Are you a sports fan? Or perhaps a sports fanatic? Have you ever looked at online sports betting and wanted to participate, but were afraid of losing all your money? I can sympathize, all the numbers and odds can be intimidating. I am going to break down 5 steps that can help you win while sports betting.
Step 1 Set Up A Bankroll
Your bankroll is the most important part of sports betting. This bankroll needs to be large enough that you can afford to bet and potentially lose. There are no sure things in betting, so loses will happen, we want to make sure you can keep progressing. I suggest a bankroll of $1000 or more, this is enough that you can place several bets at once.
The most important part of setting up the bankroll is to make sure it’s money that you have set aside for betting and not money that you need. Don’t bet your rent money, or grocery money, for sure don’t bet your retirement or your kids college fund. Please gamble responsibly and seek professional advice if you believe you have a gambling problem.
Step 2 Identify Unit Size
What do I mean by unit size? I mean a unit your are going to bet with. For new bettors this should probably be 1 to 3% of your bankroll. I know this sounds like a small increment, but betting $10 to $30 will allow you to place more bets and weather losses without a huge hit to your bankroll. Remember that small gains add up to big wins over time.
Along with unit size, we want to keep these bets as simple as possible. Place straight bets only, don’t mess with parlays or anything like that. The old adage “keep it stupid simple” (or like my dad always says “keep it simple, stupid”) applies here.
Step 3 Sportsbooks
To place bets you are going to need sportsbook accounts, lots of them. I recommend opening multiple accounts- basically if you like the sportsbook open an account. The reason you will want this is eventually the sportsbooks will limit your betting if you are winning too much. They might also ban you. Remember sportsbooks are businesses and they make their money off losses. Sportsbooks aren’t going to do anything illegal, but they will look out for their own best interests.
The higher your bankroll gets, the more sportsbooks you are going to want to use. Take advantage of any and all welcome bonuses you can. I do want to caution you to read the fine print on these offers. Some are straight up bet matches, others have conditions like “$100 bonus! …. (after you bet $500).” This information will be listed, but it might be in very fine print.
All that being said we recommend LeoVegas, 22bet, 1XBet, 1Bet, and 10Bet. Full disclosure, we are affiliates to these sites, so we do make a small commission when you set up your account.
Step 4 Figure Out Which Games To Bet On
This is where the legwork comes in. If you look at any sportsbook there is a lot going on, especially on a “game day” such as Sundays for NFL games.
- First– Pick the sport you want to bet on, pick one you enjoy, or one you like enough to bet on.
- Second– Open a site like ours or Vegas Insider to look at the game odds. You are looking for differentials, or differences. Specifically you want to look at what the game opened at versus what difference is now. Check out our dropping odds page, many of these differentials will be highly visible.
- Third– Make a list of the games with the biggest differences. Now you have a list of games you can take a closer look at.
Step 5 Pay Attention to Percentages
Now that we have our list we want to look at the % bettors versus % money. You want the money percentages to be higher. Lets say you have a football match-up, I’ll use Finland Vs. Kazakhstan (as I am writing this the night before their match). In this match-up the odds dropped dramatically over the week, Finland was at -1 now they are at -4, perfect you want to look at this. Now you look at the betting versus money percentage, we’ll say 75% bet and 20% money. This means that 70% of the bettors are betting on this match, but only 20% of the money is being spent on this bet. Lots of tiny tiny bets. You want to avoid betting on that match, the payout would be way to little.
Lets reverse the scenario now the bet percentage is 25% and the money is 75%. This means there are less people betting, but the bets being placed are much higher. This is the match you want to bet on- the pay out will be much higher.
As an aside: all of these numbers are completely made up, I have no idea on the odds of the Finland v. Kazakhstan match up, it was just at the top of the list I looked at (sorted by date). So please do not bet based on my very fake numbers.
Conclusion
If you follow these five steps it can dramatically increase your odds of winning when you bet on sports. Please remember to bet responsibly, there is not such thing as a sure thing, and losses are going to happen. Have fun and good luck!
This article is for information and entertainment purposes only. Please check odds and research your bets before you place them.
