Gambling and betting have been a human passion from ancient times. Let’s face it, people love to gamble, and it is understandable; gambling is a fun fast-paced pastime, and there is a chance to win some profit on sports betting. During the process, most players get the adrenaline rush… And it is the feeling that can’t be explained easily to someone who never placed a wager.
But truth to be told, in sports betting, almost 90% of all active bettors are losing in the long run. It is a well-known fact that sportsbooks have an advantage over the bettors, and that advantage is called the margin. So, the more wagers average bettor places at the sportsbook, there is a bigger chance for the sportsbook to make the profit.
Ok, now when we said the most kept secret in the sports betting industry, we can talk about those sports bettors who are actually profitable, learn how to win and see which ones make money from sports betting.
It is possible to be one of those guys, but you need to have stellar discipline! A bit of talent, proper knowledge, and a specific set of skills. Also, if you are a novice sports bettor, you need to educate yourself to have a chance to become a professional and profitable sports bettor.
In this guide, we will talk about the most important aspects of sports betting, and some tips and tricks that will help you win! So, grab a favorite drink and sit back. It is time to reveal some betting secrets!
Having the Proper Money Management is Crucial
The money management or “how to keep your spending under control” segment, is one of the essential things that every sports bettor needs to learn. Before anyone starts to place wagers, it is crucial to determine the amount of the betting budget. This amount should be measured as the amount that specific bettor is willing to lose without burdening bettors life outside the sports betting.
The importance of this step is extremely important for any sports bettor. Firstly, with the proper betting bank, that is separated from any other segment of bettor life. The bettor guards his personal assets, and shows that he understands the importance of discipline in sports betting.
The thing that is closely connected with the betting budget is the betting discipline. Knowing how to manage the betting bank and remaining calm and focused is a crucial skill for every profitable sports bettor.
Placing “fun bets” and occasional parlays is one of the main reasons that otherwise profitable and skillful bettors fail to profit in the long run.
These types of wagers will, without any doubt, eventually eliminate all the profit that you made from your main and sharp bets! The wagers where you see the value, and where you can find the edge over the sportsbooks.
Hot and Cold Streaks
Also, it is vital to learn how to handle yourself in hot and cold streaks. Every professional sports bettor knows the meaning of variance. Still, many bettors make mistakes and lose their temper in certain situations. One of the biggest mistakes every bettor can do is to get greedy when they are in a hot streak… Or to chase losses when they are in a losing streak.
When the bettors have a good streak, they tend to get overconfident and start placing higher stakes with the goal to exploit positive momentum and make an even bigger profit.
The bettors must avoid this kind of behavior! As positive momentum can end at any time, and hard-earned profit can be lost in a moment.
In the opposite situation, when the bettor has a bad streak, chasing the losses must be avoided at any cost. How to win on Sports betting should be regarded as a long-term investment, and bettors should always keep their emotions under control. As chasing the losses will eventually drain your betting bank, and you will end up dead broke.
The best suggestion we can give to the bettors who are having a dry spell is to stick to their handicapping principles! And only place wagers on games where they can find the value. And feel that sportsbooks made a mistake with the odds or with the lines.
Also, it isn’t smart to decrease betting stakes when you have a bad streak, as it will make you even harder to get back even. Keep grinding, and do not change your style of play, or your stake size. The form is temporary, and it will change eventually.
Choose your Sportsbooks Wisely
If you are just starting with your sports betting journey, we strongly recommend that you take your time! Do your homework, and register several accounts with respected and reliable sportsbooks. There are several popular brands such as Bovada, BetOnline, and 5Dimes. And all of those companies are a solid choice for any sports bettor.
On the other hand, there are a number of small or less famous online sportsbooks that provide excellent service for their clients. Fortunately, there are many review sites on the internet, which all provide honest and unbiased reviews of online sportsbooks.
Those sites in their reviews highlight all the positive and negative things about every sportsbook. So the players can choose their favorite sportsbook pretty quickly using those sites.
Depending on your preferences, you should choose your sportsbook (or several sportsbooks). But the most important things you should look for are stellar reputation, a wide range of banking options, and a variety of extra features (lucrative bonuses and promotions, low margins, responsive customer support, etc.)
Once when you finish the choosing process, you can start thinking about other important aspects of sports betting.
