We’re here to discuss some great strategies to make money in sports betting.
Millions of gamblers around the world love watching sports. If they’re not gambling online at their favourite crypto casino, they may dabble in sports betting to make a quick buck.
Novices may think that sports betting is easy. But, it’s a misconception that couldn’t be further from the truth. The reality is that many sports betting enthusiasts lose bets. Generally, this happens because biases and prejudices towards and against specific teams and sportspeople filter in.
The golden rule for gamblers is not to get emotional about a casino gambling game. But, it’s hard not to show favouritism when it comes to sports, especially if you have been supporting a certain team or sports person for a while.
On the other hand, the best sports bettors have an innate ability to block out their bias or prejudice when punting. As a result, they end up making more money than others. For a sports bettor to break even, they need to hit 52.4% of their bets. The more successful ones average around 60%.
There’s no 100% guarantee that you will win regarding sports betting. But, there are ways and techniques that you can use to maximize your chances. Read on as we touch on some of the top strategies to help you better understand sports betting.
How To Make Money in Sports Betting
1. Understand The Math
As mentioned above, a punter needs 52.4% of his bets to break even. Considering the number of bets the average sports bettor makes, that’s an awful lot of bets to win to get your money back. Talk about pressure.
You may be thinking, wouldn’t a 50% win ratio guarantee your money back? Unfortunately, it won’t. You must consider the small juice fee for every bet to the bookmaker. Most bets have a 50% probability of winning based on a points spread. However, when it comes to the bookies, you need to bet $110 to get $100.
Think about it this way: if you lose half the time and more money than you are winning the other half, you’re losing money in the long run. It’s not an ideal situation.
Picture this: you place two bets and win and lose the other. You get $100 on your winning bet and lose $110 on your losing bet. Essentially, you are running a net loss of $10. Imagine if you had 50 losing bets over three months – a whopping $500 that you would have lost.
In a nutshell, losing and winning sports bets is not a straightforward equation, so understanding the math behind it will go a long way in helping you profit from your punts.
2. Use Moving Lines To Track Sharp Action
A moving line is a sliding scale available on sports betting platforms. It indicates where more money has been placed on a specific outcome. Sharps are seasoned sports bettors who regularly win. These sharps typically bet significant amounts of money. They bet such large amounts that bookmakers often adjust the point spreads (the line) to stimulate action for the opposing outcome of that bet.
It is a great idea to observe how those lines move as you can track the actions of sharps. Doing so can help you make betting decisions based on what sharps are doing. Considering their winning track record and bookmakers often react to the sharps’ betting activity, it makes perfect sense to mirror their betting behaviour.
Something to look out for is a reverse line movement. It is a fancy way of describing when the line moves away from the side with more money bet on it or the popular side. By making this observation quick enough, you can identify where the bookies want to stimulate action. At this point, you can merely make a bet for the opposite outcome.
When using this technique, it’s helpful to have a few sports betting platforms open simultaneously. See whether the lines on the other platforms are consistent with the one you are betting on for that specific bet.
3. Practice Being a Contrarian (Sometimes)
While this is not common practice amongst gamblers, it is a technique to use now and then, especially when you have a hunch about a specific outcome. You may be wondering what a contrarian is precise.
In most sports events, a favourite goes up against an underdog. Perhaps the favourite has a 70% chance of winning, 10% towards a drawn result, and 20% for the underdog to win. While logic will tell you to back the favourite, a contrarian will bet contrary to what the bookies and most punters do. They will support the underdog.
In essence, you are betting, contrary to most people. With much greater odds, you can potentially win bag loads of money if you strike it lucky with that bet. While many sports bettors may think you are losing your mind, this technique can work well, especially when the underdog is historically a bogey team for the favourite.
You must remember that this is not a long-term strategy. Instead, use it selectively and smartly when the opportunity presents itself.
4. Manage Your Bankroll Properly
The expression “Any Given Sunday” refers to the possibility of an upset where any team or sportsperson can win, no matter how confident you may feel about a specific outcome. You may have an air of confidence about your chosen punt. But, no matter your confidence level, losing is always possible.
What this means for your bankroll is that you should be discerning when betting on favourites or outcomes that you consider to be a “sure thing.” Many gamblers mistake betting on “sure things” only to get stung by an irrelevant result. It can lead them to chase their loss with even bigger bets. Then, before they know it, their money has been depleted due to poor bankroll management.
The golden rule: never engage too much of your bankroll in open play simultaneously or on any given bet. Imagine that you want to bet on a sports outcome with a 65% win probability, with a bankroll of $1,000. What would happen if you bet the entire $1,000 on this outcome? You will have a 35% chance of losing that bet and devastating your bankroll.
