Ryan is a former mixed martial arts and kickboxing competitor. After finishing university he played online poker and taught English for a living in Thailand for a few years. Upon returning to England his focus has been on making a living from sports trading, betting and arbitrage. Over the course of 5 years he has managed to make a six figure profit using the strategies discussed on this site. Ryan runs the sports betting and trading website www.smartsportstrader.com
Alright that’s another year of betting in the books.
Overall it was a profitable and although covid still rears its ugly head. 2021 felt like a much more normal year compared to 2020 where everything seemed to be on hold.
If you want to take a look at results over the whole year, you can view the videos below.
(The video is broken up into 2 parts)
If you just want to take a look at results from December, let’s dig into them!
Value Betting
Strong end to the year for value betting.
Increased my staking on some of the bigger value bets this month. Previously i capped my max bet at £200 but I increased this to £300 in December. Which paid off as a number of the higher value bets paid off.
Something else that I also do with bigger value bets that I am confident will continue to shorten in odds. Is hedge half of the stake which in turn gives me a larger value bet.
This lowers the variance of value betting long term. When looking at value bets which don’t start for a few days it can be a good strategy to use.
During December there were 264 value bets.
A profit of £2312 was made.
Not Familiar With Matched Betting Or Value Betting ?
Casino offers came back with a solid winning month to end the year.
Feel like results have been a little underwhelming this year after a really strong 2020.
However I know I have done a lot less in terms of volume this year. To be honest casino offers are pretty mindless and almost just data entry this point.
Where as with betting I get a bit more stimulation out of trying to beat the game.
I small profit with MMA betting in the last month of the year.
After 10 bets a profit of £329 was made.
Horse Racing Tipsters
On to the horse racing portfolio, which has been something of a revelation this year.
It’s something that I hope can really allow me to scale profits up. Due to the volume that you can get down on a daily basis. Feels like it could be a game changer for me as long as thing continue to go well.
My staking plan is very simple – £10 on horses odds of 10.00 above and £20 on horses at odds of below 10.00.
This is the line up of horse racing tipsters I now use.
If you comment “Smart Sports Trader” in the chat when you sign up for a Trademate Sports trial. You will get an extended two week trial and also a 10% discount off your first month.
Subscription Cost – £105 a month (Monthly)
This blog post features affiliate links.
Which means that if you subscribe to a service through a link on this site I will receive a commission.
This does not come at any additional cost to you. In fact with some of these services I have negotiated discounted prices for readers of smartsportstrader.com.
I only recommend services I am using or have used in the past.
Football betting is a huge global market. It attracts billions of pounds in turnover and is often one the first sports that new bettors try to make money from.
People are always looking for football trading strategies that actually work.
In this article we are going to look at using strategies on Betfair and other betting exchanges. Which allow you to approach football betting in a way that is not available with normal bookmakers.
Which betting strategies actually work?
What are the best football betting strategies?
Caan Berry recently put out a video related to three football trading strategies you can use for the live betting markets. I thought it would be interesting to cover these strategies and look at the merits, potential dangers and situations where you could use these strategies effectively.
You can view the video below.
Football Trading Strategy 1 – Market Overreactions
The first strategy that Caan mentions in the video is taking advantage of overreactions in the market. Specifically mentioning the market reaction after a goal is scored.
When a goal is scored this is often a point where traders will look to exit their position.
For example if someone has layed the over 2.5 goals market at the start of the game. Their trading plan might be to hedge the trade for a profit after 20 mins if there is no goal. If a goal is scored then they will exit the strategy for a loss.
In this scenario if an early goal is scored. That trader is often going to exit that trade without considering the value of the odds that they are are backing.
This takes advantage of panic in the market.
So in this example the trade would be to lay the over 2.5 goals market straight after a goal is scored. Then exit a few minutes later as the market corrects and the odds drift.
A strategy I have seen used with this type of trade was to hold the trade for 15 minutes before hedging for profit.
Obviously the danger with this type of trade is that you open yourself up another goal being scored before you exit the trade.
So although this is a strategy that will generate a lot of small wins, when you do lose it is going to be for more.
If you are using this strategy you have to acknowledge the risk vs reward and as always make sure you have a solid staking plan.
It is not a strategy to use for every game.
You should always do your research and record when you see the optimal conditions for type of trade. This will allow you to anticipate in the future the best situations for this trading strategy.
Match Odds Market Strategy
Caan suggests in the video using this strategy in the match odds market.
In the match odds market you have the added upside of the opposing team scoring a goal whilst you are waiting for the market to correct itself.
It would make sense to use this football trading strategy when there is a heavy favourite that has taken the lead. Market’s like this tend to have more recreational money in the market.
When you have more recreational money in the market, you have a lot more traders that are not going to be assessing the value of the odds available. They will exit positions regardless of the odds being value or not.
The potential downside of the trade is again the danger of a goal against you whilst you try to scalp a few ticks.
However if you can find opportunities laying at shorter odds. Then the potential profit of a goal coming in your favour will yield a greater profit then a loss.
Football Trading Strategy 2 – Scalping Time Decay
The second strategy that is discussed in the video above is taking advantage of time decay.
As time moves forward in a football game, markets have to adjust to the changing probabilities of the games outcomes.
So for example if Man Utd are leading 1-0 against Brighton and are priced 1.17 on the 60th minute mark. If no other goal is scored then this price will gradually move to 1.01 before the end of the game.
The same has to happen for every other market in the match.
Here are a few pointers to use this strategy successfully.
You need fast live feed for pictures – You don’t want to be lagging behind every other trader and miss key moments in the game.
Use market panic to your advantage – If the market heavily favours something to happen odds can sometimes stall. For example a heavy favourite is losing by 1 goal and market expects them to score. However as the game approaches the last 10-15 minutes odds movement can accelerate due to market panic.
React to game tempo – Something else to consider is the tempo of the game, is the referee regularly stopping it, players time wasting, faking injury etc
This is a very solid strategy.