Importance of Line Shopping in Sports Betting
The line shopping is closely connected to money management and decision on what sportsbook to choose. As better odds and lines mean more profit in the long term for any sports bettor. In sports betting, line shopping is similar to any other kind of shopping. This when the person tries to find a better price in different stores.
Learning how to shop the lines isn’t hard. You need to pick a line or the odds, and then you need to compare those prices across the betting market. That’s why it is crucial to have several registered accounts at different sportsbooks.
Line shopping is extremely important for those bettors who want to win and live from sports betting or even be profitable in the long run. We will explain the importance of successful line shopping on an example:
In the NFL game between New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins, the bettor thinks that trailing the underdog is a smart decision. Bettor sees that one sportsbook offers +13.5 line on Dolphins, while another sportsbook has the same game with +14 line.
Clearly, taking the +14 line is a much better option, as if the New England Patriots win by 14, the bet will be refunded, while the same bet at the sportsbook with +13.5 line would be lost.
The same concept can apply for any type of betting (spread, moneyline, or total). In the end, line shopping is crucial to any sports bettor and his long-term profit. Having in mind that the edge of sports betting is small, so the line shopping usually is the difference between the profitable bettor and a loser.
Look for the Sweet Deals
If you want to increase your chances on how to win some money from sports betting, you should carefully read this paragraph. We will give you insight on how to maximize your profit by using sportsbook bonuses and promotions.
One of the main advantages of online sportsbooks over the traditional ones are all kind of bonuses that bettors can get from online operators. Giving those bonuses and promotions, sportsbooks try to lure new players into registering and depositing money at their sites.
It is a logical theory, as more accounts give sportsbook a more significant volume of bets and more profit in the long run.
Since the sports betting industry is highly competitive and everyone wants to win, sportsbooks are continually fighting between themselves in an attempt to be the most exciting operator for new players.
In this part of the article we will try to give you short, but the detailed explanation about types of bonuses and promotions you may get from sportsbooks, and how to maximize your chances to make a profit from those deals.
Before we start talking about different types of bonuses, we need to point out the fact that some sportsbooks take a different approach. And they do not offer to their customer’s bonuses, but they provide excellent odds and incredibly low margins.
We think that it is essential to have at least one sportsbook of that type in your portfolio! As at the end of the day, best odds will give you the biggest chance to make a long-term profit.
Deposit Bonuses
Deposit bonuses are one of the most popular types of bonuses on all gambling platforms (sportsbooks, poker sites, and online casinos).
Simply put the deposit bonus is a situation when the operator matches a certain percentage of the money player deposited on their account.
Example:
100% Deposit Bonus up to $200 – in this situation sportsbook will match 100% of the money deposited, but the maximum amount player can get is set at $200.
200% Deposit Bonus up to $100 – this offer gives a bettor 200% on their deposit, with the maximum amount of $100. So if bettor deposits $50, he will get $100 in bonus money.
50% Deposit Bonus up to $150 – in this situation sportsbook gives 50% of deposited money, with the maximum amount set at $150. The player needs to deposit $300 to get the maximum bonus amount.
We must point the fact that bettor get only the maximum amount of money! So if you plan to deposit more than $200 from our first example, you will get only the maximum amount of bonus money.
T&Cs
Deposit bonus (and any other sportsbook bonus and promotion) comes with a specific set of rules, known as T&Cs (Bonus Terms and Conditions). We strongly advise that you always read the fine print, as there will be one or several criteria that you must complete in order to turn those bonus funds into real cash money that you can withdraw. Those specific rules are called wagering requirements, and we will talk about those a bit later.
In general, deposit bonuses are a great way to start your betting adventure! But you need to be prepared that converting those bonus funds isn’t always an easy task. If you plan to play at an specific online sportsbook regularly… Then a deposit bonus is an excellent way to boost your account, but you need to be patient and wise.
Reload Bonuses
Reload bonus is also a deposit bonus, a bettor can get this bonus only when the initial deposit bonus is claimed, usually in the form of Welcome Bonus. They are invented as a hook for players to stay on the site and deposit more after they lost their initially deposited money.
But don’t think wrong about sportsbooks and their reload bonus offers. Naturally, the sportsbooks want to keep their customers, and it is nice that they offer new bonuses on second, third, sometimes even on fourth deposit. Also, in some sportsbooks, reload bonuses come as regular promotions so that players can get these regularly.
