange fee.
If Lakers win, your VulkanBet wager pays $10 x 2 = $20. Your BetFair wager lost $10.74. You are down $0.74.
If Lakers lose, you win $9.76 x 2.1 = $20.496. But you lost $10 from VulkanBet. Your profit is $0.496. However, you got free money coming in, which is the $30 that VulkanBet offered as a bonus. This time, you only have to wager real cash on your lay bet. The reason being is that you already have $30 free money from VulkanBet.
You will win no matter the outcome because you only spent real cash at the BetFair exchange the second time around. The $30 is free from VulkanBet. You will return that money, but you will keep your winnings.
There is no sports betting strategy that works. All these numbers went through careful scrutiny. As far as sports is concerned, your wins still depend on luck. Obviously, it makes perfect sense to only wager on favorites. After all, they are supposed to have better winning chances, right? The problem with this approach is that upsets happen in sports all the time.
What you can do is concentrate your efforts on other betting markets. Do not just focus your betting activities on the money line. Instead, learn other mechanics such as point spreads and arbitrage.
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