During the 2018 World Cup renowned football trader Psychoff gave out free trading advice. He used the above strategy several times successfully in both the goal markets and the match odds markets.
Obviously with any scalping strategy you are always at the mercy of a goal going against you.
However when using this strategy in the match odds market. There will be times when a goal will be scored to your advantage.
Like all betting/trading strategies it is about finding the situations that suit the strategy and provide value. Rather then trying to use the same strategy for every situation.
Football Trading Strategy 3 – Parallel Market Intent
The next football trading strategy Caan outlines is parallel market intent.
This basically means looking at markets in the future. Which are currently related to the one that is happening at that moment.
Let’s say for example Juventus are playing on Wednesday night in the Champions league against Liverpool. During the game Cristiano Ronaldo (The most important player in the Juventus team) gets hit with a bad tackle and is taken off on a stretcher.
Juventus are due to play Inter Milan on the Sunday and are priced at 2.2.
However due to the injury of Ronaldo the odds on Juventus immediately start to drift out and are priced at 2.42 within 5 minutes of the Ronaldo injury.
This would allow you to lay Juventus at 2.2 and then back them at 2.42 to guarantee your self a profit.
In the video below I outline how to lay and back (or back and lay) a trade to guarantee a profit if you are not familiar with this concept.
Out of the strategies that are outlined in the video created by Caan.
This third strategy is the one that appeals to my risk profile. As regular readers of this site know pre event trading is my favourite strategy to use.
It is extremely low risk and when you are quick to react to information then very large profits can be made.
Which leads me on to the next strategy.
Pre Match Trading Strategy
So we have covered the three football trading strategies that Caan Berry outlined in the video above.
Each of these strategies were based on the live betting markets. With the third combing both live and future markets.
Are there good football betting strategies to use in the pre match football betting markets.
The fourth strategy that I want to write about is pre match trading. This involves opening a position and exiting it before the start of the game.
This is an extremely powerful strategy and is personally my favourite strategy for the football markets.
Due to the fact that it can be extremely profitable and very low risk.
One of the best times to look for a pre match betting opportunities is when team news is announced. This will often lead to large movement’s in the match odds markets.
(Below is movement after team news was announced.)
For Premier League games, teams often release their line up on twitter an hour before kick off.
Reacting quickly to the line up information is an extremely effective way of pre match trading. As long as you have good knowledge of the teams playing. Enabling you to identify if a key player is missing.
I know some very successful pre match football traders that also use sports journalists and official team forums to get information that the majority of the market may not be aware of.
If you are looking for a very low risk strategy to make money from the football betting markets then this is a good one.
So we have covered four very solid football betting strategies.
The football betting markets are some of the tougher betting markets to beat.
However if you put in the time and use the strategies that are suited to your approach to risk. You can find consistent ways to profit from football betting and trading.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this article and found some information that you can use to profit from the football betting markets.
The bad man tipster – how he profits when you lose
I met up with an old friend recently who shares a an interest in sports betting much like me. He started to tell me how he was following a tipsters that turns £25 into a £1000.
“What’s his name,” I asked.
“The bad man tipster.” He replied.
So it peaked my interest and I thought I would do a little research.
You probably already know what I am going to write. These tipsters basically work for bookmakers in essence and want to you to lose.
The Badman Tipster makes money when you lose. If you actually make money then he doesn’t make a penny.
He works as an affiliate for bookmakers and makes a commission on the losses of every punter he sends. If he only sends winning punters then he doesn’t make any money at all.
The Casual Gambler reports that he lost 57, £25-£1000 challenges in a row.
This would have lost £1425 for anyone following his selections. In honesty though the losses since his inception will in my opinion likely be far more. Tipsters that run this sort of business model will never track their record publicly or proof it anywhere.
Why?
Because its in their best interest not to. They don’t want to document how much money people are losing following their bets.
The Bad Man Tipster Odds
Another shady aspect of this tipster is that they don’t even post the odds they bet at.
“I recommend placing the bet between odds of 1.25 (1/4) and 1.50 (1/2).” (The Bad Man Tipster)
Obviously there is a huge difference between winning a bet at 1.25 or 1.5. Especially when you are rolling over your bankroll for the next bet. Putting such a wide margin of odds on their selections means they can easily manipulate a challenge.
If the goal comes late they can claim they got on at 1.5, if a goal is scored instantly they took it at 1.25.
There is just no transparency and its obviously easy for them claim what they want.
You will also see that he only states Bet365 as an option for the bet.
If you are serious about turning a profit from your betting you need to find the best odds for every bet. Often you will find that Bet365 don’t have the best in-play odds and you would have been better off betting at a betting exchange like Betfair.
But as Bet365 are the best bookmaker for tipsters that make money as affiliates. You won’t see them touting the best odds for each selection.
Again when they get paid for your losses why would they want show you how to give yourself the best chance of being profitable.
Affiliate Tipsters
There are thousands of these tipsters around. All pushing affiliate links and doing silly challenges.
My advice is don’t follow any of them.
Unless you are fine with giving money to a guy that provides losing betting tips.
For me personally its like paying someone £20 to come and kick me in the balls. Hoping there’s a tiny chance that they slip knock themselves unconscious and £1000 falls out of their pocket in the process.
Its just a bit silly.
A lot of affiliate tipsters are not interested in providing profitable tips. They are driven by greed.
The truth about successful sports betting is that is a long grind. Its about finding value bets and gradually increasing your bankroll over time.
You can’t turn £25 into £1000 with ease.
Rolling over your stake after each bet is never a good idea.
What these tipster affiliates do is play on human nature.
People want to win big and they want it quickly. So whilst dangling the carrot of “12 bets and you will win £1000” seems appealing. Over the long term your going to lose a lot of money chasing that £1000.
Sure you might get lucky but the odds are against you.
In the meantime please share this article with anyone that follows these clown tipsters.
It would be cool if what these people do could become common knowledge.
People would lose a lot less money following these individuals and in turn these tipsters would make much much less from their shady bookmaker affiliate deals.
