There is much debate about sports arbitrage betting. Advocates consider it to be a great way to deliver an almost guaranteed profit, while many detractors find it too risky due to its complications and possible implications once bookmakers discover this is what you are doing.  Here we will look at both sides of this argument and leave you to draw your own conclusions.

What is Sports Arbitrage?

Arbing, as sports arbitrage is commonly called, is a betting scheme where punters place multiple bets with multiple bookmakers in such a way as to guarantee a profit whatever the outcome of the events. It works by exploiting odds differences between different bookmakers.

Let’s say for example there is a tennis match between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. One bookie has Federer at 11/10 (2.1), whilst another bookie has Nadal at 6/5 (2.2).

You could bet £100 on both players at the two bookies and be guaranteed a profit whatever happens. 

If Federer wins the match, you win £110, minus the £100 you put on Nadal, leaving you with £10 profit.

If Nadal wins the match, you win £120, minus the £100 you put on Federer, leaving you with £20 profit.

Now it is worth noting firstly that you are unlikely to get such a good arb on a high-profile match like this, but it is just an example. Secondly if you are going to arb on tennis, pay attention to the bookies’ terms and conditions as they vary on what happens if a player retires hurt. Some pay out on the result regardless whereas others will count it as a void bet.  

As the odds differences in arbs are usually minimal, you need to invest a large sum of money to make a relatively small profit. But if your profit is guaranteed, it’s the same as putting your money in a savings account, only at a much higher interest rate than banks can offer you.

Is arbing really risk-free?

Unfortunately, there are risks. In any betting scheme, there are always things that could go wrong, Odds can change very quickly, and you must be nimble on your feet to keep up with it all. Arbing isn’t something you can do and sit back from.

However, you must be disciplined in your approach and resist any outliers however tempting they might seem. But, with care, there are excellent and reliable profits to be made. Sports arbitrage works. Just look at those who have made significant profits using it – for a time at least.

Best Software for Sports Arbing

There are quite a few arbing products out there, with probably the best of the bunch if you are serious about your arbitrage being Rebel Betting. They have a large number of bookmakers and sports available and include dutching opportunities which is a useful feature allowing you to go a bit more under the bookies’ radar than straight arbs. It is generally used by the professionals. 

If you are looking for something more straightforward (and cheaper) then Oddsmonkey has an odds comparison tool which can be used to find arbs.

The most significant danger is your bookmaker

The most significant threat, though, is your bookmaker. Bookmakers hate successful arbing, as it robs them of their profits. If you are making substantial profits arbing, then they are likely to severely restrict or close your account. You will have allowed them to do so by signing up to their terms and conditions.

Naturally, you never read them, who does? You had no choice but to accept them. But they will state that your account may be closed at the discretion of the bookmaker at any time and there is no right of appeal. Even if you do protest, it would be unusual for them to overturn their decision.

How do bookmakers know you have been arbing?

An important rule is to never underestimate bookmakers. There are good reasons why you rarely see a poor one. They are very smart organisations run by bright people and can quickly spot the tell-tale signs that identify potential arbitrage betters. If you are arbing, here are some tips to hide your trail.

• – Don’t sign up with a new bookmaker, make a large deposit, and make a maximum bet on a selection. This is certain to raise suspicions.
• – Don’t stake strange amounts. Your arbitrage strategy/algorithm might indicate an optimum bet is £18.42, but if you bet that amount it is clearly identifiable as an unusual bet, especially if you bet strange amounts frequently. At least make your bets look usual by rounding them up or down.
• – Be careful about frequently placing bets at high odds. This is a typical arbitrage pattern that bookmakers look out for.
• – If you can, also do some “mug bets” from time to time to throw the bookies off your scent and make them think you are an amateur punter. Nothing says mug more than throwing in a few accas here and there. Of course if you wanted to reduce the risk of said mug bets you could also lay them off at the exchanges. 
• – It would also help to follow these steps to try and keep your bookie accounts open. 

What About Exchange Arbing?

One possibility that gets around the risk of bookie restrictions is to arb between exchanges like Betfair, Smarkets, Betdaq and Matchbook. They have no problem with arbers because all they are interested in is bets being matched, regardless of whether you are making a profit by arbing, matched betting or doing anything similar. 

If you watch the exchanges closely enough you may spot the odd arbing opportunity, but it must be said they are few and far between and usually disappear pretty quickly. 

That may be because bots are operating arbing strategies between exchanges and are hoovering up any opportunities as they arise. Such bots are quite commonplace in the (largely unregulated) crypto markets, although most we have seen are of dubious quality. We haven’t seen any available for the exchange markets, but if anyone would like to develop one we would be all ears!

