Sports Arbitrage Betting is the act of placing bets on all possible outcomes of a sport event allowing you to lock in a profit at the end of the event. Sports arbitrage betting is basically taking advantage of an opinion and buying a win or loss at the right price and insuring a profit no matter what the outcome. Also known as scalping and sure betting, Arbitrage betting is used by many people to make themselves an impressive full time income. Others are just interested in using this technique for a part time hobby to earn some extra cash. The differences between bookmaker’s opinions lead to different prices and this creates sport arbitrage trading opportunities.

History

Sports Arbitrage Betting has been around basically since sports themselves. Since online gaming has become so popular and continues to grow, this has caused a bang in the availability of sports arbitrage betting and trades.

What is it?

As said above, Sports arbitrage betting is the act of placing bets on the outcome of sporting events. The better uses the differences in the markets in a way that a risk free profit can be guaranteed no matter what the outcome of the event. The better is taking advantage of the different opinions produced by the bookmakers to ensure profit for themselves. You do not need expert knowledge of the sport you are betting on, or sports betting at all in order to gain from this experience.

This is an easy way to make small amounts of money from time to time. Finding these opportunities can be time consuming and may not be worth the profit once you figure in your time. There are different programs out there that will help you make the most for your money. These programs scan prices of major sporting events and find a bookmaker offering a price on one of the outcomes which is way off from the other bookmakers. These companies will offer alert services and will scan the information and alert you with the location of the information, profit percentages, and how much you should bet on them. Keep in mind this is a subscription and a fee will come along with the information.

But you can do this for yourself if you do not wish to share your profit paying companies to do a little leg work. There are message boards and odds comparisons sites that can be found online where others help others to be in the know. Sports arbitrage betting must be done in separate markets. Any two bookmakers with differing odds will work. You chose which event you want to buy and turn around and sell it for more money than you bought it for. Any of us can admit for doing this with regular things in life. For instance, you win two tickets to a basketball game. You either can’t go or you don’t want to, so you sale them to a friend, instant profit in your pocket.

How does it work?

In order for an Arb to be placed, you need one bookmaker to offer much higher odds in the first outcome and a separate bookmaker to offer much higher odds on Outcome 2. It is important you make sure only 2 outcomes are available such as a win and a loss. If these odds are high enough to created 100% or larger return on investment, you have yourself an arb.

Here is an example. The reds and the blues are going to play a game of football. Jim offers odds of 2.05 on the reds and Dave offers odds of 2.1 on the blues, you have an arb. So you bet a hundred bucks on 2.1 and a hundred bucks on 2.05, you are going to lose $100 because one side will lose, however, you will win more than 100 dollars on the win side of it and this will cover your loss and gain some money in the process.

Most sportsbooks offer profitable bonuses for new players, or for deposits by existing players to attract more betting action. These bonuses give the better a “rollover” condition. The “rollover” condition states that the bonus money must be used by placing a bet a certain number of times before it can be withdrawn. In most cases this money will be lost before you have the chance to withdraw it. The good thing about this is, once you take the bonuses you do not have to worry about losing any of your “real” money. When only using the bonus money given, one of two things can happen. Either the bet placed will win enough money and the rollover requirement will be met or the placed bet will lose and the money will go into that book.

You can also use arbitrage without the risk of losing money. I found an example of this. If you find an arb on your interested event, simply place a bet on your team, place the arb with one side maxed out, and the other side covering only the opposing bet. You can use the guaranteed profit from the arb to further back one side. There is a lesser chance you will profit highly but there is no financial risk involved using this method.

Middling is very attractive when found. Middling takes advantage of differences in handicaps or total scores between bookmakers and trying to place two bets which will cover each other or allow you to win twice.

As soon as an arb presents itself, people will begin to bet on higher odds. As soon as the bookmaker has enough bets for a side, they will lower their odds again. So if you are the arb trader, you have to be ready to act fast so your odds are in your favor. So be organized and have everything checked before you proceed with betting. Keep in mind, if you take too long, the exposed information about the odds could not be current.

There are tons of sportsbooks in several countries in several sports to help with your sport betting needs. But the frequency of the opportunities rarely arises because bookmakers are careful not to go against the general opinion. Nerveless, there are many sporting events that there is still a good number of bets to be found each week. Only the most dedicated arb watcher will benefit repeatedly with the possibility of securing a regular income.

Important need to knows

It is important to always know what the betting is staked at. Be familiar with deposit and withdrawal information. Sometimes transactions can impose a cost, and for certain types of deposits, especially if it is internationally based, additional cost can cost anywhere from 1-5%.  Try minimizing your deposits and withdrawals. Most generally only small bookmakers only allow certain currency, a lot of people avoid these and only use big bookmakers.

Money

The more money you have the better. To make decent money it would be ideal to have a least a few thousand dollars online. And this is why a lot of people do not participate in arbitrage. Sports arbitrage is more accessible because of the internet, but there are barriers that can stop you from being successful. A successful arbitrage participate must have capital, time, organization, and time to ensure profits.

What’s the risk?

There are risk factors in about everything we do. It shouldn’t come to a surprise to anyone that nothing is risk free. Arbitrage is an exchange where your profit is known beforehand. However, sometimes, things don’t always work the way we want, and you can lose money and lots of it if you are not for sure what you are doing. No form of gambling is entirely risk free. For instance, bookmakers can cancel one side of an arbitrage trade after the games has started, exposing you to risk, this is usually seen in tennis and baseball more so then any other sport. Human error can of course come in to play. It is important to know what you are betting on and not to make mistakes if you are wanting to profit. Others can make mistakes too, so if you see an odd that is way out of line, chances are it is a mistake and the bookmaker will reserve the right to cancel the bet.

Sports Arbitrage Betting Final Thoughts

If you have extra money lying around and you have a bit of luck, try your hand at sport betting arbitrage. Just know your game, be prepared and make the best of it. You never know, you could reward yourself in a big way!