Sports Betting For A Living
I met a couple of professional gamblers in a pub once, they bet on horse racing and £500 on a horse was a common bet. But they would have hedging bets on all the other runners and were guaranteed a profit whatever the result. Hello and welcome to ‘How to Earn a Living From Horse Betting’. First of all I want to congratulate you on taking the proper steps to true financial independence. I believe this book to be the most informative and authoritative guide to making a consistent profit from horse racing betting.
- Soccer Bet Online Betting
- Professional Sports Betting For A Living
- Sports Betting Strategy
- Live Betting Sites
You’ve probably heard several clichés about sports betting, such as “you can’t beat the bookies”, or “it’s a mug’s game”. It’s fair to say that sports betting, and indeed any other form of gambling, can be highly damaging to your bankroll if you approach it without any kind of advantage or ‘edge’ in your favour.
But make no mistake: there are methods for consistently earning from sports betting. You just have to be willing to learn and apply proven techniques, adjust your mindset — and invest your time and effort.
Here’s four methods professionals use to earn a living from sports betting.
1. Sports Trading
Professional traders develop their own strategies, and earn a living from them using the betting exchange (e.g. Betfair). Becoming a successful sports trader is tough — because the betting markets are highly competitive and efficient.
The betting exchanges function like financial markets, and many of the same principles apply to both. The main difference is that the majority of sports traders seek short-term price movements. Most active markets are for upcoming fixtures.
How does a sports trade work?
There’s infinite strategies that can be applied to sports trading, but one very basic principle must prevail: “Back High, Lay Low” (or “Lay Low, Back High”). This process enables traders to secure a guaranteed profit.
Some examples:
- Back (BUY) at 9.0, then later Lay (SELL) at 6.0
- Lay (SELL) at 4.0, then later Back (BUY) at 6.5
- Back (BUY) at 4.5 then later Lay (SELL) at 2.0
Using a hedging calculator (Betfair now have this function built into their betslip) you can work out what Back/Lay stake is required to guarantee a profit from a shift in the odds.
There are many reasons that odds fluctuate on the exchange. Pre-game football odds often move due to rumoured injuries and team line-up changes. The most significant in-play price swings occur after (or just before) major events — such as goals, red cards and penalties.
The art of sports trading is being able to detect when the odds are about to change, as well as knowing how long to hold your position for. Your prediction method dictates your next move.
Betfair trading is very difficult to master, and technology plays a huge role in assisting traders in building automated strategies. Punters are recommended to start out slowly – maybe think about how to make £10 per day on the exchanges before diving in for big stakes.
Potential Earnings: £0 – £500,000 p/y
2. Value Betting
Value betting is about selecting outcomes with a greater chance of winning than their odds suggest. It carries risk. However, with a proven selection method, over a lot of stakes, the punter is expected to earn a profit.
How much you can make really depends on your bankroll and if you can find someone to take your bets.
What the average gambler fails to acknowledge is that every outcome in sport — no matter how far-fetched — has a real probability of occurring. Discovering those probabilities, and finding inflated odds in the market is the key to tilting the edge in your favour.
How does a value bet work?
We’ll assume the accurate probabilities for a Man United vs Man City fixture are as follows:
- Home win: 30%
- Draw: 20%
- Away win: 50%
Note that all probabilities add up to 100%. This is vitally important.
Keep in mind that any of the three above outcomes can have value. It doesn’t matter what’s most likely to occur. It’s all about the odds on offer.
So for argument’s sake, let’s suppose a bookmaker offers a price of 2.20 for Man City to win.
Given that we know that the real chance of Man City winning is 50% (2.0 decimal odds), we determine that 2.20 for Man City is a value bet. This is what is known as a bet with a positive “expected value” or “EV”.
The challenge in value betting is accuracy. Only those willing to invest time & effort into developing a detailed statistical betting ‘model’ or ‘system’ — or those able to invest in value bet finders — will be rewarded with long-term profits.
Potential Earnings: £0 – £200,000 p/y
3. Matched Betting
Matched Betting is a relatively simple technique used to earn a profit from free bets & promotions offered by online bookmakers. It’s risk-free and based on the application of a simple equation rather than chance.
Anyone can become a Matched Bettor, no matter how little they understand about betting. It’s quite possibly the easiest way for anyone over the age of 18, living in the UK, to earn an extra income from home.
How does a Matched bet work?
With any Matched Bet you place opposing stakes, as follows:
- Back (FOR a sports outcome) at a Bookmaker
- Lay (AGAINST the same sports outcome) at a Betting Exchange (e.g. Betfair) to offset the risk.
For newbies: a “Lay” bet means betting against an outcome by accepting bets on it. Just like a Bookmaker does.
Soccer Bet Online Betting
The net result of the two bets is break even — there’s no profit. However, this process enables punters to qualify for a free bet promotion. The same process is repeated with the free bet being placed at the bookmaker (instead of funds), and the exchange bet once again offsetting the risk.
Your free bet ensures that you have an advantage. Think of it as betting with someone else’s money, where you get to keep any winnings! Provided you calculate the correct Lay stake to place on the betting exchange, then you’ll end up in a net profit whatever betting account wins or loses.
Matched Betting might seem complex at first. However, it’s pretty straightforward with a bit of practice. Some minor stake calculations ensure you’ll make a profit every time.
Potential Earnings: £10,000 – £30,000
4. Arbitrage Betting (“Arbing”)
The last legitimate way to make a living betting on sports I’ve got for you is arbitrage betting. An arbitrage bet is when a punter places a combination of stakes, covering each outcome of a sports event, in order to secure a profit regardless of the result. Arbitrage bets can be placed using two or more bookmakers, and/or betting exchanges.
