The Art of Sports Bets: A Beginner’s Guide

“Is it possible to win in sports betting?” — this question is of interest to the vast majority of those who have recently started or just want to start playing in betting shops. Some ask the search engines something like “How to get rich on bets” or “How to make money on bets”. This article contains several answers and tips from people who are familiar with the game in betting shops firsthand.

Let’s say right away: a beginner player should first of all deal with the basic concepts, and only then be interested in “money” issues. Yes, you can win in sports betting, but the right goals and the right knowledge are important. We strongly recommend starting correctly!

What are sports bets?

Sports bets are an intellectual bet between a player and a bookmaker: a player makes their prediction for a sporting event and bets money on the fact that this forecast will be correct. If the bet is correct, they return this money to themselves with a profit; if they lose, they lose it accordingly.

The bookmaker assigns odds (quote) to each bet that estimates the probability of this event. If the bet turns out to be successful (the player’s forecast turned out to be correct), the wagered amount is multiplied by the odds proposed by the bookmaker — this is the size of the payout for the successful bet.

The size of the bet multiplied by its odds — this is the amount the bookmaker pays to the player if they win the bet. Net gain is only the amount of profit: the amount of the bet made is deducted from the size of the payout.

Bookmaker quotes can change both under the influence of the number and size of bets made on this event, and due to a decrease/increase in its probability. Experienced players also call the odds “price” of the proposed event: everyone can either choose a bet at the proposed price or refuse if it considers it incorrect.

What are bookmaker odds?

The bookmaker assigns odds to each specific outcome in the line, which determines the size of the expected win.

The size of the payment that the player will receive from the bookmaker in case of winning a bet is not difficult to determine: just multiply the wagered amount by odds.

Please note that the size of the payout and profit at the bet are not the same thing! To determine the profit, it is necessary to subtract the size of your bet from the amount of the payment — so we get the amount of net profit that the winning bet brought.

For example, for the match Borussia-Schalke, the following quotes are offered: 1.65 – 4.44 – 5.55 (victory for Borussia, draw and victory for Schalke, respectively). If we bet $100 on Borussia, the potential profit will be $65 ($100 x 1.65 – $100 = $65).

The betting odds show not only the size of the potential payout to the player: in addition, they accumulator the estimated probability of a specific outcome of the event. The lower the odds assigned to the outcome, the higher the probability, according to the bookmaker, this outcome has. So, in the above example, “Borussia”-“Schalke” we see that because of the lower odds, “Borussia” has more chances to win. It’s worthwhile to understand that the odds are an assessment of the bookmaker, an opinion that does not always coincide with reality.

Odds of bookmakers can be recorded in different formats depending on the country in which the bookmaker operates.

Is it possible to win in sports betting?

Of course, you can win in sports betting. To verify this, it is worth looking, for example, the rating of forecasters, which displays the success or failure of the forecasts of each expert and handicapper over a long distance. The statistics are kept open, and therefore it can be seen on the rating page that not everyone can give accurate forecasts and choose winning bets. Although, without exception, forecasters are well versed in the sport for which they give forecasts.

Good knowledge of sports does not guarantee consistent wins. However, we note: nothing guarantees permanent wins. And yet, the game can be successful. Subject to several key conditions.

First condition: correct perception. Betting should be fun, and this is the main thing that you need to learn to anyone who reads everything about sports betting for beginners. They can (and will) lose, and you need to be prepared for this.

The perception of betting as a game and as a hobby has several significant advantages:

• this allows you not to lose your mind and not risk large sums (by the way, the sober mind in this game is very necessary);
• this helps to develop forecasting skills, and not the skills of searching for betting errors (as opposed to being obsessed with money issues);
• this gives what bets should give: more drive, more healthy excitement and more emotions when watching a match.

Condition two: control of the bankroll (game budget). For a beginner, advice will be simple: you can bet only the amount that you do not mind losing. Betting twice as much after a successful bet is a bad start. Trying to recoup after losing is an even worse start. Experienced players know how our brains work: one win of a beginner (especially if it turned out to be large) can “overshadow” many previous and subsequent losses. Purely psychologically. If you have seriously decided to master the art (science?) of sports betting, start keeping a record of all bets made, as well as each win and each loss.

The third condition: work with information. The ability to work with information, correlate facts and timely obtain relevant data is the basis of the basics and most importantly when choosing a bet. It is not enough just to believe in the team you want to bet on: it is important to understand what form it is in right now, whether its motivation is enough to win, how optimal is the composition announced for participation in the match, etc.

A novice player should also remember that in a money game, a bookmaker always has a mathematical advantage. Of course, there is a small percentage of players who rate events better than a bookmaker, but this is not about beginners: this can only come with experience, and even then not everyone. At first, a beginner can count on luck, and use the knowledge of sports as an aid in a conscious choice of options for betting.

