Making Money Through Sports Betting

When it comes to sports betting, every bettor goes in with the intention to try to win some money. But, as they say, “the house always wins.” 

It certainly applies to the overall industry, with there being as much as $3 billion in bets per month in the US. 

Anyone can bet, but the question is really how can you win? How do you increase your odds of walking away with a profit? 

These are some of the best sports betting tips. 

Bankroll Percentage 

When it comes to betting, you should keep in mind how much money is in your bankroll. Your bankroll is how much total money you have dedicated to betting. 

Once you know that number, you need to figure out what about 1% of the bankroll number is. After that, you will have your “unit.” 

What is a unit? That is how much money a bettor typically bets on one game. 

It is designed to line up with your bankroll, to give you as many chances as possible to survive a possible cold stretch. 

For example, let’s say you have $20,000 in your bankroll dedicated to gambling. In this case, one unit would be $200. So, you can bet at least 200 games before you would start to be at risk of losing your entire bankroll. 

Knowing your bankroll will give you a good idea of how much money you need to be betting per game. But, you need to be flexible with this number. 

If you are on a cold streak that gets you down to say $15,000 in your bankroll, then you may need to adjust your unit to $150 rather than $200. 

This will keep you in the game longer and is the best counter-attack to stretches where you cannot seem to buy a winner. 

Shop Around 

Another tip for you is to shop around for lines. This is because certain lines can make the difference between you covering a spread, and having to fork your money over. 

For example, the Bucs are the favorite by eight points over the Cowboys in Week 1 of the 2021 NFL season in most sportsbooks. But, what if you find a book that gives you the Bucs at -7? 

This would give you a tremendous advantage. If a touchdown ends up being the difference in the game, then you would only have that bet push, instead of losing it outright. 

You need to keep an eye on these things, and perhaps set up accounts with multiple sportsbooks. Then, if one has a line that is friendly for one game, but another book you like has a better line for a different game you are interested in, you have the option to use both. 

Also, for shopping around, another thing you should keep an eye on is how much “juice” a book will charge you for making that bet. Say one sportsbook has -110 on the Bucs at -8, but another book has -115 for the Bucs at -7.5. 

In this situation, you should reconsider if that half point is worth using that book and giving $5 extra for every $100 you wish to bet. Shop around not only for lines but also for the right juice. 

Hedge Betting

One of the most recommended betting strategies is to hedge your bets. For those of you not familiar with the term, think of this as your insurance policy in the betting world. 

Say you have a futures bet of the Bucs winning OVER 11.5 games in a season. Then, imagine that they have 11 games won going into the last week of the season, but they already clinched their spot in the playoffs. 

They may fall into a situation where they do not have to win, and they could rest starters, decreasing your chances of covering that win. 

However, this is something you can do to cover yourself on both sides of the action. This is to hedge your bet, and in this situation, that would be betting on the opposite team to win if the line was right. 

So, let’s say in Week 18 that the Bucs are a 3-point favorite at home against the Panthers. In that case, you could probably get a plus money line on the Panthers’ side of the action. 

Here, your solution to minimize damage on either side would be to bet a portion or even equal to the amount you have riding on the Bucs to go over their projected win total. 

Middle Bets 

Another way you can cover yourself is to bet the middle. However, unlike hedge betting, this type of bet can potentially double your reward. 

In this situation, let’s say you have the Giants covering a 2.5 point spread over the Washington Football Team. But, the Giants end up going up 14-0 by halftime. 

Then, you get Washington at -4 to cover the second half. In this scenario, you may want to consider putting some additional money on the Washington side of the action. 

Yes, the con could be that you now have two separate bets in the same game to worry about covering. However, it does have a perfect scenario that can make you very happy by the end of the night. 

If the Giants won by more than 2.5 but by less than 10, then you would essentially win both of the bets you placed on that game, and you can end up getting double the profit than you originally expected all in one shot. 

This can be a great live game strategy but it can even apply before kickoff. In the Giants’ game against the Broncos, they went from 1-point favorites to 3-point underdogs. 

If you think the Broncos could win in a close game, you have the option of betting them as an underdog, and also betting the Giants at +3.

Specialize

When it comes to gambling, you want to have an edge that you can get. Well, one of the best ways to do this is to stick to betting sports that you master in knowledge. 

Let’s face it, there are a lot of sports out there and plenty of games going on every day all over the world that you now have access to information and platforms to bet those on. However, just because you have the ability to do it, does not mean you should. 

Assuming you are an American, it is going to be very unlikely that you know exactly who to bet in a Japanese sumo wrestling match. But, if you watch almost every NFL game every Sunday, you are going to be in a better position to give an accurate judgment on who might win a game. 

For sports like the NFL, there are already other betting pools where you are basically forced to know the game to try to gain an edge such as in a Pick’em Pool, Survivor Pool, and of course Fantasy Football. 

If you are around that information on a regular basis and feel confident in your knowledge of it, then you should stick to betting on that sport, rather than trying to get fancy and betting on games on the other side of the world that you do not know a lick about. 

Follow the Trends

Finally, you should be paying attention to what trend teams and/or players are on and if you think they are set up to continue. If you notice one, you may see that a line for you is very friendly. 

This is one example of trends that you may need to factor in for betting a particular game. Week 1 of the season may be tough to do this on, but going off of last year’s stats can still give you a good idea if there are no major changes. 

Here, it shows that the Lions had a 10-6 record last year on the Over for total points, while the 49ers were .500 at 8-8. Here, one notable statistic would be that the Lions gave up the most points in the league last year. 

If you think the Lions will have similar issues on defense this year, that stat should tell you that the Over may be a good bet in this game, because the Lions could be expected to give up a lot of points. 

Besides statistical trends, another trend you can follow is where the public money is going on a game. Most sharp bettors assume that most of the public loses more money than they win on sports betting. 

With that in mind, if there is a slight public edge on one side of the action, you could consider fading them and betting the opposite.

Here, the 49ers have 55% of the action on the point spread. So, you could consider betting the Lions assuming the belief that the general public is wrong more times than they are right.

Win Money on Sports Betting

Sports betting can give you an exhilarating feeling, and a lot of gamblers chase the emotional ride they get put on betting a game. With that in mind, only a small percentage actually profit in the long run. 

These tips can help you join that elite club. But, what if there was an even better option to make money by joining the “house” side of the action?

To find out more about how you can get a free week, every month for life, and make your own sportsbook today!