Sports betting has been around as long as sports themselves, as people have been betting on the outcome of athletic activities for many centuries. In this series of betting guides we cover why sports betting has increased so dramatically over the past few years and the different stereotypes of players involved.

1. The other important United States law that applies to sports betting is The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992. The interesting thing about this law is that it just got struck down by the Supreme Court a few months ago.
2. Sports’ betting is the practice of making wagers on the various outcomes that are associated with games and tournaments in various sports. There are sports bets available for sports of all types from hockey to car racing and even to games like tennis.
3. Jan 21, 2020 Jan 21, 2020 20 min read The explosive rise and spread of legalized sports betting in the United States has prompted many to develop (or renew) an interest in a more quantitative, data-driven.

The development of modern sports, and in more recent times, the internet, has seen a drastic rise in the number of people betting sports in both brick-and-mortar and online sportsbooks.

Hundreds of thousands of sports bets are being placed on a daily basis across dozens of sports, but the end result always seems to favor the bookmakers. The more recent years have seen the introduction of sports exchange markets, where players are allowed to bet for and against certain outcomes without actually competing against the bookie, but rather playing betting against the pool of other players.

The rise of betting exchanges and online sportsbooks, in general, have made it more possible than ever for players to actually bet on sports profitably, but the fact remains that over 90% of all punters still lose money in the long run. The main reason behind this is because the vast majority of sports bettors are casual punters who only bet for the thrill or to support their team, with little consideration of any actual strategy or tactic.

Joe Peta was a Wall Street trader who took his mathematical and analytical skills to the world of sports betting, where he proceeded to make a small fortune betting against the official baseball. An Introduction to Sports Betting Operations by Andrew Klebanow With the orepeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), Indian casinos, commercial casinos, state governments, lotteries, and racetracks are all examining the feasibility of offering sports betting.

Types Of Sports Bettors

At a very basic level, we could say there are several basic types of sports bettors.

The Casual Bettor : This is the type of player who bets on sports every once in a while, usually only if their favorite team is playing, if there is a big competition happening – like the Grand National – or if his or her friends talk them into it. A large number of bets are placed with the bookies by casuals and since most of their bets are made with no strategy whatsoever, the bookmakers make lots of profit off such players.

The Punter : Punters are a very common sight at the live betting shops and these are the kind of players bookies simply love. They come to the bookie basically on a daily basis, betting significant portions of their bankroll and often their overall income, without any real strategy or tactic in mind, but rather chasing the thrill of victory and praises from their fellow punters.

Professional Bettors : A very small portion of sports bettors can call themselves professionals and this is the category you want to get into. These players don’t play for fun, they don’t chase their losses and they don’t bet the favorites. Instead of picking the winners, they pick the best spots and look for deviations in mathematical probabilities that allow them to beat the bookmakers in the long run.

There are several other groups of people who bet on sports on a regular basis, which includes the obsessive gamblers whose behavior is a real problem to be treated as well as the semi-professional bettors who use strategies similar to those of professionals, only lack the time or bankroll to bet full time.

In either case, it is clear which category of bettors you want to strive to fall into and which you will want to avoid being a part of at all costs. While there may be a certain allure in punting for an average person on the block, an intelligent bettor strives to make themselves profitable in the long run and does not care about short term wins or what the other people may think of his choices.

Intro To Sports Betting Parlay

Can You Really Win & Beat The Bookies?

You will often hear sports betting sceptics talk about why sports betting is just the same as roulette and how the house always has the edge, making it impossible to win. In many cases these people are right, as bookies do tend to make very good predictions and create their odds based on those predictions, making it very difficult to win.

However, with hundreds of sports events happening on a daily basis and dozens of bookies offering different odds on each of them, it quickly becomes clear that it may be possible to win. In fact, since the bookies also work with a limited scope of information, just as you do, their only advantage is the fact that they make the odds.

The professional bettor’s job is not to pick a winner, but rather to find those bets where the bookmaker made a “mistake” when setting the odds. A great example of this is with horse racing, where bookies tend to lay some pretty big odds on horses who actually stand a solid chance of winning a given event.