Bookmakers’ bonuses

Often, bookmakers working on the Internet (online bookmakers) reward their customers with various bonus offers. Most often, these are first deposit bonuses (welcome bonuses) or bonuses for free bets.

Please note: before agreeing to receive a bonus from a bookmaker, you must carefully read the terms of the promotion!

In most cases, receiving a cash bonus “on hand” is possible only after placing a certain amount on bets. How it works?

Let’s say, for replenishing a game account (deposit) of $10 or more, the bookmaker promises the player a bonus of 100% of the deposit amount, that is, an additional $10 per account. However, the terms of the promotion require wagering of this bonus in the form of, for example, a fivefold turnover of the deposited funds. This means that before withdrawing bonus money, you must place at least $50 on bets.

In the case of a bonus for a free bet, the bookmaker credits a certain amount of “virtual” money to the player’s account. The only way to use this amount is to place it on bets. In this case, again, it is worth paying attention to the conditions of the action: your requirements may apply to the free bet! If the free bet is won, the player receives only net profit from it on their account — the amount of the free bet in real money is not converted. As a rule, this profit immediately becomes available for withdrawal, but sometimes it also requires wagering.

Sports betting training

Before making a bet, understand the basic concepts and terms that are used by bookmakers. The betting line consists not only of such simple positions as a victory of one of the teams, a draw or a total over/under. There are also a huge number of other bets where various pitfalls can be hidden for a novice player: if you do not delve into it and just experiment without the necessary knowledge, this can lead to bitter disappointment.

For example, bookmakers also offer their clients various types of handicaps (Asian/European), which are calculated differently, and you need to know about this in advance. A catch can also be expected in bets on statistical indicators (statistics) in a match: different bookmakers can calculate such bets according to different sources, and for a beginner this does not always end favorably.

In order not to have to learn from our mistakes, we recommend that you allocate time for training, carefully study the betting rules and the possible nuances that may arise when calculating the bet. The odds proposed by the bookmaker are also important: it is very important for a player to avoid bets on revalued outcomes, because at a distance such bets will be unprofitable. As a rule, favorites are overestimated, but this is not always the case. Understanding the fidelity of evaluating an event will come only with experience, but you need to remember this from the first bet.

Sports betting: how it works

Determine for yourself how much money you are willing to allocate per month for bets, and at first do not deviate from the intended figure. Even if it seems to you that this is the stake of your whole life, you should not increase its size. Even if in the end the bet passes, do not regret that you could bet more. In the process of learning sports betting, a person themselves must come to the conclusion that the main thing in this business is how the game develops over a distance. Such an understanding only comes with time.

Decide where to bet on sports. In bets, a lot depends on the odds and the choice of event. Each bookmaker has its own offer, so you need to start from what sport, tournaments and types of bets you are interested in. Having decided on your direction, we make the choice of a bookmaker. It is worth noting that the market is now so competitive that the betting line is getting better and richer. Therefore, the main emphasis is placed on many factors and margin size. For the same events in different shops, the difference can be several tenths, but at a distance it is of great importance.

Most people begin their “career” in betting with bets on their favorite team and athlete. And this is a huge mistake that haunts many experienced players throughout the game. Indeed, not analytics prevails in these bets, but emotions, which is a noticeable problem in the game.

Emotions and bets for a professional player should never be in one row, all newcomers should learn this truth as quickly as possible. It’s not only about negativity, when the desire to recoup makes people bet in the 3rd league of Malta in curling, because there are no other events in the line at that time: it’s much more important that if you take your game too emotionally, you’ll be very upset because of defeats and won’t notice the positive emotions that sports bets can bring if you play responsibly and in pleasure.

What does a bookmaker make money on?

Of course, a significant part of the profits of the bookmaker is the loss of players. However, initially guaranteed earnings are laid in the odds.

Estimating the probability of each event and setting the odds for this event, the bookmaker underestimates these odds, laying a margin in it. This margin is guaranteed earnings that will bring profit regardless of the outcome of the event.

In the case of a match of rivals with equal chances, the objective odds should be 2.0 for the victory of both rivals (50/50), however you will not find such cases in the lines of bookmakers — odds for equal chances will always be lower than 2.0 due to the margin laid down in them.

For greater clarity, we give an example. Take a tennis match Del Potro — Kei Nishikori. The bookmaker offers odds 1.87-1.87 on a win of both tennis players, thereby evaluating their chances of winning the same (50/50). Quotes without margin in this case would be 2.0-2.0, and the net gain at a bet of $100 would be $100. However, if you take into account the margin, the player instead of this $100 makes a profit of $87 ($100 x 1.87 – $100), and the remaining $13 ($100 – $87), the bookmaker takes away. This is the margin of the bookmaker, which provides them with guaranteed income.

So, if you have already decided to try your hand at betting, we hope that our material will help you not to be disappointed in this choice. Good luck and new useful knowledge!