Sports Arbitrage Opportunities
As you hopefully know by now, arbitrage betting opportunities occur when the odds provided by bookmakers for a particular match satisfy a very specific set of conditions. If you can find high enough odds that allow you to bet on all possible outcomes of a sporting event and profit regardless of the result, you have found an arbitrage bet. Arbitrage betting is a sports betting strategy designed to take advantage of pricing discrepancies in the betting markets. It involves placing two (or more) wagers on a single sports event, so that all possible outcomes are covered. In the right situations, these wagers will return an overall profit irrespective of the result of the event. Sports Arbitrage Betting Arb Hunters offers our members the opportunity to make a guaranteed profit from selected sporting events without ever risking a penny with sports arbitrage trading.
Sports betting is supposed to be extremely hard to beat. In fact, only a small percentage of bettors win long-term profits through this type of gambling.
Arbitrage betting (arbing) offers you a shortcut toward making money.
You can be the world’s worst handicapper and still win through arbing.
This method involves wagering on all outcomes of a match in a way that guarantees profit. To do this, you must find two or more bookmakers that differ enough on the odds to lock in your win.
Here’s an example:
- Cincinnati Bengals +200
- Baltimore Ravens -175
- You bet $150 on the Bengals
- You should wager $78.55 on the Ravens to maximize your arb
- Your profit will be $7.10
The trouble with arbing is that it doesn’t offer a very big profit margin. Nevertheless, you can still win a decent amount of money if your wagers are large enough.
Of course, you have to find good arbs before counting your winnings. That said, I’ll discuss more on this subject, including software that can help you spot profitable opportunities.
The Main Challenge Is Finding Arbs
The sportsbook and online sportsbooks aren’t any help themselves aren’t any help with arbitrage betting; they actually despise arbers. Therefore, you’ll be on your own when trying to find these opportunities. Assuming you can regularly spot arbs, then you can make profits again and again.
The good news is that plenty of arbs exist on a daily basis.
After all, the sports betting world is filled with different markets.
The trouble, though, is that you need to both find arbs and bet on each leg in time. Assuming you mess up just one of the legs, then your guaranteed profit will likely be gone.
Here’s an example:
- Tampa Bay Rays +185
- New York Yankees -160
- You wager $200 on the Rays
- The bookmaker shifts the Yankees’ odds to -200
- You’re guaranteed to lose if you still wager on the Yankees
- You’ve basically placed a regular $200 bet on Tampa Bay
Arbitrage betting is a combination of making profitable wagers and capitalizing on opportunities in time. If you’re able to master these skills, then you can look forward to consistent winnings.
You Can’t Rely on Finding Arbs by Yourself
Your first inclination regarding arbitrage gambling may be to try and find opportunities yourself. Doing so requires monitoring a variety of sportsbooks and looking for potential arbs.
You can theoretically still find winning opportunities this way. But your chances of doing so with any consistency are next to nothing.
Again, bookmakers hate arbers.
They normally remain close to each other in terms of odds to avoid giving up arbs.
Of course, sportsbooks do differ enough on the odds sometimes to create winning opportunities. But they often close these gaps before too many gamblers can take advantage.
If you’ve got 10 sportsbooks open on your phone and keep refreshing them, then you’ll be terrible at timing arbs. Long story short, you can’t do it on your own.
You Must Use Arb Software
The only sensible way to arbitrage bet is to use software. You need a program that specifically seeks out arbitrage betting opportunities.
Some programs are designed solely for finding arbs and alerting you to them.
These “arb finders” are even available for free in some cases (covered later).
General sports betting software programs can do the same trick in some cases. You can also use these programs for other purposes, such as finding steam moves, public betting percentages, and updated odds.
The key is for you to find a program that tracks this information so you don’t have to.
Free Arbitrage Betting Software Exists
You’ll be pleased to know that you don’t have to spend anything on arbitrage gambling software. Instead, plenty of free programs exist across the internet.
The obvious advantage of free software is that you don’t need to pay for anything. Instead, you can just fire up these programs and begin looking for arbs.
The downside is that freebies don’t work extremely well.
They suffer from the following problems:
- They don’t cover many markets
- They don’t refresh quickly
- Odds often come in on a delay
- It’s hard to bet each leg in time when relying on these programs
You may ultimately decide to invest in software when considering free programs’ limitations. But if you’re still interested in the latter, then you’ll be happy to know that they’re easy to use.
Many companies offer a free version of their software that includes an arb-finding option.
You can continue using this version until deciding to upgrade to the premium service.
The arb-finding feature is self-explanatory in most cases. You just need to apply the relevant filter to figure out where you can take advantage of arbs.
You May Want to Buy Software
Whether or not you decide to pay for arbing software depends upon how serious you are about the matter.
