Sports Betting Strategies
Betting on sports has become a huge multi-billion dollar industry around the world and is a beloved pastime of millions of people.
Out of those millions of people however, only around 2% actually make a profit from betting on sports. So what is it that sets those people apart from the rest?
Well, having a strategy that works and can consistently beat the bookies is a big part of the success of the winning 2%, along with of course discipline and sensible money management.
Below we will take a look at some successful sports betting strategies and how you can apply them to your own gambling to hopefully improve your results.
Why You Need A Strategy
If you are going to bet on sports then it’s vital to have some clear strategies in place. If you are just betting on a whim or because you are watching a sporting event on TV and want to make it more entertaining, then you are almost certainly going to lose money in the long run.
Professional gamblers have clearly worked-out strategies and stick to them rigidly, only adjusting their approach if a large quantity of data suggests it is worth doing so.
They plan their bets in advance, always look for value in their betting, keep detailed records of their results and follow sensible betting bank management. If you want to make a profit from your betting, this is what you should be doing too.
If you follow these rules, then with the right strategy you have a chance of making money from your betting. Let’s take a look at some potential sports betting strategies you could use.
Best Sports Betting Strategies
There are such a huge number of strategies out there, from books, guides, systems, tipsters, software, bots and more besides it can be overwhelming at times to decide which ones you should follow and which you should avoid.
That is why we have spent over five years testing out hundreds of strategies to see which ones work and which ones don’t, publishing full results so you can see exactly how well they have done.
Here are the top five Sports Betting Strategies we have found through our extensive research and testing:-
1. Take On the Sports Spread Betting Markets
One of the most neglected elements of sports betting are the spread betting markets. As spread betting is much more niche than fixed odds betting, not many people have really focused on finding profitable angles from it, meaning there are opportunities to be exploited.
Just in case you are not familiar with it, spread betting involves not just predicting how an event will turn out, but you get rewarded for how correct you are – or conversely punished for how wrong you are.
So taking an example, let’s say you thought Tiger Woods was going to do well in a golf tournament. Normally you would back him to win (or maybe each-way) at fixed odds. But with spread betting, you could bet on his finishing position in the event.
A spread firm might offer you a finishing position spread of 30-33. What that means is if you think Tiger will finish better than 30th, you “sell” at 30, for your chosen stake – let’s say £10 in this example.
If Tiger has a good event and finishes fifth, you would win a multiple of your stake. In this case it would be 30 (the price sold for), minus 5 (the final position), which equals 25. So you would win 25 times your stake of £10, making £250 profit.
Let’s say Tiger had a bad tournament though and finished 40th. In that case you would then lose 30 (the price sold for) minus 40 (the final position) equaling -10, so 10 times your stake, meaning a loss of £100.
So as you can see, it really pays to not just win your bet, but for your selection to do so by a big margin. Hence angles that exploit where a big margin might happen have the potential to do very well on the spreads. Or occasions when a spread firm may just have got their spread wrong, as they can with fixed odds too.
One service that has proven very adept at profiting from the spread betting markets is the aptly-named Sports Spread Betting. It provides tips for the spread markets in a number of sports including football, cricket, horse racing and more.
We ran a review of the service during which it made an excellent £750 profit from £1 stakes and it has made a fantastic 4,000 points profit since starting up. That would be £4,000 profit if betting to just £1 stakes.
As we say, it can really pay off to find a niche and stick to it in sports betting.
2. Use Stats to Your Advantage
If you are going to be betting on sports then it pays to use stats to your advantage. There are now a huge wealth of stats available online for free so it can only make sense to use them. Whether it’s to find a slight edge in a niche market or to understand more about a particular player’s game, the stats can provide a significant advantage if utilised properly.
Using stats is one of the most powerful betting strategies.
For example you might find that by studying golf stats you could identify players who are particularly suited to a course. If the course in question was narrow off the tee and rewarded players who hit it straight, then using stats for fairways hit percentage and strokes gained off the tee could be useful. Often the market will focus on the “big name” players or those in hot form and will miss the nuances of who the course is likely to suit.
One service that has done an excellent job of using stats is Trade on Sports. It is a platform run by a team of professional traders and uses a huge stats database in sports including tennis, football, cricket and American sports.
