For years we were told that the bookies always won – and there was no way around this.
Then, betting arbitrage entered the picture.
Now, first and foremost, this isn’t for everyone. There are still risks attached, and people can lose money if they don’t act sensibly.
However, if you act within the guidelines, betting arbitrage can be a method to make guaranteed profits from your gambling. Put simply, it involves betting on all possible outcomes, with different bookmakers, and using the odds to make sure that you will turn a profit regardless of the result.
It’s worth mentioning that finding these arbitrage opportunities can be tricky, and there are never a huge number around. Today’s article isn’t about helping you discover such opportunities, but instead showing you how to put together a process that can help make your journey more profitable. Let’s show how you can do this.
Learn about the odds before getting involved
The main method of profiting from betting arbitrage is to do your research. In some sports, involving three or more outcomes, this can be more difficult. Long before you start to make any bets, you need to consider as many odds as possible offered by the bookies.
Our best advice is to then plug all of the figures into The Bet Calculator to understand your potential winnings based on the odds you have been given. This will help you see how profitable the bet in question can be.
Keep extensive records
If your arbitrage career takes off, you’ll have all sorts of numbers flying around. You’ll have umpteen accounts with bookmakers, while every day will see you betting on numerous fixtures.
This is where recordkeeping is key. Whether you use Excel or Google Sheets, we are not precious, but make sure you record as many details as possible so you don’t find money becoming mysteriously lost.
Keep one eye on bankroll management
It doesn’t matter whether we are talking about sports betting or stocks and shares – your bankroll is going to play a huge role.
While we are all going to start with different figures, if you can use a percentage approach it will provide you with no-end of favors. You can pledge to spend just ‘x%’ per fixture, and never surpass this. For many people, this is going to be less than 10%, meaning that if anything does go wrong you still have the majority of your bankroll remaining.
Learn the difference between short-term and long-term arbitrage
Finally, let’s talk about short-term and long-term arbitrage.
The former option involves taking advantage of bonus bets. In simple terms, these are free bets offered by bookmakers as an incentive to join their platform. If you use one of these, it immediately means that you are not risking your own money – and you’ll be quickly able to find lots of initial opportunities.
Of course, these are not endless. There will become a time where you have used all of these bonus bets, and instead need to grind out organic arbitrage opportunities. Understanding the difference here is key; a lot of people mistakenly believe that arbitrage is easy because they initially pocket through all of the free bets they are handed out in the early days.