The UFC is the fastest growing sport in the world!
It is a dynamic, thrilling, explosive sport that is loved by many. In recent years we have also seen more and more people looking to bet on the sport of mixed martial arts.
Like with all other sports there are betting opportunities in the sport of mixed martial arts.
In this article we are going to take a look at who are the best UFC tipsters online, that tick all the right boxes.
Profitable ✔
Verified Results ✔
Long Term Tracked Record ✔
Lucrative MMA Betting
First up on the list is Lucrative mma!
Lucrative MMA is a popular tipster in the world of mixed martial arts betting. This tipster doesn’t just focus on betting purely UFC events but also finds value in other organizations. Betting on the likes of Bellator and the Dana Whites Contender series event.
Dating back to 2019 Lucrative MMA’s betting results show a very impressive return on investment of 11%.
Lucrative MMA’s results are backed up by glowing reviews over on the Trustpilot page, which indicates that the service is run very professionally and customers are generally happy.
Overall Lucrative MMA stands out as one the best UFC betting tipsters currently online.
A one month subscription to Lucrative MMA’s service costs $96 a month with discounts for longer term memberships.
Want to test out Lucrative MMA betting tips for yourself?
After 731 bets an impressive 258.4 units in profit has been made, which works out at a return on investment of 12.7%.
Total Number of Bets
731
Return on Investment
12.7%
Total Profit
258.4 units
Rob’s results speak for themselves and the service also offer a chatroom for live bets. This part of the service is also in profit.
Speaking from experience live betting on the UFC can be very profitable. However it is also very fast paced and odds change very quickly which is why for this article we are focusing on bets made pre fight.
Pre fight bets are much easier to follow for subscribers of any betting tipsters.
A monthly subscription to Rob Brown Betting currently costs $79.99 per month with discounted rates for longer term subscriptions.
Andrew Gombas is a tipster that you can find on the tracking site BetMMA.tips and also on Patreon.
After 1722 bets his record stands at 194.88 units of profit made, with a 7% return on investment. The majority of that profit has come from straight fight picks with 142.74 units made in this category.
It’s his record on straight fight picks that gets him on the best UFC tipster list. There are sometimes outliers on the props market which maybe only available with one bookmaker. Big wins on accumulators (parlay) betscan also inflate records. Having a solid winning record on picking straight win bets is a sign of a good UFC betting tipster.
Total Number of Bets
1722
Return on Investment
7%
Total Profit
194.88
Andrew Gombas MMA betting is one of the cheaper services on this list, costing around $35 a month.
If your a fan of watching the UFC and want to start betting but not yet ready to commit to buying tips, then your in luck.
There are a lot of really good mixed martial arts (mainly UFC) betting podcasts that do a very good job of providing valuable information.
Let’s take a look at a few!
Diehard MMA Podcast
The Die Hard MMA podcast is a weekly show that covers the upcoming UFC event for the weekend. Shows are usually up fairly early in the week (Tuesdays) which is ideal for those that are just starting to put together their bets for the weekend.
It is hosted by a the very likeable Clint Mclean and features a different guest each week. Fairly often one of those guests will be a long term profitable mma bettor.
Both James Blissett of Lucrative MMA and Andrew Gombas have featured on this podcast, along with many other names in MMA betting community.
This podcast is a betting podcast not just a picks podcast. Which means the discussions are based on value and available odds.
Next up on the list is the criminally underrated UFC betting podcast the “Club And Sub Podcast.”
The podcast is run by an couple of sharp American mixed martial arts bettors. If there is a UFC event going on then you will likely find an accompanying episode.
Similar to the Diehard MMA podcast, it is a podcast that is solely looking at betting on UFC fights. Discussions are largely around style match ups, odds, betting theory and whether current odds offer value.
If you are looking to improve your mma betting then listening to the thought process of the Club and Sub guys is going to be beneficial.
If your looking to follow the best UFC tipsters around, then those mentioned throughout this article are a great choice.
The more serious bettor that is looking to make a long term income from sports betting might want to consider following the likes of Lucrative MMA or Rob Brown Betting. Whilst if your just getting started and don’t want subscription fee’s eating into your bankroll. Then the Diehard MMA podcast and Club and Sub are a great way to get some free UFC picks.
Want more profitable tipsters below are articles covering other sports.
Recently I was speaking to a friend about sports betting. He asked me who is the “Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo” of the sports betting world.
It was an interesting question as who are the biggest sports bettors in the world?
The Biggest Sports Bettors In The World
Successful sports bettors don’t tend to glamour for the limelight.
They have their edges in the sports betting markets and make money from it. If they were to reveal their methods and how they make money from sports betting, the markets would react and they would no longer be profitable.
So there is “no world series of sports betting” or “sports betting champions league.”
There are however a few high profile sports bettors that are known among the media.
Billy Walters
Billy Walters is a big name in American sports betting. It is estimated that Walters has made tens of millions of dollars perhaps even hundreds of millions of dollars.
Walters was originally for Kentucky. He moved to Las Vegas in the early 1980’s and formed his own betting syndicate.
Walters betting operation was first described in the book “The Smart Money” by Micheal Konik.
Within the book the author goes into detail about Walters (although a pseudonym is used) betting operation. How he used multiple people to get his bets on using multiple accounts.
Difficulties he faced in getting sports books to accept his bets. Alongside the lengths and planning he had to go through to be so successful.
Although he has been largely secretive about his betting operations. He has been covered on ESPN and had a small television segment made about him.
Billy Walters has long been known as one of the biggest sports bettors in Las Vegas. However has most recently been making headlines after being convicted of insider trading.
Tony Bloom And Starlizard
Tony Bloom is the owner of UK based betting syndicate “Starlizard.”
He is well known name among sharp sports bettors. It is estimated that Starlizard can have as much as £1 million staked on a single outcome of a football match.
Starlizard are known to run their betting operation with same devotion and analytics of a major hedge fund.
