Professional gamblers believe that what they’re doing is essentially the same as investing in commodities or the stock market, but without the disadvantages of overpriced broker fees and insider trading to contend with. When investing in the stock market, you’re taking on some of the world’s most expert financial minds, as well as corporate insiders who might be privy to important secrets days or even weeks before you. Whereas with gambling, you’re only going up against all the other sports bettors, the majority of whom are losers.
One thing that’s important to realize is that the average sports bettor is very uninformed. They usually bet based on emotion or intuition, without doing any kind of research. The second thing to realize is that in order to be a profitable sports bettor, you only need achieve a win rate slightly above 50 percent, which is certainly not unachievable.
For example, if you win 56 percent of all your bets at even odds, you’ll have 1,120 winners and 880 losers on 2,000 bets. This would mean a profit of 278 units overall if you keep to a strict staking plan, betting just 2.5 percent of your bankroll. In many cases, the earning potential is far bigger than what the stock market offers, and it’s certainly more rewarding than other forms of gambling like slots for the UK players.
In other words, to turn a decent profit all one needs to do is achieve a 53 percent hit rate against the totals and point spreads, while carefully managing your bankroll.
Hitting that target isn’t easy of course, especially if you’re betting blind. As mentioned above, the majority of gamblers place their bets based on their feelings, without doing any research. But a professional gambler will research his bets very carefully, and will only bet if they find information (about teams news, injuries, motivations etc) that convinces them of the likelihood of the outcome. They will then establish the probability of the desired outcome and balance this against the price. If the odds are good, only then will he make the bet.
Not everyone has what it takes to hit that elusive 53 percent strike rate, but it’s possible to follow proven tipsters on the web if your own picks are no good. Alternatively, smart investors may want to take a chance bankrolling another gambler who has a proven track record.
One thing to keep in mind is the size of the bankroll. In order to make a living wage from gambling you’ll need a bankroll of at least $10,000, which would entail $250 stakes on each bet.