Peter Smith
Bettors who prefer methodical winnings rather than hurdling themselves into risk (or excitement) will find arbitrage betting to be the perfect option. It may not yield big payouts by default, and neither do they add any enthusiasm, but it mostly secures some kind of win.
As long as you’re willing to understand the concept of arbitrage betting, are willing to put in some effort, and take advantage of arbitrage opportunities, you may have a fine set of winning bets waiting for you.
This article is our attempt at explaining arbitrage, explaining how to spot sure bets, and why it’s worth investing in this phenomenon. The practice is quite complex, but its principles are easy to grasp!
The Basics of Arbitrage Betting and Why it’s Worth Considering
Arbitrage betting is a staking method that entails taking advantage of odd discrepancies across bookmaker offerings. Its principle is all about betting on all the outcomes of an event, thus covering all winning scenarios with a bet.
The profit comes from the fact that some bookies overextended their odds and invited bets that can cover the losses generated by losing bets. For example, events that have only two outcomes require you to bet on odds that will generate a bigger win than the loss created by betting on the incorrect option.
Naturally, the profit comes slow and steady because the win always needs to cover a loss. The idea is to accrue small victories and steadily generate profit rather than winning a big one. As long as the (theoretical) certainty of generating a profit works well, sports betting arbitrage opportunities are a methodical way of winning.
However, the standard downsides of this practice are the outright slow gains, its chastised status among bookmakers, and the possibility of losing big if anything happens to void the bets on the winning outcome. Given the considerations, the upsides are more considerable than the issues.
Manual Arbitrage – Hard Mode for Math Enthusiasts
In all fairness, manual arbitrage betting is almost absurdly hard. You’d have to set up numerous browser windows outright and manually look at as many sportsbooks as possible. You’d basically have to open tens of windows since this practice requires a lot of research. Add the necessity of strong hardware equipment (i.e., over 8 GB of RAM).
This also means that you’d have to identify the best odds on a sport that you understand. The rapport between the proposed odds and the event’s actual probabilities is where the true winning potential lies. Identifying the best odds for an event’s outcomes is already tedious.
You also have to calculate the winning potential of each betting scenario and see if there is any actual profit to be made. Think about the research that you must do, then add the possibility of identifying an incorrect arbitrage scenario.
You’d need a certain acumen for advanced mathematics and do mental calculations on the spot to actually identify if there is any margin for profit. As such, manual arbitrage betting feels like a hardcore hobby, just like it seems like an elaborated mental exercise.
Arbitrage Software Works
The sports betting market is large enough to invite commercial entities whose products use advanced software to do the research and calculations for you. Since arbitrage betting is the product of these two absolute requirements, the CPU can do the work for you.
Free Software is OK But Not Extraordinary
As you may have expected, arbitrage betting software is a very relevant product that does quite well, even in its most understated format. The work that unpaid software will do for you is mostly as an odds comparison tool.
It will allow you to check what essentially a database is for all the betting opportunities for a certain event. It will not give you any calculated bets or determine how to place your stakes for the sake of arbitrage, but it will still save you the tedious work of constantly looking for odds and ranking them yourself.
Paid Software Costs But Requires Involvement
By involvement, we mean that you’ll have to take advantage of the resources. Since you will be paying what will most likely be a subscription, you will need to understand your position and do your utmost to cash into the arbitrage opportunities.
The benefit of using paid software in this case is the fact that the sports arbitrage betting calculator will let you do more than compare the odds. Such services will also identify the sure bets for you and present the opportunities. They’ll also calculate the size of each bet for an event, thus letting you know exactly what to do in order to succeed in arbitrage betting!
Conclusion
Knowing the truth about arbing within its own market will let you know where to look and how to calculate your steps. These bets may be sure in theory, but they will still require some effort, including some spending beyond the bets. As long as you understand your financial position and your willingness to invest, you can easily play safely and responsibly!
Peter Smith