Officially Stalizard describe itself as a betting consultancy. Which uses complex statistical models to generate football odds that are sharper than those offered by the Asian bookmakers and betting exchanges.
Alongside profiting from their own bets Starlizard are also known to provide winning football bets to other high rollers.
Bloom isn’t just involved with sports betting and has many other business ventures.
In 2009 he became the chairman of his hometown club after purchasing 75% stake in the club. Also investing £93 million into developing a new ground.
According to Business Insider UK the bulk of the money used in Stalizard’s operation comes from Tony Bloom. Described as a maths whiz.
He is a veteran gambler and has competed in some of the highest stake poker tournaments around. In the early 2000’s he was estimated to have made millions from setting up online bookmaker and poker websites.
Much like Billy Walters, Tony Bloom is not one for the public limelight. With most articles containing second hand information about his betting activities.
Bloom only chooses to talk with the media about his involvement in Brighton And Hove Albion.
Zeljko Ranogajec
Zeljko Ranogajec is rumoured to be one of the biggest gamblers in the world. It is estimated that his global annual turnover is more then $1 billion.
Born in Australia in a family of Croatian immigrants. Zeljko first success in gambling came from the game of blackjack.
Allegedly Zeljko Ranogajec turned a bankroll of a few hundred dollars into millions through advantage play.
He has also had notable wins in the game of Keno winning $7.5 million and in 2011 was inducted into the blackjack hall of fame.
When it comes to sports betting Zeljko Ranogajec is rumoured to bet significant amounts of money on horse racing. It is reported that his turnover accounts for nearly a third of the total for Betfair in Australia.
Ranogajec does not give any interviews.
A lot of the speculation that surrounds him comes from second hand information. As with most large scale sports bettors there is not much for him to gain from revealing information about his betting activities.
The three sports bettors above are thought to turnover hundreds of millions perhaps billions annually.
In truth though it is hard to know who the biggest sports bettors in the world are. As if you are profiting from sports betting on such a large scale it is in your interest to keep that knowledge to yourself.
Some of the biggest sports bettor in the world may also not even be winning ones!
I am sure there will a few rich oil merchants or Chinese businessman. Who bet huge amounts of money for thrills without the detailed analysis needed to be successful.
So whist little is known about the biggest sports bettors in the world.
There are at least a few individuals that rumoured to be beating the sports betting markets on a massive scale.
Interested in sports betting, matched betting, advantage play or trading?
Read my attempt at making £1,000,000 from sports betting.
Betting Gods seems almost too good to be true right?
They offer multiple tipsters on their platform who have made over £100,00k in profit!
In this Betting Gods review will look at how theBettingGods Tipster Network, covering how they operate and the tipsters they offer.
Is Betting Gods a scam?
Do Betting Gods tipsters make money over the long term?
Betting Gods are a large company with over 18k followers on the Betting Gods twitter account. Betting Gods free tips are a popular discussion point however this article will focus mainly on their paid tipsters.
Now I have previously done some Betting Gods reviews on a few of their popular tipsters. So I thought it would make a good article, here are my honest thoughts on betting gods.
The Shady World Of Betting Tipsters
It is true that the world of sports betting tipsters is a very shady one. With a very large percentage of them offering no value what so ever.
I have written about these very popular social media tipsters that make money from the loses of players they refer to bookmakers. Then there are tipsters that just outright lie about results in order to appear profitable and sell tips.
However there are a very small percentage of tipsters that actually offer some value. That record odds fairly and really do aim to make long term profits for their subscribers.
So where then does betting gods fit in?
Betting Gods Tipsters
Currently the Betting Gods Tipster Network have a total of 12 tipsters under their name. Ranging from popular betting markets like horse betting and football. To smaller markets such as boxing and European basketball.
I have had the chance to review several betting gods services in depth. A horse racing lay bet service called Cudsworth’s lays. This service really struggled during my review and is now no longer part of the Betting Gods stable.
The Football Guru (review here) a tipster which unsurprisingly focuses on the football markets. This service is showing a long term profit of over £3000 betting at £10 a point since December 2015. The Football Guru performed well during our review although one negative aspect to report was the inclusion of the Bet365 inplay offer in their results.
A service that have I have used and had success with is Quentin Franks Racing (reviewhere). This is a service that had a really stellar track record of producing profit month after month. It had tough year in 2017 but has shown to be profitable long term.
Many of the services that I reviewed are no longer with Betting Gods. The one service that remains of which I have reviewed is Premier Greyhound tips. This service was very profitable during our trial remains a standout service for Betting Gods. It is the best greyhound tipster service that we have ever come across.
Over the past few years of running this site. I have had a few emails exchanges with people regarding betting gods. Where both the negative and positives of this tipster network have been discussed. Here are some of the main points that have come up.
Betting Gods Review – Negatives
I can’t match the odds they quote and record!
This is the most common complaint I get about some of the horse racing services that Betting Gods advertise. A lot of people have emailed me asking if I can match the odds which are quoted for the Quentin Franks horse racing service.
In truth I can’t match them all the time, and I really put quite a bit of effort into making sure I am at my computer when the daily email arrives.
Now from Betting Gods point of view I can see why they advertise their results this way. When emails are sent these odds do exist but bookmakers slash most of the higher odds selections within minutes.
If you don’t have the fastest email provider or are not able to bet close to the time of receiving the emails. You are not going to be able to get close to the odds quoted.
Perhaps a fairer way of recording odds would be to wait 10 minutes after emails are sent and record odds that exist at 2 or 3 bookmakers.
The way they market their services?
So variable staking plans are quite common among tipsters. Depending on the perceived value and odds of a selection will determine your stake amount.
For example lets say we believe Man Utd at home to Preston in the FA cup at odds of 1.30 is a really strong bet. We might bet 10 points £100 on Man Utd at 1.30.
However on the same day we also think Burton at home to Brighton at odds of 8.4 is a really good bet. But due to the difference in odds we don’t bet 10 points we only bet 1 point £10.
We would do this to protect out bankroll and lessen the volatility of betting at higher odds. This is a fairly common way of staking.
