How to Make Money Betting?

If you have come across this article, it is more than likely that you already have some experience with sports betting, and like the vast majority of the betting population, you are in the red, with the best of you just breaking even. If you are in shock right now, don’t worry, it will get worse. If you want to get into the black numbers, you will have to change something. And every change hurts. That’s the introduction.

The best sportsbooks

Maximum 1% of bettors win

According to data from bookmakers, only about 1% of bettors are profitable. Not 5% or even 10%, as some articles on the internet claim! And this includes all those who randomly hit a high win on a nonsensical accumulator during their “career.” In reality, it will be even less. There are interesting articles on this topic backed by analyses and calculations by experts (look for articles by analysts such as Joseph Buchdahl).

Good news: we are only talking about profits and losses from betting itself. Potential bonuses and competitions, from which something can also be earned, are not included in the profit.

Can we take something positive from this? Definitely, and that is that there are indeed bettors who know how to make money from betting in the long term. At this point, the question arises: What are they doing differently? The answer is simple. They bet on value odds (in English, this term is known as value betting). Eureka! Mystery solved, just change your mindset and overhaul your current strategy and slowly start planning how you will handle the regular influx of money. At this moment you realized (should have realized) that this is irony. It’s not that easy.

Value betting – betting on value odds or how odds work

Since we cover value betting in the article Value betting – betting on odds with positive expected value, there is no point in writing at length here. It is enough to mention that understanding odds is the alpha and omega of success. Without knowing how odds “work,” you simply cannot do without.

Open an account with as many companies as possible and maximize your profits

However, there is one universal advice related to value betting that everyone who wants to make money from betting should follow: always bet the highest available odds! What does that mean in practice? Imagine a football match in the Spanish La Liga between Barcelona and Celta Vigo, where you want to bet on Barcelona’s win and based on detailed analysis, you are convinced that the listed odds of 1.50 are valuable. You bet €40 on Barcelona and their win brings you €60 (net profit of €20). But what if you had accounts with multiple bookmakers and used the highest possible odds, which was not 1.50, but 1.65? You would win 10% more, specifically €66 (net profit of €26)! Does it seem negligible to you? Then you probably don’t know that in the long run, every hundredth counts. There is a huge difference whether you are five percent in the red or five percent in the black. And exactly that is the “negligible” difference of ten percent, which you gained extra! Value betting is the most important and at the same time the most difficult thing you can do to become a profitable tipster. If it were easy, more than 99% of bettors wouldn’t be in the red long-term. Fortunately, there are still other, less demanding ways to extract more money from bookmakers than you put into them.

Sure betting

A much simpler method to achieve consistent profits is arbitrage betting, a.k.a. sure betting. The principle of arbitrage is to bet the differences in odds that occur across sportsbooks. Imagine a match between two tennis players. Sportsbook A posts 2.25 on the first player to win, while Sportsbook B posts 2.10 on the second player to win.

We plug the posted odds into a surebet calculator and find that we’ll make 8.62% on total stake. If we invest a total of €200 into this surebet, we’ll earn approx. €15 with the correct stake split (the surebet calculator helps with that), regardless of which player wins.

Already seeing yourself on a yacht thanks to sure betting? Cool off—if it were as easy in practice as on paper, sportsbooks would go bankrupt and there would be millions of successful bettors. This method has its flaws. You have to reckon with account limits, fast drops, rejected bets, etc. You’ll find more details about sure betting in the article Sure betting (arbitrage betting).

Take advantage of bonuses

The primary function of bonuses is to attract new customers and ideally turn them into regular customers. Companies operating bookmakers are well aware that bonuses and various promotions work perfectly as bait. That’s why there are so many available everywhere. It is up to you to use them wisely. There are many types of bonuses. More information on individual types can be found in the Bonuses section. Some bookmakers also offer so-called free bonuses for registration and verification. The principle is simple. You register, verify your identity, and the bookmaker will credit a certain amount to your account for your first free bets!

Welcome bonuses

Even more widespread is the bonus you receive for your first deposit. It is offered by virtually all companies. It is important to mention that certain conditions must always be met to be rewarded.

Beware of live betting

Live bets are very popular among bettors and may seem at first glance like the perfect opportunity to react instantly to what’s happening in a match and exploit constantly changing odds. However, sportsbooks use sophisticated algorithms that react very quickly to any situation in the game and usually set prices with a significant margin, which can be disadvantageous for bettors.

Another major risk is betting based on current emotions. Under pressure, bettors make hasty decisions and start eating into their set bankroll. Live betting is often a trap that usually does not lead to long-term profits—unless you have perfect discipline or some specific information the sportsbook might not know.