Do you want to learn how to make a living from sports betting?
In this article we are going to take a look at the crucial things you need to know, in order to be able to make big profits.
Starting with the basics, moving through to lesser known bits of information that can really improve your betting and take you to the next level.
Let’s get started!
How To Make A Living From Sports Betting – 8 Crucial Factors
Table of Contents
Always take the best odds possible
Number one and it might seem very obvious however there are still a lot of people that want to be successful betting that don’t do this.
Make sure you are always taking the best odds possible. Don’t be lazy and only bet with one bookmaker because you have funds in the account. If you want to take this seriously you have to treat sports betting like a business.
Great businessmen are always looking for a way to cut costs and increases profits. In the same way a professional sports bettor always bets at the best odds they possibly can.
There are numerous odds comparison websites you can use to help you find the best odds.
Here are a few examples –
Over the long term ensuring you always get the best odds you possibly can, is a habit that enables you to make the highest amount of money from your betting as possible.
2. Take advantage of promotions
Next on the list is taking advantage of bookmaker promotions and bonuses.
There is a lot of money to be made from this.
Free bets, cashback offers, in-play promotions, 2 goals up promotion on football, numerous horse racing promotions, extra places. Bookmakers are always trying to attract new customers and hang on to existing ones.
You can learn to take advantage of this fact and make good money solely from exploiting these offers.
This is called matched betting and there are already thousands of people taking advantage of this. If you are looking to bet on sports for a living. Taking advantage of this low hanging fruit is recommended.
It is an easy strategy and a very valuable one to have in your arsenal.
Wanted to get started Matched Betting? Here Is Our Number 1 Recommendation!
3. Proper bankroll management
Not using proper bankroll management is one of the key reasons most people fail to make money long term from sports betting.
If you are aiming to make a living from sports betting and don’t have a plan for how are going to approach your staking. It is very likely you will fail.
Any well run business starts off with a plan.
As a professional bettor you should know exactly how much you are going to stake on a bet before you click that “Place bet” button.
There are several different staking plans you can look.
Kelly staking – this staking plan adjusts the size of your bet based on the perceived edge of your bet and odds on offer.
Flat staking – Staking the same amount on every selections. Trouble with this staking plan is when you are betting at a wide range of odds 1.2 – 20.00. Doesn’t make sense to bet the same amount of money at odds of 1.2 and then odds of 20.00.
Stake to win set amount – Perhaps the easiest staking plan to have when starting off. You stake to win the same amount for every bet. For example if you to win £100 per bet.
You would stake £100 at odds of 2.0, £50 at odds of 3.0, £33.33 at odds of 4.0 etc.
No matter which staking plan you choose. Having some kind of staking plan in place will put you ahead of 95% of bettors already.
4. Have as many accounts as possible
This next point relates heavily to number one but also is important for other reasons.
You need to utilize as many places to bet as possible.
1. You want to get the best odds on every single selection (which we covered already)
2. As you scale your business your bets become larger. Some bookmakers will be unwilling to take your full bet. Which means you may need to spread it round several bookmakers.
3. Profitable sports bettors can accounts closed or limited. Unfortunately bookmakers have the ability to refuse your business and close accounts. This means that successful bettors constantly have to find new places to bet.
4. Different bookmakers offer different opportunities. Some bookmakers will offer different market or promotions that others don’t.
If you are doing this for a living, finding new angles and edges is vital to sustaining or increasing your profit levels.
5. Use proven strategies
Making a living from sports betting isn’t easy however having said that. There are multiple proven strategies outlined on this very site, that work long term.
That you should really know!
Arbitrage betting – This involves covering all outcomes of an event in order to guarantee. We have a guide which covers this in great detail here.
Value betting – Another solid method which uses sharp bookmakers (That don’t ban winning bettors) along with the betting exchanges. To identify value bets in the market. This is one of the easiest ways to consistently place bets that a positive expectation.
You can read our guide to value betting here
Exploiting casino offers – Using casino promotions we can the flip the edge from the casino to player. If you only play casino games when that edge is flipped over to you. A profit will be made over the long term.
Click here for our guide to making money from casino offers.
6. Work with others
Eventually you will run out of bookmakers to use if you are betting successfully. This is because the majority of bookmakers ban or heavily limit winning bettors.
Many professional bettors end up working alongside other people in order to get bets down. Most start off working alongside family members and friends. This is known as multi accounting as it involves using multiple accounts rather then just your own.
If you are unable to work with other people. The other option is to look at making a profit from the betting exchanges or Asian bookmakers via a broker.
7. Specialize
One of the best pieces of advice I ever got. Was to find an area of betting to specialize in.
The majority (Not all) of very successful bettors specialize in one sports. Think Paulo Rebelo and Psychoff who are both extremely good football traders. Patrick Veitch has made a lot of money betting on horses, Tony Bloom excelled at betting in the Asian handicap markets.
There are several different way to make money from the sports betting markets, find the one that suits you.
- Pre match betting
- Arbitrage
- Exploiting promotions
- In-play betting
- Pre match trading
- In-play trading
8. Keep learning
The sports betting markets are constantly changing and evolving. Edges come and go, what makes money one year may not be profitable the next.
If you are looking to make a living from sports betting. Then it is likely you are going to need more then one way to make money. Having multiple different edges in the markets is likely going to give you more longevity in the game.
Learning new approaches is going to be key.
Make A Living From Sports Betting
There we have it 8 keys factors you should know if you want make a living from sports betting.
Do you agree, disagree?
Let us know in the comments!