However it can lead to some of the roi and results figures looking a little inflated.
An example of this was one of Betting Gods previous tipsters. Chloe’s football focus boasted some highly impressive figures. With an 89% return on investment and average monthly profit of £1286.04 to £10 stakes it sounds awesome.
However if you look at the detailed results you will see some large bets on high odds. For example 10 point bets (£100) at odds of 11.5 and 17.9 have won.
In a small sample size of 202 bets this can really give unrealistic expectations of the long term profits that can be achieved from sports betting.
Now from Betting Gods point of view. I can see why they would market this service in this way. The results are true and Chloe’s Football Focus is on a great run of results with those 10 point bets having paid off.
This potentially could be a very good service over the long term.
However from my point of view and someone that wants to educate people to be better sports bettors.
I know the pitfalls of this type of staking and understand the variance involved betting on such high odds. Personally I would like to see them include the level stakes results for the services that use variable staking plans.
This service is no longer part of betting gods
Betting Gods Review – Positives
They are pretty transparent
Out of all the tipsters networks that exist Betting Gods are one of the most transparent. I have noted issues with including bet365 offers in results and variable staking inflating some of their tipsters results. But they don’t try to hide of any of this. If you want to go and have a detailed look at any of the 12 tipsters they promote you will find detailed results.
This is a big positive for me as it really allows you to get an idea of type of odds a tipster focuses on. The volume of bets a tipsters puts out, which markets they focus on.
It gives you a feel for the service without needing to join up first.
They offer trials and money back guarantees
A lot of tipster platforms are just looking for suckers that will pay for the first month of a service and aren’t bothered about the longevity of their customers. They will just trick some new people to join and this is their business model.
Well Betting Gods do want long term subscribers and that’s why they offer 30 day trials for a £1.99. This is enables the subscriber to see whether the tipster service works for them and suits their style of betting.
You can also get a full refund within 30 days no questions asked if you weren’t happy with the service.
Professionalism and support
Like I wrote earlier the world of sports betting tipsters is a very shady one. So it is refreshing to have a tipster network that is very transparent. Offers live chat and email support. And generally runs itself like a professional business should do.
So whilst the Betting Gods tipster network isn’t perfect. It is far from a scam and if you are looking to add a betting tipster to your portfolio. You can very easily take a detailed look at any of the tipsters they offer and take a up a 30 day trial to see if they fit well for you.
If you can’t match the quoted odds or have an issue with the service you can get a refund without any issue.
Overall I think you should always do your research before joining a tipster.
Betting Gods are far from perfect and I do think some of the tipsters are not going to be profitable long term. However they do also have some solid tipsters that stake reasonably and have long term winning records.
(This article features affiliate links. This means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. I use or have used any product I review. If I recommend them it is because I believe they are helpful, useful and offer value to their customers. Please do not spend any money on these products unless you feel they will give you value or that they will help you achieve your goals.)
Limitations, bans, being asked to supply the last 5 years of your bank statements. Along with a selfie ID in front of today’s newspaper.
In order to withdraw money that they let you deposit with no questions asked.
There are many shady and unethical practices that bookmakers employ to make life difficult for the regular sports bettor.
Which bookmaker stands out as the worst in the UK?
Who are the bookmakers that you want to avoid in 2022?
In today’s article we are going to take a look at the worst bookmaker currently on offer in the UK.
Highlighting the warning signs you should look out for when trusting your money with a bookmaker!
Worst Bookmaker In The UK
High up on the worst bookmakers in the UK list is Betway.
AsCaan Berryhighlights in the video above. Betway have drawn a lot of negative attention for their unethical practices over the last few years.
My experience with Betway was opening an account. Placing one initial bet and then finding my account restricted from promotions, along with stake limitations the next day.
Recent Trustpilot reviews suggest that Betway haven’t improved as a bookmaker, since I last used them.
With several reports of Betway doing all they can to stop punters withdrawing their winnings. Blocking accounts, delaying withdrawals, settling winning bets as lost etc.
Their average review on Trust Pilot is 2 out of 5.
This is despite them running a free bet promotion, where Betway gave members who wrote a positive review free bets.
As the Times report, despite adding over 6000 positive reviews on Trustpilot through unethical measures. The average rating for Betway is still very low. Remove those 6000 five star reviews and its pretty obvious what a fair rating would be.
Unable To Withdraw Winnings
One of the most frustrating things a bookmaker can do is withhold your money!
A common theme among many shady bookmakers is they will let you deposit large amounts into an account with zero checks. However when it comes to withdrawal time woah woah woah!!!
Sir/madam can you explain where this money came from? Provide source of funds, multiple forms of ID, go through a phone interview etc
It’s a terrible practice that is unfortunately all too common with the worst bookmakers in the UK.
Betway are notorious for doing this. I know multiple people that have had no problem depositing with Betway but once it came to withdrawing that money. Were met with all the resistance that Betway legally can get away with.
That even after a high spending losing bettor had “self excluded” himself via gamstop. Betway offered him a £300 bonus bet to reel him back in.
The article really highlights the predatory nature of Betway.
There are multiple reports showing how they abuse verification and source of funds measures put in place to identify problem gamblers. Which were all used as a way to deter winning players and delay withdrawls.
However in this story we see a problem gambler of the highest order. Someone that ends up stealing to fund their betting addiction.
Being plowed with free bets and incentives. Having “VIP Managers” chatting to him regularly under the guise of being a friend. All done with the intention squeezing a father with a gambling addiction for all of the money they could get.
Where were these source of funds and affordability checks in this case?
Unfair Bonus Terms
The term bonus is usually defined in a positive way. It is something that is given as reward for good work or an additional incentive.
However something that has become more and more common practice with the worst bookmakers around is the worthless or -EV bonus.
This is something that appears at first to be appealing perhaps a £20 bonus for signing up. But when looking at the terms of conditions is actually worthless or of much smaller value.
It probably comes as no surprise that Betway use this tactic for their casino sign up.