Reload bonuses come in different shapes, but in most cases, they come as matched bonuses. (sportsbook matches your deposit money in a certain percentage). This type of bonus is pretty attractive, as they usually have better wagering conditions than welcome bonuses. These reload bonuses will get even better if you play regularly at a specific online sportsbook.
We feel that reload bonuses are the most underestimated type of bonus in the entire industry of sports betting. The main reason why we think reload bonuses are pure gold is that this kind of bonus is an ongoing bonus that potentially can’t stop. Of course, welcome packages are shiny and colorful, but reload bonuses are more lucrative and effective for bettors betting bank.
No Deposit Bonuses
Honestly, we think that no deposit bonus is the best type of bonus that you can get from an online sportsbook. It is basically free money, with reasonable wagering requirements.
No deposit bonus offer is, in most cases, a welcome bonus that is applied to newly registered players. In order to claim that offer, players only need to register a new account to the specific online sportsbook.
There is no need to deposit any funds, and that’s why no deposit bonus is such an appealing promotion to so many bettors.
There are many advantages of no deposit bonus offers. Bettors don’t need to risk their own money and can try a new sportsbook without any potential monetary risk.
If you want to check new operators, experience sportsbook user interface. Explore the features of the site and don’t want to get tangled for a long time, then an operator with no deposit bonus is a perfect match for you.
Despite a lot of positive things around no deposit bonus, there are some disadvantages as well. One of the main downfalls of this type of bonus is the fact that sportsbooks give no deposit bonus rarely, and those bonuses are always small.
Also, often there is a maximum limit that players can earn from no deposit bonus. So we suggest that you always read Terms and Conditions of every single bonus or promotion.
Overall, no deposit bonus is an excellent way to kick off your betting adventure, but you need to be careful and always read T&Cs.
Free Bets
The sportsbooks usually give free bets in the form of promotion to the regular customers. But sometimes even the newly registered users can get this type of promotion.
The rules of this type of bonus are very simple. The bookmaker gives you a certain amount of money that you can use to place a bet without spending your money. One specificity when placing bets with this type of bonus is that only the amount of profit is refunded to you, while the bet given to you is not refundable.
So, if you win $5 in free bets and bet on a match with odds of 1.50 and a stake of $5, after winning the bet, your account will be increased by $2.5.
As we said, this type of bonus can be given to newly registered users! In the form of a welcome bonus, for example with the William Hill bookmaker. Which offers its users a welcome bonus in free bets of up to $30.
Other bookmakers give this type of bonus to their regular customers, such as the sports betting company Bovada. Which gives regular customers bonuses in the form of free bets from time to time.
Get Help from Professional Handicapping Service
If you are having trouble making the profit from your selections, or you don’t have time to do the proper research… You can always look for the free or paid services that provide betting advice to their customers.
For sure, if you have success in your handicapping adventure, then there is no need for this kind of service… But in the real world, a significant number of bettors love to listen for suggestions! And place wagers on other people’s advice.
Picking the right service isn’t an easy task, and we will try to give you tips and tricks that should help you during that process. Choosing a profitable and honest handicapping service can make the difference in your betting account.
The most important thing that you should look at is the proven and long track record. Services that refuse to show their history or have a short record aren’t the proper solutions.
Also, you should be careful when it comes to the services that claim some incredible results and percents. The best honest handicapping services have a success rate of between 55% and 58%. So any service that claims to have anything bigger than that is plain fraud.
In the end, an honest handicapping service should offer some kind of guarantee to their customers. We prefer a free month after a negative period or partial money-back guarantee. But it really depends from service to service.
We will not give any suggestions about services, but you should look at Game Advisers Handicapping Service! As they have a proven record and seem reliable.
Remember to be Disciplined and Enjoy Sports Betting
It is never to write a conclusion about a subject such as sports betting and how to win! Because this discipline is so complex… And it would take weeks to write about every important factor that can determine your betting destiny.
Still, it is essential to know that learning how to win at sports betting is a long term process! And no human-made fortune from sports betting in a short period of time.
You should always bet responsibly… And if you feel that betting isn’t fun anymore, then it is the best thing to stop. Gamble responsibly, and never stake more than you can afford to lose.