There’s a significant difference between casual sports wagering and taking a professional approach. It isn’t, however, a simple journey to becoming an expert in the field of sports betting. Fortunately for you, today we’ve compiled a short guide to flipping a hobby into a business by turning your passion for sports betting into a long-term profitable venture.
Five Starting Pointers to Your Professional Sports Betting Career
While it may seem obvious, one of the most important factors in transforming from a casual sports bettor into a professional is selecting the smartest bets. The main premise of selecting winning bets should revolve around finding wagers with the highest value. These include overlooked underdogs and undervalued favorites. Each sport presents unique differences, allowing the bettor to discover a wide range of value across various markets. With that said, value should remain the priority, no matter the betting type.
Here are four starting pointers to identifying sports betting value:
1. Don’t use the current betting odds as a guide
The first step to finding the most viable winning bets is to analyze the game or event, and it’s advisable to complete your research before looking at the available odds. Why? Because the sportsbook’s odds can easily sway your opinion before coming to your own conclusion.
2. Pick an outcome and refine your selection
Once you’ve made a prediction based on research, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you’ll be correct. From an objective standpoint, you should give your predicted outcome a percentage chance of happening. If you believe a team has a significant chance of victory, a percentage around 70 or 80% might be fitting.
3. Set your own betting lines
All of the sports betting odds available provide an implied probability. For example, 2.00, 1/1, and +100 odds are even, thus providing a 50% implied probability. You can use an implied probability calculator to convert odds into their implied probability, which is crucial for the next step.
4. Compare your odds versus the sportsbooks
Once you’ve created your own odds for your predictions, it’s time to compare them with the bookmaker’s odds to gauge if you’ve discovered any betting value. If the bookies’ odds differ vastly from yours, attempt to understand why. But if you believe your odds are more accurate or provide greater odds than your current estimate, this would be classed as betting value, and you’ve found yourself a bet.
It’s a Long-Term Game
Professional handicappers do not win 100% of their bets, and it’s ludicrous to believe you must achieve such a hit rate to find long-term value. The facts are that most successful bettors hit between 55% and 60% of the wagers placed. Finding value is the key, and even a record of 30 wins and 50 losses can provide a return on investment (ROI%) when bets are made on plus-money (odds higher than 2.00, 1/1, +100).
Don’t forget to take advantage of boosted odds, Caesars sportsbook promo codes, and all of the promotions that are regularly offered by some of the greatest betting sites.
Bankroll Management
Maintaining a healthy bankroll is what separates casual and professional sports bettors. It’s advisable to put a specific amount of money aside—your starting bankroll – and slowly build on it. As most pro bettors aim for 5-10% profit, beginning with a large bankroll is often required to turn it into a viable income.
Managing your bankroll is just as important as starting a bankroll. A rule of thumb is to separate your bankroll into units (e.g., 100 = 1 unit) and bet between 1-5% of your total bankroll on each wager.
Betting Strategies
The list of betting strategies that can be implemented during your pro-betting journey is endless, and they can make a huge difference in small, average, and huge profits. Research alternative betting strategies: some of the most popular include arbitrage betting, hedge betting, chasing steam, statistical betting, matched betting, and betting software.
Conclusion
There isn’t one specific route to becoming a professional sports bettor, but we’ve covered some key elements today. Some additional traits you should consider include:
- Set realistic goals
- Keep track of your betting records and analyze your losses
- Manage money efficiently
- Don’t let your emotions take control
- Stay disciplined, and don’t chase losses
- Find confidence in winning formulas but remain realistic
Becoming a professional bettor takes time, passion, effort, and trial and error. But it’s a realistic goal for anyone who can maintain a bankroll, manage it wisely, and put enough dedicated time into the betting markets. And remember, even the world’s best sports bettors lose, learn from these losses, and don’t set our margins too high.