On the face of it a £50 bonus sounds great.
You deposit £50 and then you get an additional £50.
The issue comes with the terms and conditions.
There is a 50x wagering on the deposit (£2500 wagering on £50.) With weighting requirements, which means some games won’t contribute fully to the wagering. There is also a term that states irregular game play may invalidate your bonus (Pretty much a get of jail card if they don’t want to pay out.)
If we dig into the maths of this offer. A regular bettor is probably going to try and wager through this offer on a slot.
A good slot would have a 97% return to player, meaning that for every £100 wagered on average £3 would be lost. Given that you have to wager £2500 to withdraw the bonus.
We can do the sum as -£3 (average lost wagering £100) x 25 (complete £2500 wagering) = -£75.
Showing that this £50 “bonus” offers no value at all.
Other Bookmakers To Avoid In The UK
High up on my personal list is Fansbet.
When I tried to withdraw £20 from the company. Suddenly a flurry of requests were made for ID, source of wealth etc. They would not accept my bank statements as I had blurred out personal transactions and demanded to see a full month’s worth of unedited statements.
Overall just a huge pain to deal with and a shoddy bookmaker with generally very poor odds.
Tonybet are another bookmaker with a pretty poor reputation.
Personally I have had very little to do with them. However they are are multiple reports of them using similar tactics to Betway in order to keep hold of money.
Is Betway The Worst Bookmaker In The UK?
Betway is in my opinion the worst bookmaker in the UK. Especially given its advertising presence online and the fact that its sponsors popular football teams such as West Ham.
Of the most well known bookmakers it is definitely the one to avoid.
From my experience with online betting for last ten years and running my betting as a business. I would advise caution when dealing with Betway. It is not a bookmaker I would want much money in my account with.
Given its history of holding on to withdrawals for as long as possible and making life hard for anyone that isn’t handing them over their wage slips every month.
Do you agree, who is your worst bookmaker in the UK?
Over the past few years I have made good money exploiting casino offers using various services. I did a lot of this manually before Bonus Accumulator was created and also took offers from another service.
Are Casino Offers Worth It?
Below is my profit graph after exploiting over 4892 casino offers.
A profit of over £26,639 has been made since 2019.
So the question is can Bonus Accumulator allow you to do the same?
Lets take a look!
Bonus Accumulator Review
Training
So first off the mathematics behind exploiting casino offers profitably can seem difficult at first.
It differs to matched betting as you will not always make a profit from every offer. However every offer you do will have a positive expectancy.
This means that in the long run if you keep doing offer after offer you will make money.
Sometimes you will win big!
The example that I always use for simplicity is that of a coin flip.
Lets pretend that you have a friend that believes heads is luckier then tails.
Because they believe this they are willing to pay you £1.10 every time it lands on tails. But you have to only pay them £1 every time it lands on heads.
This situation would give you a clear mathematical advantage.
Long term this is called plus EV or positive expected value.
When Tails lands in this situation the payout odds are 2.1 (real probability is 50% so the odds should be 2.0)
Heads lands and the payout odds are 2.0 (This is the true value of a coin landing on tails.)
If you flipped the coin long enough you would make money.
Casino offers work on exactly the same premise.
Bonus accumulator provides plenty of instruction for those new to exploiting casino offers.
In the form of videos and written guidelines. So which ever way you learn the best, they have it covered.
The videos and guidelines cover.
Why Should You Do Casino Offers
Types Of Casino Offer
How To Play Roulette
What Is Wagering?
How To Play Blackjack
How To Play Slots
ID/KYC Verification
Risk Free Offers
Low Risk Offers
Medium Risk Offers
High Risk Offers
How To Use The Simulator
Bonus Accumulator Offers
This was probably most interesting part for myself.
As I mentioned earlier I have been exploiting casino offers for many years now using another service.
So how does Bonus Accumulator stack up in this department?
Names of the casino are hidden to protect copyright
Extremely Well!
I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of offers that the bonus accumulator service covers.
There are hundreds of offers covering risk free, low risk, medium risk and high risk.
Sign up offers are often the most profitable but there is also a large quantity of reload offers to do.
In comparison to the service that I have been using for years it stands up very well.
Bonus Accumulator Instructions
When you choose the offer that want to exploit.
Bonus accumulator gives you step by step instruction on the optimal approach, to extract the highest value possible.
Another aspect of the Bonus Accumulator service that I really like is the in-depth breakdown of each offer.
The detail is very impressive and puts them ahead of their competition.
Breaking down the EV for example into an hourly rate is something that I really like.
A lot of people seem to think that matched betting and casino offers aren’t worth the time.
However this really highlights that if you put in the time exploiting casino offers it is still extremely profitable!
What Tools Do You Get With Bonus Accumulator
Simulator
There are several tools that come with a Bonus Accumulator subscription.
We will start with my favorite which is a simulator for casino games.
As you can see from the picture this is a really handy piece of software.
You can run a number of simulations regarding the type of bonus or cashback offer that you are doing.
Such as
Bet And Get
Sticky Bonus (Where bonus is removed and only profit from bonus counts.)
Free Spins
Second Chance Bonus
Post Wager
Cashback
It then spits out a number of metrics for you.
This is an excellent tool that is especially handy for reload offers that get sent out by casinos to specific customers. It is a very quick way of seeing if the offer is profitable or not.
The above picture is a breakdown of a cashback offer that I was sent on the slot Rick and Morty Megaways.
Below is a video of me doing this offer. I managed to hit the bonus round on my last spin. (The video length is cut due to file size)
Just to prove that the video is legitimately me completing the cashback offer.
Here is a screenshot from my gaming history (the extra £6.40 came on the initial spin before the bonus loaded.)
So although this offer only had an expected value of £3.95. The hourly rate on completing an offer such as this is £236.75.
If you look at exploiting casino offers as an hourly return then it really does hammer home how much value there is to be had.
My profit from this one offer was £566.40.
This does highlight the variance in results and it can swing both ways. You can run way above the expected profit but also below it.
