Arbitrage & Trading
For most punters the betting process is relatively simple. Choose an event, get some advice from experts, select a market, decide on the amount for the stake and click on submit. It gets a bit more complicated for the professionals, because they also do their own research on the underlying circumstances that surround a match. However, it doesn’t stop there. It’s time that we discussed about two of the more advanced techniques that you can use.
Arbitrage betting and bet trading
Both rely on the same premise: the discrepancies in the odds that the top Asian and European bookmakers offer. Arbitrage trading is a way of making sure that there will be a profit regardless of the outcome, while bet trading looks to make a profit out of the changes in the price, the closer we get to the event.
The first one actually looks for the mistakes that the bookies make in the determination of the odds. And this is actually a quite frequent occurrence. By placing bets on the exact opposite outcomes (usually at a ratio of 2:1 in the odds) they will collect no matter what happens. That being said, the technique does not yield as much profit as normal bets. The standard return on investment is something in the vicinity of 1.8. The balancing aspect is that it exists on every set of wagers placed, while in standard betting there will be times that all of the stakes will be lost.
Arbitrage betting can be used in both Sportsbooks and exchanges, and it gets even better when using an arbitrage calculator. However, a more profitable technique could be trading bets. Mind you, this is only to be used in exchanges where it is allowed to trade bets. What you do is sell a bet that you have already placed, to buy one that you think will bring you higher profits. It’s actually the reason for the release of many bet-trading applications, automating the process and making sure that you do not miss any opportunities, regardless of the available sports that you will choose from.
Advantages and disadvantages
The premise for both techniques is to reduce the risk of loss and make sure that there is a profit (no matter how small) on every bet. We have already discussed about the lack of loss on arbitrage betting. And we have already mentioned the low yield. The fact is that at such a low return of investment you will need to have significant bankroll management, in order to make a decent profit that you can call a livelihood. Betting 100 at odds 2.00 on a normal bet gets you 100 in profit. 1.8 ROI 100 will get you 8. So, you will need to stake 1,250, in order to receive the same 100. One thing that you also need to take into account is that, while you can place both sets of bets at the same bookmaker, they actually do not like arbitrage. Hence, you may need to do it in different ones and that would mean more strenuous activity management.
On the other hand, bet trading may get you a significantly higher ROI. The downside is that it all depends on someone accepting to buy your bet. If no one does, then it will stay with you all the way through. Win or lose. It also depends on changing of the odds. If that happens and the new ones are higher, then you can collect. However, if the new ones are lower, or if there is no change, then there is no point in making the trade.
You need help on both counts
For both techniques (and for every bet for that matter), there’s one prerequisite. To be able to identify the best and most profitable opportunities. It’s a process that requires a lot of mathematical calculations. If you do them by hand, then you run the risk of miscalculating. Consequently, you will need to use a set of online betting tools and calculators that will do that much faster and quite reliably.