That database provides the basis for their in-play selections which are provided via the Telegram app and made over £4,000 profit during our live trial. They have a number of other systems in the works which also look promising.
In addition to their in-play alerts you can also make use of the stats database yourself to find suitable bets and trades and there are in-depth videos on how to use the database.
Trade on Sports demonstrates the effectiveness of stats used in the right way and they have the record to back this up.
3. Take On the Favourite
Most people who have done even a little bit of gambling in their lives will be able to testify to the allure of backing favourites. Whether you are at the races and want to have the thrill of backing a winner, or you fancy the stronger team to win the big match on telly, there is no denying that people are attracted to backing the “jolly,” as the favourite is often referred to.
There are some strategies that take the opposite approach though and look to oppose favourites in certain circumstances. Maybe a horse is favourite but is facing conditions it has never run in before, or a football team is favourite for a match but has some key players missing and played badly in its last two games.
There can be a litany of reasons for taking on the favourite, but if done well it can pay off handsomely. The nice thing about it is you don’t normally need to risk too much either as the favourite’s odds will generally be low.
One service that has built a successful strategy out of taking on the favourite is Tennis Goldmine, which has been devised by tennis betting stalwart Patrick Ross. It’s a PDF guide with a step-by-step approach to follow and made 28 points profit during our live trial. Tennis Goldmine also includes Patrick’s tips for the day which makes it a strong overall package.
4. Look to Less Obvious Sports
When it comes to sports betting, the runaway leaders in terms of the amount gambled on them are football and horse racing. However, whilst most of us are naturally drawn to these two when it comes to betting, it can pay to focus attention elsewhere on sports that don’t garner so much interest.
Just as mentioned above with regard to spread betting, focusing on more niche angles that others overlook can really pay dividends in sports betting.
Focusing on niche sports like golf and boxing has proven very effective for some professional gamblers.
An example of a service that has done very well is the Golf Betting Expert, which has made over £10,000 profit to £10 stakes since starting up in 2016 with an excellent return on investment of over 25%. It also performed very well in our live trial, making 41 points profit.
Another example is Premium Boxing Tips, which made 117 points profit during our live trial and has made over 500 points profit overall. As a member you can see they really know their stuff as you receive very detailed write-ups on the fights, comparing the boxers’ strengths and weaknesses and how the bout is likely to go.
It’s that kind of expertise in a niche sport that can produce results from a betting point of view so if you are looking to develop your own strategy it can pay to focus on a sport you know and love.
5. Lay the Draw in Cricket
Many people will be familiar with laying the draw in football, one of the most common trading strategies out there. Few however will have looked at laying the draw in cricket, but it holds great potential.
Just to be clear, we are talking about test cricket here rather than one-day or T20 stuff. Obviously there won’t be too many draws (or ties) in the shorter form of the game, although memorably there was one in the 2019 World Cup Final between England and New Zealand at Lords.
However, it is test match cricket that offers the opportunity to lay the draw. The game has changed substantially in recent years, firstly by the attacking brand of cricket pioneered by the likes of Ricky Ponting’s Australian side and taken up by other countries including England and secondly due to modern cricketers playing so much T20 and the shorter form of the game.
This has led to sides playing much more attacking cricket and either scoring big or getting out. Very few sides are capable of – or show any inclination to – bed in and bat for a draw when the chance of winning has gotten away from them. Hence you see far fewer draws in test matches these days, particularly games involving Australia, England, South Africa and the West Indies. In fact matches are often over within three or four days now and very few games even make it to the fifth day.
So it can pay to either lay the draw before the start, or to wait for the price to drop if one side starts strongly with the bat. You can also trade out if the price on the draw shoots upwards, or just let it run depending on your preference. Either way though this has proved a profitable betting strategy for us in recent years.
Conclusion – Be Armed with the Right Strategy
If you are going to be a successful gambler, it is vital to be armed with the right strategy and to not just bet on whims or because you are watching an event on TV.
Above we have illustrated five potential sports betting strategies you could use that have proved themselves over a long period of time.
If you use one of these strategies or follow your own, please gamble responsibly and only risk money you can afford to lose.
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