You might begin by using a free service and placing low-stakes wagers.
This route gives you a chance to decide how serious you are about the matter.
Assuming you do become a serious arber, then you should consider upgrading.
Doing so provides you with the following advantages:
- Odds refresh faster and give you a stronger chance to bet every leg in time.
- Your get extra features, such as alerts, arbing calculator, and more-detailed filters.
- More markets are covered.
Of these benefits, speed is of the utmost importance. Arbs don’t hang around forever, making free programs risky.
You can cut down on this risk by paying for software. You’ll receive refreshed odds at a faster rate with more in-depth programs.
Concerns With Arbing and Paying for Software
The other side of the equation is that you might not find arbing enjoyable or worth your time. You’ll especially feel this way if you have a small bankroll and are only making a few dollars per arb.
Even with the best software, arbitrage betting can be a time-consuming process.
You’ll likely question the hours you pour into the matter with the slim profit margins involved.
Another downside is that your account may be limited or even banned.
Conclusion
Arbitrage betting is a promising way to make money through sports gambling. When arbitrage betting is done right, it can deliver guaranteed profits.
You just need to find situations where bookmakers differ enough on odds for a given match to win. Of course, this process is easier said than done.
Technically, you can find arbs by yourself. You can constantly refresh online sportsbooks on your phone and monitor the odds. But you’ll be putting yourself through hell with this method.
Instead, you should use either free or paid arb finders.
These programs are designed to monitor lines and alert you to arbs. This scenario cuts out a lot of the work involved with arbitrage gambling.
The good news is that you can use free programs if you don’t feel like investing in software.
Sports Arbitrage Opportunities
The drawback, though, is that free arb finders don’t refresh odds quickly or cover as many markets.
Buying software comes with the obvious downside of having to spend money. But the benefit is that you’ll get updated odds faster and find arbs across more markets.
In the end, you need to decide how serious you are about arbitrage betting.
Assuming you’re really serious about making money from the matter, then you should pay for software.
If you just want to get your feet wet with arbing, then the free programs should suffice. You may even be able to make a little money with this software.
I suggest arbing with a large bankroll. The more you’re able to wager, the higher profit margins you’ll earn.
Of course, nothing is stopping you from arbing with a smaller bankroll. But the profits you earn will essentially amount to pennies or dollars per arb.
Arbitrage betting is the only way to make constant profits from sports betting. You don't even need to have interest in sports or betting to take advantage of an arbitrage bet and make extra money online. Arbitrage is a trading technique that uses the difference in the price (odds) to make instant profit. It has been used for a long time in financial markets, which can be difficult for non-professionals to access.
What is sports arbitrage betting?
Arbitrage bet in sports betting is an activity where you simultaneously place bets on all possible outcomes of an event at odds that guarantee profit, whatever the result of the event will be. These bets are also known as surebets, miraclebets, surewins or just arbs.
How it works?
Normally, placing bets on all outcomes of an event at single bookie would result in guaranteed loss. However, if you take the best odds from different bookies, it is possible to make guaranteed profit.
Most sports events have two possible outcomes (tennis, American football, basketball, hockey-no draw) or three possible outcomes (football-draw possible). Here we will give you an example of an event with two possible outcomes.
Tennis Match: N. Djokovic vs R. Nadal Total Stake: $1000 | ||
Outcome 1 | Outcome 2 | Profit |
Bet on N. Djokovic Bookmaker: 5Dimes Odds: 1.360 Stake: $801.75 Winnings: $1090.38 | Bet on R. Nadal Bookmaker: Pinnacle Odds: 5.500 Stake: $198.25 Winnings: $1090.38 | 9.04% or $90.38 |
As you can see above, a correctly staked investment of $1000 guarantees a return of $1090.38 whatever the outcome of the match will be. That means $90.38 guaranteed profit because of the differences in the bookies' odds on a single bet. You can see that 5Dimes had odds of 1.36 for Djokovic to win the match, while Pinnacle had odds of 5.5 for Nadal to win the match. By applying simple mathematical formula we were able to calculate that we can cover both possible outcomes of the bet and make a guaranteed profit. The amount to invest on each outcome is calculated using another simple formula. $801.75 invested on Djokovic returns $1090.38 and $198.25 invested on Nadal returns also $1090.38.
In practice, arbitrage betting involves comparing odds at different bookmakers to find the best available odds on the market, then calculating if those odds can make you a profit and in the end placing bets and collecting your profit. Find out which online bookmakers generate large number of arbitrage opportunities and how to make all necessary arbitrage calculations.
Arbitrage Opportunity Today
Why arbitrage opportunities occur?