It is important to focus on the long term results as you will have losing periods at times.
However I can tell you that after doing 4000 plus offers the variance does even itself out.
Slots Database
Next up in the list of tools that you get with Bonus Accumulator is the slots database.
This isn’t anything fancy it is pretty much as the name suggests. Its a database of slots that allows you to search based on
Name
Return To Player
Variance
Provider
You might want to use this tool if you get an offer that is slot specific or are just looking for high RTP (return to player) slots to complete an offer with.
Perhaps you want to look up the RTP amount of a slot in order to input it in the simulation tool.
Again its a handy tool to have and saves you manually looking for everything on google (which is something I have done in the past.)
Blackjack Calculator
Last on the list is a blackjack calculator.
Blackjack is a game that I have played for probably hundreds of hours, given its high return to player if played optimally.
Making it one of the best games to rollover a casino bonus with if allowed in the bonus terms.
Previously I have used an online template for optimal blackjack strategy but Bonus Accumulator has its own.
The blackjack calculator is extremely simple.
You input the dealer hand, then state what your own cards are.
The calculator then spits out the optimal move to make allowing you to play the best blackjack strategy possible with highest rtp (return to player.)
Bonus Accumulator Profit Tracker
When it comes to having a quick and efficient way of tracking your profits, Bonus Accumulator has this covered also.
It uses a very simple process.
Where when you have finished completing an offer you input your actual profit the software logs this then also tracks the expected profit from the offer.
The software then saves this information and allows you to track all the offers you have done.
Producing a nice graph which shows your real profit alongside your expected profit.
Having done this for a few years already I have always used Excel.
The profit tracking with Bonus Accumulator is again very simple to use and very efficient.
They have done a great job of creating functional profit tracking tools that will save you inputting everything into Microsoft Excel. It might seem like a little thing but its a great little time saver that compounds in the long run.
Bonus Accumulator Forum
There is also an active community within Bonus Accumulator.
This is in the form of a forum, where you can reach out for help or advice if you are struggling. Make suggestions for further tools to be added or adjustments which might benefit the community.
If you are wondering whether or not a recurring reload offer is profitable you can ask a more experienced member of the community for confirmation if it is value or not.
It is always good to talk with individuals that share the same interests as yourself.
So the addition of a active forum is a big positive for Bonus Accumulator.
It is a good place to learn and also take motivation from the results of other people that are looking to make money exploiting casino bonuses.
Are Casino Offers Still Worth Doing In 2021?
Below I have attached my results for the year of 2020.
As I have been asked a few times are casino offers still worth doing in 2021?
Over the course of 2020 I took part in 2202 casino offers.
A total profit of £11,946 was made.
I will be continuing to do casino offers in 2021. In my opinion I believe there is still good money to be made from casino offers in 2021.
Bonus Accumulator now comes under the umbrella of Profit Accumulator diamond membership.
£39.99 monthly subscription.
£300 a year subscription ( £25 a month.)
The monthly fee is very expensive in comparison to other services. A yearly one off payment works out at £25 a month which in my opinion is value.
Profit Accumulator Diamond membership brings together the best of matched betting and casino offers. So this remains a good option if you want to make the most of both.
However a cheaper alternative would be Profit Maximiser which covers both casino and matched betting for a fraction of the price (£115 yearly)
There are not that many products around that solely focus on exploiting casino offers.
The other notable bonus service available on the internet is Team Casino. Having tried both services I found Bonus Accumulator to be much more in depth.
Choosing between the two my recommendation would be to go with Bonus Accumulator.
Bonus Accumulator Review Conclusion
In this Bonus Accumulator review we have covered all aspects of the service and from the tone of the review you can probably tell that I have been impressed.
Like I have mentioned through out this review I have been exploiting casino bonus for a few years already.
So when I heard about Bonus Accumulator I thought initially it would just be more of the same.
However Bonus Accumulator have taken everything that was already available and improved it in every aspect.
They have delivered a really sleek and most importantly very functional service that provides a tonne of value for anyone that is looking to make money from casino offers.
Are there any negatives?
Exploiting casino offers isn’t something that is brand new but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still a lot of money to be made from doing it.
The main drawback to Bonus Acucmulator is the price tag in relation to its competitors.
However if you want combine matched betting and are new to casino bonus hunting then this is the perfect place to start.
Is there a Bonus Accumulator Trial?
There isn’t a Bonus Accumulator trial. They have now combined there casino service with their matched betting service Profit Accumulator. Under the Diamond membership service.
If you want a similar service you can trial.
My recommendation is Profit Maximiser who offer a £1 trial for 14 days which is excellent value.
(This article features affiliate links. This means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you.
I use or have used any product I review. If I recommend them it is because I believe they are helpful, useful and offer value to their customers.
Please do not spend any money on these products unless you feel they will give you value or that they will help you achieve your goals.)
Looking to start making money from your Betfair Trading in 2023?
In this article we are going to take a look at the key things you need to know in order to succeed with your trading.
It’s good to learn from your mistakes. It’s better to learn from other people’s mistake – Warren Buffet
Betfair Trading Key Advice – Learn From Others
Making mistakes in your Betfair trading will ultimately lead to you losing money. The Warren Buffet quote makes a solid point.
Wouldn’t you rather learn from those that have already lost money rather then lose your own money to find out the same thing?
Luckily when it comes to Betfair trading there are some very accomplished professional traders that have put out a lot of great information.
Caan Berry for example has been a professional Betfair trader from a number of years. Through his blog and also Youtube channel you can learn a lot about how to approach Betfair trading in 2023 with the correct approach.
Whether you are looking to trade Horse Racing, Tennis or Football. Caan has a lot of excellent information on what to look for in the betting markets.
Here is an example of a very good horse racing strategy to look at for beginners who want to profit from the horse racing markets.
The second piece of key information if your looking to improve your Betfair trading in 2022 is?
Specialize In One Sport
Find the sport you want to focus on and become a specialist.
There are thousands of markets on Betfair and it can be easy to jump around from one to the other.