If you want to know how to make money in sports betting, time is money. That would mean starting from scratch and having to build up your bankroll again. This problem is that it takes time, dedication, and resilience – things in short supply after deflating losses. There are many tips and guidelines online about spreading your bankroll on sports bets. But, many of these estimates are way off the mark.
At BC.Game, we suggest using this approach: your risk tolerance should help you determine how much you want to bet for each outcome. It should be anywhere from 1% to 5% of your bankroll, and never more. So, with a bankroll of $1,000, you shouldn’t be betting over $50 at a time.
You can easily adjust the size of your bets if you are on a winning streak and your bankroll has thrived. Although, as mentioned above, we caution against being overconfident with your choices. Our recommendation of betting 1% to 5% of your bankroll any time prevents you from damaging losses. It also ensures that any winnings you accumulate will return a tidy profit.
5. Don’t Bet On Picks
Sports betting operators usually make a bundle of recommendations offered as a single bet. It is known as picks. These usually come with highly-attractive odds that entice punters. But, many sports bettors don’t realize that the people randomly selecting these picks are no better at picking the winners than anybody else.
There are many companies called tout services that also sell sports betting picks. There are rumours that these tout services don’t do much research when bundling their picks and often tout contrasting picks to different groups of people. So, they give half the losers one side, and the other half get the winning side.
While the losers rarely complain, the few who do are usually offered a free pick on their next bet. The tout service companies are happy to give these to them, considering their profits on the initial bet. On the contrary, the winning half are content to continue using the tout services since they won their previous bet.
6. Shop Around For The Best Odds
Gamblers are usually creatures of habit. They tend to stick with one or two sportsbook operators with whom they have grown comfortable. The problem is that they may not realize that other operators may be offering better odds on specific sporting outcomes.
While this may not be noticeable on smaller bets, the difference in profit can be significant for bigger bets. If, for example, Sports Book A offers odds of 3.5/1 for a win, and Sports Book Z offers 4/1 for a win, your $100 bet could bring you $400 winnings at Sports Book Z. This is $50 more than the $350 you would have won at Sports Book A.
While you may be apprehensive about opening too many accounts at different sportsbook operators, this isn’t any real harm. If anything, you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t, as you won’t realize when better odds come your way. While loyalty to one or two specific sports betting operators is admirable, that loyalty will not bump up your profit when you win your bets. So, make sure to look after your interests.
7. Avoid Big Parlays
Parlays are also known as accumulators or multi-bets. They are familiar among sports bettors who want to ramp up their odds and maximize their winnings. While the odds increase as you add more permutations to your bet, so are your chances of losing that bet. It is because it becomes more difficult to predict all results correctly.
Sure, you may have read a story in the newspaper where a punter bet $5 on a parlay and won $5,000. While that may be true, those stories resemble buying a lottery ticket. Even the winners in those stories didn’t believe much in that bet, or they would have committed more money to it.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with making parlay bets, but you must be discerning when doing so. Adding outcomes to your accumulator to bump your odds is not wise, especially when you have quite a permutations on that parlay. If you plan to bet on parlays, we recommend sticking to two or three outcomes that bump your odds nicely. It can help to give you a relatively good chance of raking in some winnings.
8. Take Advantage of Live Betting
Live betting odds are calculated with an algorithm and determined by the game’s flow as events unfold. While the most common sports bets are taken pre-game, betting can be more lucrative while the game is in progress. It is especially true when the favourite falls behind early in the game.
Say you were initially given odds of 2/1 for the favourite (Team A) to win the match. Yet, within the first 15 minutes, Team B finds themselves in the lead. In this case, the odds for Team A could drastically increase in a live bet. Those odds of 2/1 could easily turn to 4/1. And when you factor in that the favourite team may have better players and personnel, it would be a calculated risk to throw $100 on Team A.
Assume that Team A has enough grit and eventually wins. The $200 that you would have won had you bet pre-game suddenly becomes $400 as you chose to bet live. Remember that this is not always the case, and it is best to understand the sport you are betting on before committing your money.
Always consider key injuries, players being dismissed from the field, home advantage, or other important factors that could affect the game’s outcome. Base your live game punts on those.
Final Thoughts
Sports betting can be pretty lucrative if you approach it the right way. While millions of gamblers punt on different sports events every day, only a select few know how to make money in sports betting due to their smart strategy.
Take heed of our sports betting tips above, do your research, and be discerning when making your sports bets. Good luck!