There are many different reasons why arbitrage opportunities occur but the most frequent are discrepancies between online bookmakers and bookie's necessity to maintain balanced book. The first reason, discrepancy between bookmakers, happens when bookmakers open the market or start accepting bets for particular sports event. Usually only several leading bookmakers lay or offer odds, while other bookmakers, who do not have the necessary knowledge or resources to carefully follow particular sports event, wait for the leaders to open the market before setting up their own odds. Leading bookmakers often disagree on the chances of the outcome of a particular sports event. Their discrepancy is expressed in betting odds, so when the market opens you will have the opportunity for an arbitrage bet.
The second reason that leads to arbitrage opportunities is bookie's necessity to maintain balanced book (bookmaker's book is a record of accepted bets). By maintaining balanced book bookie makes a safe profit and protects himself against a potential loss. But people don't bet proportionally on all possible outcomes of an event. Furthermore, the bookmaker sometimes accepts extremely large bets on one of the outcomes of an event, thus creating an unbalanced book. In order to restore balanced book the bookie must change the odds. This is achieved by lowering the odds on the outcome that has received more bets and raising the odds on the outcome that has received less bets. Since there is no reason for the rest of the market to change, the bookmaker just created an arbitrage opportunity. So bookmakers necessity to maintain balanced book is another frequent reason why arbitrage opportunities occur.
Do bookmakers (sportsbooks) know about arbitrage?
The sportsbooks create arbitrage opportunities because they need to balance their book. Remember that you can't go to a single sportsbook and bet on all outcomes of an event without losing money. The sportsbooks are only interested in profit they make when they have balanced book. Their profit, so called margin, is amounts wagered minus the winnings and is between 2% and 8% of total stakes. Furthermore, sports arbitrage betting doesn't infringe any bookmakers terms of use and is completely legal method to make money online.
How often opportunities for surebets occur?
You can find hundreds of arbitrage opportunities every day. However, you will have to go through some learning before you will be able to find surebets easily. Most arbs are small profit, around 5%, and there is a couple of big ones every day, over 15%. Even with small profit arbs you will be able to make great extra money.
Do people really do arbitrage betting?
Sports Arbitrage Opportunities Online
Although sports arbitrage is more accessible because of the internet, there is still a lot of people who haven't heard about it. Some even say that arbitrage betting is the best kept secret on the internet, but we cannot agree because there are more and more companies that provide arbitrage alert services or sell arbitrage software. There are people who place surebets occasionally, in spare time and there are also professionals, so called arbitrageurs or arbers. They invest a lot of money and time to place bets as a full-time job. Your own success primarily depends on your level of commitment and work. The more time you invest in trading, the more profit you gain because arbitrage trading is a legitimate way to make extra money and not a get rich quick gimmick.
Is it possible to arb from the USA?
Many of our visitors asked us this question so we have decided to clarify the issue. US residents are able to make arbitrage bets but only between US friendly bookmakers. Since many online bookmakers do not allow American residents to register, because of problems related to legislation, US residents won't have the same number of arbitrage opportunities like people from other countries that don't restrict online betting. This means that US residents won't have the chance to make the same profit since they are limited only to the US friendly bookmakers.
How much money can I make with sports arbitrage?
Our experience has shown that the range of your monthly profit can be between $1 and $15,000. It primarily depends on the amount of time you invest into conducting arbitrage bets and the amount of money you start with. If you want to make $15,000 a month, you will have to turn arbing into a full-time job but you can also do it in your spare time as a part time trader to make decent extra cash. Even with minimal capital you can expect to make something between $15,000 and $30,000 in first year. If you will use more advanced techniques, like arbitrage alert services or arbitrage trading software, you will be able to double this amount.
How much money do I need to start trading?
Although it has been very much speculated about the start capital you need for arbitrage trading, our experience has shown that the bare minimum would be $2,500, while the upper limit is $100,000. The minimum capital can be doubled or even tripled simply by scalping sportsbook's bonuses. If you have around $100,000 capital you can expect difficulties in using all of the capital efficiently. Check our arbitrage guide to find out what else you need to start arbitrage betting, besides capital and willingness to learn.
Why arbitrage trading?
Arbitrage betting is a great way to make extra money online because it doesn't require large capital or special education and training which is necessary for trading with stocks and bonds, forex and other trading markets. Arbitrage trading also doesn't require the element of luck which is essential for sports betting. Your profit is risk free and you can stop at any time to collect your earnings from sportsbooks. Read our arbitrage trading advice to keep arbing free of unnecessary risks. Money made from arbitrage trading is easy, but not quick. You shouldn't expect to become a millionaire in 10-days like some get rich quick frauds claim. Your long term success in arbitrage depends on the amount of time you invest for conducting trades. Also a level of commitment is necessary to learn the basics of arbitrage betting at the start of your arbitrage trading project.