Sports betting is a kind of gambling that incorporates a decent amount of calculation and strategy so people are bound to have their opinions about how you should do it. Among this forest of opinions, there is an incredible amount of misinformation perpetrated by frequent bettors as well as newcomers.
Sports Betting Is All Luck
With sports betting, you are predicting the outcome of future sporting events so obviously luck is going to play a part in it. However, different from slots in Las Vegas, the bookmakers who create the odds are humans and not machines, so sometimes humans do make mistakes. Bettors can take advantage of these mistakes to increase their chances of profit.
What’s more, bettors don’t have to just rely on good odds. There is an incredible amount of data, such as head-to-head stats, that can be used to make a better prediction. With enough research, it’s entirely possible to win consistently. The fact that there are professional punters who do this for a living means it’s not all luck.
The Games are Fixed
Many would say that sports betting is rigged. In fact, they can even point out evidence of games being fixed in the past. Although there were more than a few sportsbetting scandals in the past, this statement is not true for the majority of sports betting.
First of all, pro athletes in popular sports such as football or basketball make a huge amount of money every year, so to bribe someone like that takes a fortune. Secondly, one player cannot singlehandedly dictate the outcome of a team sport. Bribing the whole team? That’s just not realistic — not for every sport, every team, and every game.
Not to mention the risk of getting suspended from the sports, fired from the team, and ridiculed by the public. As consequences get more severe and players’ salary increases, it’s much more difficult to fix a game.
Bettors Bet Against The Bookie
A myth perpetuated by people who have never placed a bet in their lives. Sportsbooks don’t make a profit from betting against punters. The way they make a profit is to get an equal amount of bets on both sides, pay the winning bets with the losing ones then charge the vig (commission fee) on the losing bets. For example, if you want to bet on an even odds: $100 to win $200, you actually have to bet $110 with $10 being the vigorish.
The Sportsbooks Have Inside Information
You have to consider this: normal bettors have to spend most of their time doing a day job while people who work for sportsbooks compile the news and data for every match from 9 to 5. They’re able to get faster and more accurate information simply because they spend a lot of time on it.
Besides, inside information doesn’t really matter because good bookies know that having equal bets on both sides is the surest way to make money. If they try to trick people into betting on the ‘losing team’ but it ends up being the winning team, those bookies will be out of business quickly.
Bookies Don’t Want The Underdog To Win
As discussed before, good sportsbooks make money regardless of who wins. But the fact is that they love it when an underdog wins, especially a big one. There is always some mad person who places a huge bet on a +1000 underdog so when the upset actually happens, the news will be filled with stories of bettors bringing home tens of thousands of dollars. This incentivizes more people to join sports betting and acts as free marketing for the bookies.
Don’t Bet On The Favorite
Of course, the underdog bet always seems more appealing since the potential reward is higher but guess what, underdogs don’t win as often as favorites. The truth is there are 2 sides to everything, and betting on the favorite can definitely make you money. A parlay is always an option when you want to chase big profits by betting on the favorite.
Tipsters Are Always Reliable
If a tip-paying service is always right, wouldn’t they make a lot more money actually betting rather than tipping other bettors? You have to give the credit where it’s due: these people spend a big chunk of their days picking matches and analyzing stats, but sports are so unpredictable they’re bound to have their misses. Blindly going with tipsters in no way guarantees success.
In addition, some online pick-selling services are straight-up scams that will advise half of their clients to bet on team A and the other half on team B. Then, they keep repeating this process so that 50% of the clients at a time always think they know what they’re doing.
Betting Against The Streak
This myth simply originates from the notion that if an athlete/team is on a winning streak for so long, it must be about time they lose. It’s similar to how gamblers think the more money a slot racks up, the more ‘due’ it is to give out a jackpot, which is not true.
There is no evidence to support this strategy. Anderson Silva won 16 fights in a row during his 6-year winning streak and Ma Long once played 50 games of table tennis without losing. Sometimes, it makes sense to bet against a dominant figure because of the big odds differentiation but certain players just keep winning.
It’s easier to win with a large bankroll
Having a lot of money also makes you more susceptible to losing big, so it’s not really easier. With a small bankroll, a bettor can be more patient by winning many small bets than chasing a huge one. Furthermore, a lot of research and match picking can help you bet on the right underdog. At the end of the day, it’s all about making the right call.