Of course if you are going to arb between exchanges, don’t forget to factor commission into your calculations. 

So, what’s our conclusion?

As we said at the start, we will leave you to draw your own conclusions. But we must point out that many professionals and amateurs alike make healthy profits from arbing – for a time anyway. There is nothing illegal about it. Just make sure you have the right tools and take as many steps as you can to try and keep your bookie accounts open for as long as possible.

Inevitably if you are going to arb the bookies will close your accounts, it’s just a question of when. In our view, matched betting through a service like Profit Maximiser is probably a better option, as you can generally keep your bookie accounts open for longer and make more money from it. 

For those outside of the UK and Ireland who don’t have access to free bets and bonuses in order to do matched betting however, arbing is another low-risk option to make money from the bookies.  

One of the biggest advantages of the advent of betting exchanges is the ability to act like a bookie and lay selections – or in other words bet on them to lose.

At first glance it seems like a great idea and the easiest thing in the world to lay a horse or team to lose. After all, you’ve probably heard the phrase “you never see a poor bookie” and that is exactly what they do.

However, anyone who has tried laying will have found it more difficult than it at first appears and there is the potential for your bank to get severely hit by a big priced lay going on to win the race or event. 

One possible solution to this is to lay favourites. This way your liability is lower because you are going against the jolly, who will generally be at low odds and often odds-on.

Below we take a look at some possible angles to take if you want to lay favourites and how you can make a profit from doing so.  

How to Lay Favourites on Betfair

Just in case you are not familiar with how to use the exchanges, here is an example of how to lay on Betfair. 

We have a horse race, the 16.05 at Bath. The favourite is Road to Paris, ridden by Luke Morris. 

If you want to lay the selection (i.e. bet on it to lose), you simply click the pink box next to the horse in question and that brings up your betslip on the right hand side. 

The odds at the time in question are 1.68, so we then enter our stake, which in this example is £100, and then click the yellow “Place bets” box.

You would then have laid the favourite in this race, Road to Paris. If it goes on to win, we would have lost £68 (i.e. our liability), but if any other horse wins we would collect £100 profit. 

If you felt that the odds were too high and you want to lay at a lower price, you can always request a lower price and see if it gets matched. To do this just enter the price you want in the betslip and click place bets. You have the choice of letting it go in-running, taking whatever the Betfair Starting Price (BSP) is, or of cancelling the bet if it is not matched by the time the race starts. 

So that in brief terms is how to lay a favourite on Betfair. 

Why You Need an Edge

Whilst the idea of laying favourites might sound appealing, you still need an edge over the market in order to make a profit overall. If you just laid favourites at random or without having an edge over the market, you could expect to lose £5 for every £100 you staked, due to having to pay Betfair’s commission rate of 5%. Or to put it another way, if you staked £10,000, you could expect to lose £500. 

The good news however is that there is usually better liquidity on favourites so you should have no problem obtaining prices and of course you do not need to put down as much money as if you were laying a 50/1 shot for example. 

Some Strategies for Laying Favourites on Betfair

OK, so we’ve looked at how to lay a selection on Betfair and pointed out that you need to have an edge over the market if you want to make a profit by taking on favourites. Let’s take a look at some strategies for laying favourites on Betfair. 

Taking on Dodgy Favourites

A simple strategy for horse racing involves looking at horses who are racing in unfamiliar conditions or trying to do something they haven’t done before. That might be winning at a distance a horse hasn’t won at before or ground it doesn’t perform well on. If you had a combination of these factors you could have a good opportunity to lay.

Little Acorns

One horse racing system that has done exceptionally well from laying favourites is Little Acorns. It is a low-liability laying system that involves using a combination of factors to pick horses to lay on Betfair at odds-on. It has been around for a number of years and has won numerous awards so is held in very high regard. With over 594 points profit made in 65 months it is easy to see why. Only seven of those 65 months have been losing months which is top-notch consistency.

We completed an extensive review of the system and gave it a passed rating, so if you are looking for a tried and trusted way of laying favourites then Little Acorns is well worth checking out. 

Tennis Goldmine

In a similar vein to Little Acorns but in a different sport, Tennis Goldmine is also a system that follows a set of rules for laying favourites in tennis matches on Betfair. It also completed a successful trial here on the site and comes from the tennis betting guru Patrick Ross, who is one of the most established tennis betting professionals on the web. Coming with his betting and trading tips as an additional add-on, which also have an excellent long-term record, Tennis Goldmine is a solid strategy for laying on Betfair.

Conclusion – Keeping It Real

Laying favourites sounds like a simple way to bank easy profits but it is important to keep it real – just like any other form of betting, you need an edge over the market or you will just lose money from doing it. 

