It’s been a while since the last update, in fact it has been the longest time between updates since I started this blog. The last update was in April which marked month 85 in the “Making a Million Challenge”.
Which means we have May, June, July and August to catch up on.
There have been a few reasons for lack of updates:
- Poor results in May and June
- Took a break from betting over July and August
- Other work took priority
For the first time since I started betting on what is almost a daily basis. I started to feel burnout and decided I needed a break from betting. Poor results were definitely a big part of that. This game is easy when you are crushing it week to week and making money.
The other side of variance is where it gets tough. Suddenly you are losing money for the 12th day in a row and seeing a previous months profit wiped out. Had these periods previously over the years and usually just grind through but this year felt I needed a solid break to do other things.
The last two months done a lot more hiking, running and been more physically active. Went away on holiday to Bulgaria (nice place) and stayed off the laptop completely.
A good exercise is to ask yourself every now and again, what would you change if you had “retirement money”?
Not being one for expensive cars, watches etc.
Thinking about it I would just spend more time with my kids and being active outdoors, which doesn’t require that much additional money. So that is what I did, spent a lot more time doing these things. Betting didn’t completely come to a stop over the last two months but I lowered my volume and only bet what I deemed obvious value.
Now all the big leagues are back in play and there are more opportunities, I’m ready to pick the volume up again. Looking to try and finish the year strong.
In today’s update I will go over the year as whole up until the start of September.
Value Betting Results
Let’s start off with value betting and have a look at results for the year so far.
In terms of recording my value betting, I changed this a few months back.
Previously I’d recorded each individual value bet. In order to save some time I then switched this to recording profit and loss by each platform. For example I would record the P/L from Betfair, Betdaq and Bet365 in 3 different entries. There may have been 26 bets however across all three sites.
Due to feeling a bit of burnt out with the grind of betting, this just cut down on some time recording results.
In 2024 a profit of £5096 had been made so far.
Interested in Value Betting? Click Here For My Best Value Betting Software List
Horse Racing System
Up next is the horse racing system I came up with at the end of last year. This tested really well and I had high hopes that this would crush this year. It is a system based around monitoring odds movement in the earlier markets and beating the Betfair SP.
I record the results for this system on a daily basis, rather then by each bet. Again this cuts down on a lot of data that needs recording. It’s had a half decent upswing in the last few weeks, despite things looking pretty poor after 100 days of betting. Stakes for this system range between £10 to £50 and total profit for the year is at £1099.
Been a few times this year where I have felt like packing in this system. It consistently finds horses that beats the SP but there have been some periods where despite that it loses bet after bet. Will run it to the end of the year and make a decision.
Everything Else (Casino Offers, UFC, Value Collective, Tipster Bets)
Everything else includes the Value Collective which was a paid service I ran. This is currently free to previous subscribers but not open to new ones currently. This service is up 2.5 points for the year after a rough run of results in the last few months. UFC betting is included in the Value Collective but there are also additional bets I make that don’t get posted.
Casino Offers are those advised by Oddsmonkey which have a positive expectation. Then there are some free tipsters which I also follow and occasionally bet.
Everything else accounts for a loss of -£1644 this year so far.
I was surprised to see this accounts for my losses this year. Casino offers account for -£422 however the rest is in-play UFC betting and a few bets on free tipsters that I follow. Feel like it has been a weird year for UFC betting, had some judging changes and drug testing has changed. Perhaps its time to be more selective?
May/June/July/August
Overall Results
Below is a graph for the four months since the last update. As you can see it wasn’t pretty, for about a 60 day period there was the odd day where things went well. Only for future losses to wipe everything out and a decent 60 day downswing occurred. In the second half of the graph there were plenty of no bet days which is why the graph leveled out.
Last 4 Months P/L
Total Made In May/June/July/August 2024
Total = -£2049
Total Made In 2024
+£4551
Overall Profit Since The Challenge Began
+£188,213
Thoughts Going Forward
After a tough period I feel pretty refreshed and ready to grind again. The 2 month break has done me a world of good and I feel quite excited to start getting bets down again.
Have some new soft bookmaker accounts to use which is always a bonus and as always I will be looking to find some new edges. Soft bookmaker accounts open up a lot of different opportunities, such as tipsters and services. If you have any recommendations let me know.
Other then that it is time to return to grind and see how the year ends.
Thanks for reading!