What’s even more, modern sports betting exchange markets allow you to bet both for and against certain outcomes and instead of betting the bookie at the odds they set, you are betting against people whose opinion differs from yours, often punters who are simply supporting their local team. This means you can take even more advantage in such a market as the odds adjust based on the bets that are placed by other players.

Overall speaking, it is quite clear that winning at sports betting is not only possible, but is something that is done by a large number of people on a daily basis. The reason not everyone is doing it is because professional sports betting is actually a difficult job. To be profitable in the long run you will need a skillset that includes knowledge, discipline and a deep understanding of mathematics and the way probabilities work – and these are skills obtained only through practice and study.

Where To Get Started?

Many of you out there may have thought to yourself at one moment, I should try doing this for a living, but you simply lacked the discipline to study and wait for the right bets. If you are seriously thinking about starting a sports betting career, make sure you read all of our materials first and learn the basics of how sports betting actually works.

Once you have completed our guides, you will be ready to embark on a journey that may very well end in your complete financial independence and a lifelong career of professional sports betting.

Our next article has a brief overview on why most people fail to beat the bookies. We look into the most common traps that people fall into that profits the bookies year after year,

Sports Betting Guide

Betting is a type of gambling activity in which people place money on a bet, in which they have to correctly predict the outcome of a sporting or cultural event in order to win money. We would like to explain you the basics of this quite popular activity, teach you how it’s supposed to be done and help you make your first steps in the world of online sports betting.

Short Introduction

You have probably heard a lot about betting on the Internet or from people you know. As we have already mentioned, you can bet on a variety of different events, however, sports betting is the most popular type of betting. Generally, people place bets with the bookmakers, either via betting shops or websites. The amount of money won on a particular bet is calculated by multiplying the amount of money we placed on the wager, known as the stake, by the odds offered by the betting operator. People are engaged in betting are often referred to as punters (UK & Europe) or bettors (USA & Western World).

Essentials of sports betting

The entire bookmaking industry is based on the probability or likelihood of the events occurring, represented by something called odds. Bookmakers are offering these, let’s call them, rates based on a large range of factors that might affect the chances of a particular outcome taking place. Not only these numbers are telling you the implied probability of the event but also how much you can possibly win. Professional punters use the odds along with some simple calculations and analysis to find value. More about value is explained here. When you get more familiar with betting, you will notice that the odds change very rapidly, especially when it comes to livebetting. It is quite common that punters win more on the same bet just because they place their wagers at the right moment. Therefore, the timing is also very important. Betting markets are also another thing you must keep in mind. You have to learn their mechanics to be able to read it properly. Sometimes top online bookmakers are shortening their odds on a particular player or team just because of the volume of bets place on their side. This is done for one simple reason - to limit possible losses & mitigate risks. Such market situations are quite normal and open up a possibility to back the opposite side (whose odds are getting longer instead). These are only few points you need to consider when opting-in for sports betting or betting in general. If you have already made a decision to become a punter, you must first get familiar with a so-called started-pack:

• Proper bankroll management (managing your betting budget)
• Good ethics (positive thinking, focus, cool-head, patience)
• Analytical skills
• Statistics & data
• Proper strategy (an approach that you are going to use through your betting journey)
• Good reflexes

Learn more about how to become a better punter and how to beat your online bookmaker in our sports betting guide section.

Landside or online bookmaker

Back in a day, there used to be the only way to place a bet, and that is via a betting shop. These betting shops were basically traditional bookmakers’ outlets where you could’ve come and place wagers. These shops were a part of the particular betting operator’s network limited to its geographical location. Luckily for all of us, the things took a change with the introduction of the Internet. Nowadays, it is hard to find a bookmaker without a website via which you can place your bets. Moreover, online bookmakers became so popular that the majority of top online bookmakers only exist online nowadays. Despite offline betting still being present, the benefits of betting online are quite obvious and self-explanatory. Betting online provides a far more convenient, flexible and friendly experience.