The reason bookies are able to make money from laying is that they have an over-round, or in other words have an inbuilt house edge which means they offer slightly worse odds than what the actual chances of winning are. As a layer on the exchanges though you don’t have that advantage – and you have to pay the exchange’s commission charges. 

So if you want to make a profit from laying favourites then you need a winning strategy. We have outlined a few above which have worked well over the years, so they could be worth checking out. 

Whether you follow those strategies or devise your own though, please gamble responsibly and only risk money you can afford to lose.  

In the 21st century, it has became very hard to keep stress levels under control. Fast living and longer working hours combined with unhealthy fast food is not helping with reducing stress.

While some people have taken up fishing, hiking, watching or playing sports, others have decided to have a go at slot machines. We are not going to discuss if that’s a smart decision or not, but we are going to disclose occasions where the choice has really paid off and what the best payouts are on slot machines in Las Vegas history.

Although most people visit the ‘betting paradise’ of Vegas with the secret hope that they will win enough to turn their life around like the soldier who won £13 million off a 25p bet, there aren’t many who have had enough luck to win a great amount of money.

A 25 year old software engineer from Las Vegas certainly did however. He managed to win $39,710,826 after putting just $100 into a slot machine. The odds of winning the jackpot on the machine he played were 1:1670000. So very low chances, don’t you think?

Another great win happened in 2010. A man from Las Vegas hosted his friend from another country and decided to show him why Las Vegas casinos are so famous around the world. They came to have fun and decided to bet $20 on a Megabucks machine. They played it for 10 minutes and hit a jackpot. It was $14,282,544. They decided to donate most of the money to charity, a nice gesture.

Another interesting story concerns a young man who decided to drop by the Excalibur Casino to play a few slot hands while waiting for a basketball game to start. An hour later he became a millionaire. He won 40 million dollars but decided to receive the amount in small payouts for 25 years. Not a bad way to spend an hour.

There have even been a few multiple winners. The most interesting story is that of World War II veteran Elmer Sherwin, who was 76 years old when he won the jackpot of $4.6 million dollars. Even with the money to travel the world, he continued to play slots once or twice a week to kill some time. Sixteen years later he won $21 million on the same machine where he won the first time! The odds of doing that were so slim as to be almost impossible.

Although there have been some crazy wins, there have been many significant losses too and examples where casinos ruined players’ lives. Please be careful if you decide to swim in these waters. One ideal slot machine for beginners is the Cinderella slots slot machine. This virtual slot gives you the chance to see how real slots machines work.

The best thing about the Cinderella slot machine is the fact that is completely free and made for fun. You just have to download Gambino Free social slots casino app to start playing the game for free or simply play the Gambino game on Facebook.

The game is designed to provide the fun story of finding Cinderella the love of her life. Just as with the fairytale Cinderella, there are all the folks from the book. There is an evil stepsister who is going to try to stop your progress just like Anastasia, the second evil step-sister will try aswell.

The Fairy Godmother is the only relative on her side. With her help, Cinderella will try to reach her high heel shoe and get to the ball by midnight. The Fairy Godmother will use her magic to turn Cinderella’s pumpkin into the Royal Carriage. Wild symbols at the board will help your progress. It replaces every symbol of the board except scatter, but it only appears on lines 2, 3, 4 and 5. Keep playing the game to help the queen reach the ball and to charm the Prince.

There is also a cash version of this game but it is way more fun to play free version at the Gambino free social slots casino and simply have fun. If you decide to play the cash game instead, the online video game will help you to understand the rules and get you ready for the challenges the real game provides.

Be sure to only risk money you can afford to lose. Help Cinderella to find her Prince and have fun, enjoy the game!

Lay the field is becoming an increasingly popular way to improve your winning chances while minimising your risk.

It is only available through betting exchanges such as Betfair, but trading on such exchanges is now the bread and butter of a large proportion of online punters. First, we will explain what lay the field means, and then suggest some tactics around it that have the potential to increase your returns.

Of course, nothing is guaranteed, and there are some downsides too, but it is certainly worth investing some effort in exploring its potential. It doesn’t work for every race; so you need to learn where it is most effective, but effectively you are acting as the bookmaker, and you don’t see many poor bookmakers.

What is lay the field?

Laying involves betting on a horse to lose. It’s much easier to pick losers than winners as there are naturally more of them.  When you lay, and you find a matching bet, then you keep the bettor’s stake if the horse loses. If the horse wins, then you pay out the odds. Effectively, by laying you are going to reduce the frequency of your losses, but when they do occur, they are going to be relatively expensive.

