Sports refers to any activity that involves physical exertion and skill. It can be an individual or team activity, and is often competitive in nature.
Sports betting is simply placing wagers on the outcome of a sporting event. Anyone can do this, but not everyone is successful at it. Successful sports betting requires an understanding of the market and the ability to beat the odds.
Many confuse these three things so let’s dive into explanation.
Sports
When we talk about the sport in a sports betting world, we think about the competition, about the teams and players who compete against each other.
If we talk about the game, players, and if we talk about the results this is just a sport. Nothing else nothing more. This is what sports fans do.
If we try to predict a winner without including the odds and probabilities, this is just a sport and has very little to do with sports betting.
Sports Leagues are used as a pool if information and events because it is very popular. Events are every day and this is an opportunity for bookmakers to create liquidity. They need a lot of people to bet and then they can win because of margins.
This is basically the basic business model from them.
The problem is that most sports bettors think that sports betting is about searching for the winners, while in a reality this has nothing to do with the betting.
Sport without probabilities included is just a sport. Nothing else.
Examples of sports (not betting) talk in the sports betting world:
- “I have a winner”
- “Steelers ML”
- “Ravens are lock”
- “I know the sport, they will win”
This is all just sports talk.
Sports Betting
Once we add probabilities and the odds, we start talking about sports betting. The odds and finding a value is a key.
If there is one thing that can be learned from online bookmakers is that they pay huge attention to the odds. They move them, they change them, they even lock bets because of the price. This is so important that they developed the whole system so, that the odds are properly moved and very fast.
It is not about Ravens or about the Pirates or any other team. The focus is on the numbers.
The numbers that you see above are the difference between sports and sports betting.
Many people consider themselves as bettors, but they are just sports fans, who talk about players, about the teams, about the winners, about how the sport is rigged,… I would not even put them into the sports betting category. Most betting groups on Facebook or any other social media are in fact not sports betting groups, but more like sports fan groups.
The Sports betting category starts when we start talking about the odds.
“When talking about the numbers, the odds and the price that you pay is much more important than talking about who will win, only then sports betting starts. “
Sports bettors focus on the price. It can even happen that the same bettor wants to bet on one team, but the price has changed and he will bet on another team.
Such action is almost not possible for sports fans, who pick a winner without even considering what is the price they are paying.
Understanding this difference between sports and sports betting is a very very good start.
The only problem is that even if we understand that the odds are important, not just picking a winner, this still doesn’t make us successful.
Successful Sports Betting
Successful betting is much more complex and it requires a lot of knowledge, experience, patience, and a lot of sacrifices, whether we like it or not.
Successful sports betting can be quickly summarized in 4 steps:
- Finding a value (the difference between your discovered price and bookmakers price)
- Beating the closing line and their margins
- Building/Having a bankroll
- Flexibility and process of learning, adjusting and improving
Successful sports betting has much more with the math, investing, the right mindset, than about the knowledge or love for sports.
Different locations, different methods, similar concepts
Successful betting in the final stage is how you can beat the line and where and how you can bet. We live in different locations, we can use different bookmakers, sportsbooks, betting exchanges, etc.. In some countries betting is prohibited, in some countries the government has a monopoly over gambling and they offer awful odds and big margins,…
Being successful doesn’t necessarily mean 6 figures betting, it can be just a side hustle.
But the concept is pretty the same.
Sports betting is a market, where you must be better than other sports bettors. You are not really betting against bookmakers, but against other bettors as well. And this requires a lot of skills based on your location and abilities.
It requires personal development skills, mathematical skills, investment skills, proven sports betting models and algorithms, flexibility in the market and ability to adjust, ability to recognize if you lose your edge and adjusting the method, tracking your bets, building a bankroll, re-investing profits, and many other things.
To be among 3% in the World that win requires a lot of work and a lot of effort. Sports betting is a (learning) process, that never ends. This free betting course is a good start for anyone who want to become a successful sports bettor.
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