Trade the horses in the morning, jump on a tennis game after your lunch. Hop over to a cricket market a few hours later, then spend the rest of the night watching and trading Serbian basketball.
The Betfair markets in general are too competitive for you to jump around different sports and be able to profit long term.
The majority of successful traders that I know focus on one sport. They spend time gaining a deep knowledge of that sport and develop successful strategies.
For example Paulo Rebelo is a very successful Portuguese Betfair trader that focuses solely on football. Psychoff is another well known trader who again specializes in football.
Both Rebelo and Psychoff have been able to make big profit by solely focusing on football trading.
Other notable names in Betfair trading are Mark Iverson who focuses on cricket. Along with Dan Weston who made his name trading tennis.
These are experts in there chosen sports and are able to make a living from their Betfair trading.
Sure spend a few weeks looking at different markets and sports. However find the one that you want to specialize in and really delve into how the markets react to different situations.
Then work on developing strategies that you think could be profitable.
Test Your Betfair Trading Strategies
Don’t do what I did, when I first started trading on Betfair!
There are some great videos available on youtube from the likes of Caan Berry and others. However don’t watch them and think that you will immediately be able to replicate exactly what they are doing.
You really have to build an understanding of the markets and understand the right situations for each strategy.
For example when I first started I would watch a video about scalping. Then immediately go and test it out on the next horse market that was starting. This would inevitably go very wrong as I didn’t have the understanding of the horse markets that I needed to.
This is why it is really important to test out your strategies. Using very small stakes.
What this does, is enable you to build your experience and knowledge of the betting markets you want to take on. Then eventually start to generate an income from your Betfair trading.
Becoming Profitable Takes Time
Pre event trading, in-play trading, scalping, swing trading, lay the server, back the server. There are so many different approaches that you can try with each individual sport.
However one key thing to keep in mind is that becoming profitable will take time.
Many people go into Betfair trading after they spent some time sports betting or have been involved with matched betting. Perhaps thinking that it is going to be a relatively easy way to make some extra money.
This isn’t true, the markets are competitive and becoming profitable will likely take some time.
Even the best Betfair traders had to start somewhere.
Don’t expect to be hitting Paulo Rebelo levels of profit within a few weeks.
Make sure you give yourself time to learn the markets. Don’t pressure yourself with an unrealistic goal of making thousands of pounds profit within a month or two.
Betfair Trading In 2023 – Conclusion
Overall the betting exchange markets offer a lot of opportunity, if you are willing to put some work into them.
In 2022 Betfair trading is still a very viable way of making money online. Within this article we have looked at 4 key pieces of advice that can really help you get started.
If you want learn more about Betfair trading a good starting place is Caan Berry’s websitewhich has a free beginners trading course.
November was the first month of my streamline more time efficient betting portfolio.
I really enjoyed spending a little less time betting. Spent more time learning about investing long term and even delved into learning more about cryptocurrency.
Cryptocurrency is something I have always though I would just leave alone. After reading more and looking into it I came to the exact same conclusion (time well spent).
Will stick with sports betting, trading and investing in the stock market.
Anyway enough rambling lets take a look at results from November (Month 56).
Value Betting
Apart from a few £5 Bet365 free bets and 1 or 2 arbitrage bets it was pretty much all value betting in November.
I get on value bets a few different ways.
Utilizing limited accounts, using betting shops and using accounts that have yet to be limited.
During November there were 107 value bets.
A profit of £619 was made.
Not Familiar With Matched Betting Or Value Betting ?
It was a losing month for casino offers this month.
Been a while since I hit a really decent win on casino’s and profit this year has been a lot less then years prior. Part of that is variance but also I have just done a lot less this year.
During November a profit of £1842 was made from horse racing tipsters.
A really strong month and betting on horse racing is something that I want to focus more on going forward.
I like the amount of volume I can get down on a daily basis, there are plenty of good horse racing tipsters around. There does seem to be some scope to profit from the exchanges also which is the big factor.
Golf Portfolio
Not the best month for the golf portfolio. Got off to a fairly good start early on but a consistent stream of losers put the month into negative figures.
Alongside that I also place a few of my own bets that are purely based on the market indicating they are value.
During November a loss of -£107 was made.
Trading/Misc
Don’t remember doing any trading this month.
However looking at my records there is an extra £10 profit for the month that has come from somewhere.
Overall not the best month in terms of profit but I was happy to salvage something. As it looked like I would be booking in my first losing month for a long time after the 21st.
Thoughts
Removing my losses from MMA the month would have been pretty solid, so happy with the more time efficient approach I took this month.
Been playing around with the highly rated tennis value betting software Winnerodds this month also. Seeing if I can get some use out of it purely using the exchanges.
Things look promising on this front and its another service that doesn’t require too much time.
In terms profit for the year again its been pretty solid. At the start of every year I think “Ok I am really going to go for it this year.”
Then end up making between £20k -£30k which has happened for the last 5 years. Which I am really happy about as I have always worked full time alongside the betting.
Long term I hope that betting will help me retire early. I don’t think its ever something I would want to solely rely on for a living.
My approach has always been about hammering volume rather then increasing my stakes quickly.
But perhaps in 2022 I should really assess my staking and be more aggressive.
Results For November
Value Betting- £619
Casino Offers – –£129
Trading – £10
SSBC/MMA – –£1220
Horse Racing Tipsters – £1842
Golf Value – -£107
Total Made In November
£1015
Overall Profit Since The Challenge Began
£125,439
Remaining Target
£874,561
Recommended For Matched Betting/ Value Betting/ Arbitrage
If you comment “Smart Sports Trader” in the chat when you sign up for a Trademate Sports trial. You will get an extended two week trial and also a 10% discount off your first month.
Subscription Cost – £105 a month (Monthly)
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Which means that if you subscribe to a service through a link on this site I will receive a commission.
This does not come at any additional cost to you. In fact with some of these services I have negotiated discounted prices for readers of smartsportstrader.com.
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