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Making money from sports betting is possible but not easy. A lot goes into play when two teams or athletes face each other in a match.
An important player could suffer an injury. It could rain heavily on the matchday or one team might be in a terrible form. For you to win sports bets consistently, you need to be research-oriented.
You have to account for the different factors that can influence the outcome of a match. If you’re a beginner bettor, ensure you follow these tips:
1—Research Comprehensively
It’s true—you could place a sport bet out of a gut feeling and win. But if you want consistent profitability in betting, you must develop a habit of studying games extensively.
Let’s say you specialize in college football. You want to bet on Alabama games because of the team’s excellent form. Start by checking the Alabama football schedule. Look for games where it faces competitive opponents.
Next, choose a specific match to bet on. Look at the lineups of the two teams. Check each side’s form. Watch out for injured players, the team’s head-to-head records and recent performances.
It also helps to read pre-match analyses by experienced sports pundits. Find out what the experts think about a team, and who they believe will win. Don’t always follow their predictions, though. The purpose is to compare your predictions based on facts.
2—Specialize in a Small Area
There are tons of sports and leagues out there. Yet, you don’t need to bet on all of them. In fact, attempting to bet on different sports and leagues could reduce your profitability.
The most successful sports gamblers specialize. They could pick the NBA and do everything possible to become good at it. Or they could focus on one conference of the NBA.
Specialization helps you become an expert at a specific area. You don’t need to split your time watching multiple sports. Instead, you can focus on watching wrestling, basketball, football, hockey or soccer and learning about different players and coaches.
3—Shop Around for Odds
You may not always win your sports predictions. But make every win count by maximize your profits. To expound more, you need to shop around to find the best odds for every bet you make.
In the past, you had to move from one sportsbook to the other to compare odds. Nowadays, you can use online tools to find the odds of up to 10 sportsbooks. This helps you save time and also discover bookmakers with the best odds.
Although comparing odds is important, also learn how to find value bets. Value bets represent teams thought to be underdogs in a match but have good chances of winning.
Take a look at the Cowboys versus Bengals match in Week two of this season. Cincinnati made it to the Super Bowl last season. Dallas fell off from the playoffs with a loss to the 49ers. What’s more, the Cowboys were coming from a 19-3 loss to Tampa Bay.
Owing to that backdrop, Cincinnati were favorites to win the game. Yet, Dallas upset Cincinnati, providing great profits to everyone who backed the underdogs.
4—Avoid Parlays
Parlay bets can be pretty attractive. Imagine turning a $20 bet into $10,000 by predicting five to 20 matches. People do it. But the chances of success are low. That’s especially true if you’re a beginner.
According to the Washington Post, many sportsbooks generate up to 50% of their profits from parlay bets. By comparison, betting companies generate just 5% of profits from match winners/money line bets.
In other words, you have higher chances of winning by placing an outright bet. And isn’t that the goal of betting? Sure, money lines don’t always have attractive odds.
But then again, you can always wager on spreads. For the uninitiated, spreads sweeten the odds by challenging you to predict the margin of victory. Alabama might have low odds to beat Arkansas.
But if you can predict that Alabama will beat Arkansas by +5 points, then you get improved odds. Spread betting is certainly not easy. But it’s still gives you better chances of winning compared to parlays.
5—Learn How to Manage Money
Sports betting is not a reliable source of income. Don’t allocate it more money than you should. How do you decide how much money to bet with? Evaluate your income.
Pay your bills and debts and then make a list of the best way you spend your disposable income. Of course, now you can include a small amount of your disposable income to betting.
After that, divide your bankroll based on the number of bets you want to place every week. This helps you avoid a situation where you spend your entire bankroll in one game.
Budgeting for different games also helps you keep track of your betting habit. If you have a budget for three weekly bets, you won’t get tempted to bet every day. This, in turn, helps you avoid getting addicted to gambling.
6—Don’t Chase your Losses
Some people think chasing losses is a normal behavior. It’s not. It is an easy way to lose your entire bankroll before your next paycheck. So, why do so many people continue to bet even after suffering a major loss?
They believe a winning bet is on the way. If you bet $50 on a hockey game and lose, you might think you will win the next bet. So, you spend $100 and lose again. Then something tells you to spend more money on a third bet. Yet, you lose.
Chasing losses doesn’t work for one good reason. You’re emotionally invested in your bets and can’t think clearly. Your focus is on recovering your money and not making correct predictions.
When you place a bet and lose, take a break. Find out why you lost and take some time researching extensively for your next bet. If you lose continuously, take a break from betting. Get back to gambling after you’ve studied how it works properly.
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