By laying the field, you are betting on every horse to lose, so with a ten-horse race, you will win nine times and lose just once. Say you laid the field at 3.00. If every lay were matched, you would soon be rolling in it. The problem is that usually, you wouldn’t be able to find matching bets. But there is a way.

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In-running

The secret is in-running. You lay the field (at Betfair this is the same as “Lay All”) at your chosen price, say 2.0 and keep the bets through the in-running part of the race. Several things can happen:

• – None of your bets is matched – in which case you win nothing and lose nothing.
• – At least three bets are matched – you will always make a profit
• – Two bets are matched – you will break even
• – One bet is matched, AND the horse wins, – you will make a small loss.

The reason this works is that in-running prices are likely to change throughout the race. For instance, for a runner starting at 4.00, the odds are likely to shorten if the horse looks like challenging for the lead, passing through your 2.00 lay and thus matching your bet.  

An example

Say you lay the field at 2.00 at £5.00, and four bets were matched in-running. If none of the matched bets won the race, you would have a clear profit of £20. Your worst case scenario is that one of your matched bets won the race. In that case, you would receive £15.00 from the three other bets, and you would pay out £5.00, leaving you with a profit of £10.

The downside is if only one of your lays was matched, and the horse won, you would lose £5. Laying the winner is unfortunate, but not such a huge downside when you consider the potential gains.

Choosing the best races

In our example, we decided to use odds of 2.00, but they might not be high enough to generate enough matched bets to cancel out the downslide of laying the winner. The best strategy is to modify the odds so that you generate enough matched bets. Getting this right isn’t easy, and the best odds will vary significantly between races, so you will need to choose the races carefully.

The best races for laying the field are close-run ones with similar odds on the four or so top entries. On the other hand, races with a clear favourite where the odds are very short, are not suited to laying the field.

Want to know how to trade the horse racing markets before the off? Check out this in-depth guide to scalping on Betfair. 

Draw no bet football accumulators are often valuable when you cannot rule out the possibility that one or more of your selections might end in a draw.  

While the odds are not as high as with a straight football accumulator, draw no bet accumulators are also safer bets. Here we will talk you through the bet starting with accumulators before moving on to the details of draw no bet accumulators. We also mention mixed draw no bet accumulators and when they can be particularly helpful.

Accumulator Bets

An accumulator bet is a bet that combines several selections into a single bet. The potential payout is calculated by multiplying the odds of each selection. You can make as many selections as you like, but each one must win. If you sustain a single loss, you will lose the whole bet.

For instance, if with a fourfold accumulator you selected Spurs, Manchester United, Chelsea, and Arsenal which were all priced at 2/1, then the odds would be 80/1, so a £10 bet would return £810, a profit of £800.

Draw No Bet

Sometimes in football betting, a game that should see a clear winner can sometimes end in an unexpected draw. Although this is not a regular outcome, it does happen, and as a precaution, you can make a draw no bet punt. The advantage is that if the game results in a draw, the bet is cancelled, and your stake is returned.

This can be a useful bet if you cannot choose a likely winner. It just depends on how sure you are about your selection.

Draw No Bet Accumulator

With a straight football bet, it can be quite debatable whether you choose a draw no bet punt. Yes, your stake will be returned if there is a draw, but if you win your odds will be reduced. Some people like them and others don’t see the point. However, with an accumulator, it’s a different ball game. Remember, if just one of the selections in your accumulator loses, then the whole bet is lost.

Just consider that you have bet £10 on a seven-fold accumulator and you have won the first six of your selections, all at 2/1, and your final choice is West Ham, a late kick-off, then you effectively have £7,280 riding on that match. If West Ham wins, you will collect £21, 860 – a life-changing win. BUT, if the West Ham game ends in a draw, you lose everything.

The game ends in a draw. Now you wish you had chosen a draw no bet accumulator – as they say, hindsight is 20/20 vision.

The benefits of choosing a draw no bet accumulator are clear. If you are lucky, you stand to win a great deal of money with any successful accumulator bet, so it is worth considering trading some of those winnings in the interest of making a safer bet.

Mixed Draw No Bet Accumulator

In draw no bet accumulators there is no need to chose to draw no bet for every leg. You can mix and match as you like. Say that you have high expectations that some of your selections will win, you can choose to select win bets as the chances of a draw are so low and that way you get better odds.

However, for the legs that you are not so sure of, you can select draw no bet to protect you from the possibility of a draw.

It all requires careful planning, but it is undoubtedly beneficial to include draw no bet accumulators in your betting strategies. They can be a handy tool.

Want to start making some consistent profit from your football bets? Well check out this top football tipster with a proven track record.