Can You Make Money Betting on Sports

You can make money betting on sports, but it’s not easy.

Key Points

– Making money betting on sports takes a deep understanding of the math behind the game.

– Bettors that bet consistently strong on one side of a bet can make money betting on sports.

The simple answer to the question presented here is “yes” you can make money betting on sports. The average sports bettor does not. 

As with anything, doing it right takes time and effort. It also helps when sports bettors have a good understanding of math.

All gambling is based on mathematics. The better one understands the math behind a sporting event; the more likely the bettor is to make money betting on sports.

As mentioned, the betting public typically does not make money betting on sports in the long run. That’s why sportsbooks exist.

Sportsbooks offer odds on games in a way to encourage an equivalent amount of action on both sides of a bet. They also take a percentage of each bet and end up making money no matter the result of a sporting event.

Standard odds on a point spread bet, for example, are -110. The sportsbook takes 10 percent of the wager for taking the bet. 

Mathematically, that means a bettor must win 52.4 percent of the time on these standard bets just to break even. In order to beat the book and make money, bettors have to win more than that.

In order to get to that mark to profit, it’s important to think about sports betting nuances to consider.

Sports bettors that do make money know a couple things. The math behind a bet is one of those things. Understanding what the public is doing is another.

The betting public loves favorites and popular teams with popular players. Take baseball as an example.

The public loves teams like the Yankees and Red Sox. Teams that have star players are typically favored over those that do not. 

Betting with the public on big favorites on baseball will not make bettors money though. When you bet on big favorites in baseball, you win small and lose big.

To have success betting on baseball – and this translates to other sports too – you want to bet on solid underdogs. When you win on a +175 MLB underdog, you win big. The best part is that you don’t even need to win half of your underdog bets to make money.

Unless you are a professional gambler yourself, you may want to enlist the help of one. Our biggest resource, of course, is time.

Most sports bettors do something else for a living. The time that it takes to do all the research and come up with a menu of winning bets is lengthy and beyond what the average bettor can do. 

Time and convenience is probably the biggest reason why serious bettors will use the services of a sports handicapper. Plus, they win more than the average bettor. 

Consider using a handicapper and think of it as an investment. You will have to factor in the cost of doing so. If a capper helps you win 55 to 60 percent of your bets and you bet primarily on underdogs, it won’t take long to produce a profit.