The process of arbing is very similar to Matched Betting. However, the big difference is that arbitrage relies on misaligned odds to get an advantage — whereas Matched Betting relies solely on promotions.
How does an Arbitrage bet work?
The simplest form of sports arbitrage opportunity is where the betting exchange Lay odds are less than those offered by the bookmaker.
Imagine the bookmaker offers 7.0 for West Ham to beat Tottenham away in the Premier League, whilst the exchange Lay odds are 6.0 for the same selection. This misalignment creates an ‘arb’, — because bettor has the opportunity to secure a risk-free profit.
Here’s the outcome of this theoretical scenario with a flat £10 stake:
Spurs win:
Bookie: (£10 x 7.0) – £10 = +£60 profit
Exchange: -(£10 x 6.0) +£10 = -£50 loss
Net result = +£10
Spurs lose:
Bookie: -£10 loss
Exchange: £10 win
Net Result = £0
This process essentially employs the “Back high, Lay low” trading philosophy (see ‘Sports Trading’ above to learn more).
What this bet combination achieves is a scenario where you’ll either make £10 or break even, no matter what outcome. The edge is in the punter’s favour.
This can be improved further by adjusting the Lay stake on the betting exchange to spread the winnings across any outcome — just as you would in Matched Betting. That way there’s a profit every time.
Potential Earnings: £10,000 – £30,000
Related Posts:
Can You Make a Living off of Sports Betting?There are a lot of ways to earn a living these days and people are getting creative about how they do it. Things like baseball cards and video games used to be mere hobbies, but today, people are finding ways to create fortunes with them.
Sports betting is becoming incredibly popular and several people rake in plenty of dollars with their betting knowledge each year. Places all over the world are embracing sports betting and legalizing it.
But the real question is this — can you make a living off of sports betting?
Below we’ll answer that question and so many others. Use these guidelines if you’re thinking about winning big with sports betting.
Can You Make Money from Sports Betting?
The simple answer is yes. However, there’s nothing simple about earning a living through sports betting.
There are people who earn a living playing poker and other casino games. These high stakes games sharpen your skills against the best in the world and allow you to live an adventurous lifestyle that most could only dream of.
The fact is that there is plenty of money to go around for anyone skilled enough to earn a living through sports betting. The challenge is learning sports betting and growing those skills so that you can treat it like a job and not like a tourist spending time in Las Vegas for the weekend.
A lot goes into sports betting for a living, but the payoff is sweet if you’re willing to put the time and effort in.
How to Make Money as a Bookie?
So what can you do to become a professional sports bettor? Here’s a beginner’s guide for getting started:
- Learn These Sports Like the Back of Your Hand and Have Some Specialties
You stand a much better chance to earn money with sports betting when you have deep experience in the sports that you’re betting on.
Nothing adds to the fun of a fight weekend like seeing the betting lines and odds released by Vegas. Too many people look at the betting lines that come out but don’t know or understand the true nuances of the sport.
It’s when you understand all of the players and moving parts that you can pick out those high-reward bets that can truly take your income to the next level.
Treat yourself like a business and subscribe to sports packages that allow you to watch lots of sports competition, study game analysis, and read sports news.
- Practice With Some Mock Scenarios
Try out the demo version of a betting platform before you put down real money.
By using mock scenarios to learn the ropes, you get to learn exactly how betting happens without having to risk real-life money. This will help you get your confidence together and take the stress out of mistakes.
Most of today’s most reputable pay per head sportsbooks come complete with trials and demo versions that you can use to your heart’s content.
- Research the Different Kinds of Bets You Can Make
The real work happens when it’s time to research. Brush up on all of the different types of bets you can make and learn them like the back of your hand.
This means learning like the moneyline, spread, parlays and so many other types of bets. You need to familiarize yourself about when betting windows open and close, and whether you’re allowed to wager in-game.
Each platform has its own rules and you might see different odds depending on the pay per head bookie website that you’re going with.
- Choose a Reputable Sports Betting Platform
The best thing you can do for yourself if you’d like to bet on sports for a living is to choose a platform that is reputable and trustworthy. The last thing you would want is to win a bet and find that there are snags in getting your payout.
A site that is susceptible to breaches and downtime could also leave you out of luck or unable to put money on a hot bet when the time is right.
Research the many different sportsbook betting platforms and choose a pay per head website that gets stellar reviews and the most trust in the gambling industry.
Look into sports betting software that also allow you to use Bitcoin and other forms of crypto.
- Keep Your Life Light and Flexible and Save Some Money
It can’t be stressed enough that there’s a difference between sports betting for fun and doing it for a living.
If betting is what you like to do for a living, you need to set your life up to support this career. This means stashing aside large sums of money for a rainy day. Don’t touch the nest egg unless you absolutely need it.
Yes, that means even if you stumble upon a can’t-miss bet but don’t have enough money for it. Your rainy day fund will save your life and allow you to keep doing something as fun as sports betting for a living.
Keep your life as light and flexible as possible. Consider a rental agreement with a flexible lease. Many people live out of Airbnb’s or pay for their living arrangement upfront with cash after a few big sports betting wins.
Do whatever you have to do to secure your lifestyle so that you can stay level-headed and never act out of desperation.
Learn the Ropes of Sports Betting
Professional Sports Betting For A Living
So can you make a living off of sports betting? The tips in this article make that picture clearer for you. If you’re ready to learn a lot and have a comfort level of dealing with uncertainty, sports betting can become a fun and lucrative way to earn a living.
Sports Betting Strategy
At www.AcePerHead.com, we have decades of experience in the industry and would be happy to help you out. Create a pay per head package with us today online or give us a call at (800) 909-5193 if you have questions.