In the case of online betting, you are not required to be physically present at the betting shop. You can basically bet from any place in the world via your phone, tablet or computer. Another great thing is that you can do it not only anywhere you want but also anytime you want it. Another reason behind the online bookmakers’ superiority is the access to all the necessary information connected with the particular event. Top online bookmakers always provide the up-to-date match statistics, feedbacks and sometimes even their own predictions, along with live streams. Majority of our recommended online betting services also provide various apps and tools that can help you when betting. If that is still not enough for you to register with one of the top online bookmakers, then here you go with the unbeatable reason why you should do it today - livebetting! Yes, livebetting, or in other words, in-play betting. This is the form of betting available exclusively via online betting sites, which allows you to place live wagers on the in-game occurring events.

Choosing the online bookmaker

Whether or not our words were convincing, at some point, you will get fed up with walking back and forth to your local betting shop. Therefore, it is a great time to start checking out your possible options and choose your online bookmaker. Do not go for big names or flashy ads, choosing the online betting operator is a very individual matter. The book that works well for your friend might not fit your need at all, therefore, choose whichever one suits YOU best. There are a couple of things you have to look at when choosing a particular sportsbook. First of all, you must look at the reliability, trustworthiness and swiftness of payouts. These are the main criteria for choosing a decent online bookmaker. Next up, you have to check out the offer and the price competitiveness of the particular company. This is also very important since if you choose the bookmaker that doesn’t have much to offer for your favourite sport, it will simply not have anything to bet on. If you have made past that step, it is the right time to check out what your chosen online bookmaker has to offer in terms of bonuses & promotions. This is another great feature of online bookmakers. These free bonuses play a huge role in the online betting market. A generous welcome bonus or frequently offered occasional promotions quite often play the decisive role when choosing between two or more online bookmakers you would like to register with. If you would like to learn more about the leading online betting operators, please visit our review section and get the objective overview & feedback to help you make the right decision.

Forms of betting

You have to decide which form of betting you are going to use before actually placing your very first bet. The majority of bets placed around the world are fixed-odds. This means you are betting against the odds offered by the online bookmaker, which do not involve any fluctuation at the payout. This helps you to have a clear idea of how much you are going to win. The most popular fixed-odds types of bets are traditional 1X2, outrights and correct score bets.

Sports Betting Odds

Before we get too deep into various betting options, let’s talk a bit about the different types of odds. There many of them, however, it is commonly agreed that there are three main types of odds: fractional, decimal and moneyline. Fractional odds are the most traditional odds out there, they are primarily used in the UK up to this day. Decimal ones are the most popular and arguably the simplest to read, they are used by the majority of European countries, as well as all around the world. As for the moneyline, or as they are also referred to as American odds, they are used in the USA and Western World countries. This is pretty much all you need to know about the odds.

Back to the betting options, another popular type of betting is a handicap. Punters need to predict whether a team or a player will cover the offered by the bookmaker handicap (also known as a spread). It is some sort of a theoretical advantage given to the underdog of the event. Another type of bet is offered in the form of a line for the number of goals, points, corners, penalty cards, etc. depending on the sport. Such markets are usually called Over/Under or total points. As its former name suggest, you basically have to predict whether the stats will go over or remain under the offered line.

Types of bets

There is a wide variety of bets for almost every sports discipline. They can be classified by the following categories: singles and multiples. Single bets are the most popular type of bets. Singles include for following betting options like handicaps, point spreads, totals (over/under), outrights (futures) and of course classic 1X2 bets. Multiples, just like the name suggests, include multiple selections at once. However, besides the combination of the aforementioned betting options, accumulators could also have a form of permutation wagers, like Heinz or Lucky 15. As for the other types of bets, you can come across forecasts, conditional bets (any to come), specials (novelty bets) and live bets (in-play).

Read this article if you want to know more about types of bets.

Sports Betting Odds

What sports are best for betting

Sports Betting Stocks

Choosing a sports discipline and especially the event you are going to bet on is very important. The golden rule here is to stick with whatever sports you are the most comfortable with or know the most about. Following this advice will only simplify your entire betting experience. There is no such thing as a sport that is easier to bet on than the other one. It solely depends on you, your preferences and skillset. If you cannot make up your mind about which sport to start betting on, check out one of our sports betting guides, to learn more about the predictability of sports disciplines.