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Sports Betting Arbitrage

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What is Sports Arbitrage or Scalping?

Arbitrage betting is a risk-free approach to betting that guarantees a profit. It involves placing proportional bets on every possible outcome of an event (with different bookmakers) so regardless of what happens, you will make a profit. If you enter the Odds for any two-way or three-way market in the Arbitrage Calculator above, it will work. Arbitrage betting software. As mentioned briefly above, arbers can use software to help them in their quest for opportunities. In short, arbing software sifts through many betting sites, covering all sorts of sports and events, looking for viable arbs. To maintain profitability and solvency, these sports betting sites rely on square recreational bettors and generally frown upon finely tuned ‘sharp' strategies like arbitrage betting. Why Isn't Arbitrage Betting More Popular? The majority of the time, profit margins on arbitrage bets are between 1-5% of an initial stake.

Arbitrage or Scalping put simply is the action of betting on both sides of a game at different sports books to guarantee a profit no matter the outcome of the game.

Arbitrage is not a new concept by any means. It has been done in the stock and other financial markets for years. It's also been done in sports betting for some time however it wasn't as easy or as profitable before internet sports books came on the scene.

Before the internet, bettors in Las Vegas would need to make mad dashes from sports book to sports book in hopes of catching a scalp before lines moved. Now bettors can shop multiple prices within a short period of time and capitalize on line variances that in the past would of took hours to collect.

So How Does it Work?

I like to explain scalping to people with the following example using Major League Baseball money lines.

Sports book A has the Detroit Tigers listed at +120

Sports book B has the Texas Rangers listed at -110

Arbitrage Betting Software Free

Vegas

As you can see from this example the difference in these lines is $10.

So, if Nancy was to bet Detroit at sports book A for $100 she would win $220 if the Tigers won (her $100 stake + $120 in profit).

To complete the scalp Nancy would also need to bet Texas at sports book B for $-110 and if the Rangers won she would win $210 (her $110 stake and $100 in profit).

Now, as you can see from the above example that no matter which team wins the game Nancy will make $10.

How Much Can You Make Scalping?

There a number of factors to consider when calculating potential profit from scalping. First of which is your bankroll and betting limits. The more money you can devote to scalping and the higher limits your sports book will take play a key role in how much return you can expect.

Next is the availability of the variances. Sometimes you can sit at your computer all day and watch the scalps just roll in. Other times, you may only see a couple of scalps per day. Because you are at the mercy of the oddsmakers line movements you really can never predict how many scalps will be available to you.

Lastly, the amount of the variances will play a big role in your bottom line. On average, most scalps range from a few cents up to around twenty cents. Occasionally you will be able to find one higher but they are the exception, not the rule and generally are only available for a matter of minutes. The key to managing these variances is to be able to have the patience to pass on the variances of only a couple cents and wait for the ones that are around ten cents or more.

What Do You Need to Get Started in Arbitrage?

You can start scalping with just a computer, some money and a handful of funded sports book accounts. However to make it worth doing you will need a couple of essentials.

Arbitrage Calculator

Because you are dealing in real money you want to do everything possible to minimize mistakes that could cost you dearly. That's where the Arbitrage Calculator comes in. Essentially an Arbitrage Calculator is either a spreadsheet or web based program that calculates your scalp for you to eliminate the guess work and the mistakes.

You input the amount you wish to bet, the odds at sports book A and the odds and sports book B and the calculator will tell you how much to bet at each sports book. There are many sites online that offer these calculators for free and some will even calculate your expected return for you and keep track of your winnings. Click here to get TheSpread.com's Free Sports Arbitrage/Scalp Calculator.

Line Service

This is not completely essential to scalping however it will make your life a whole lot easier. Without a lines program, you will be resigned to manually visiting each sports book constantly to check the most current lines. This is incredibly time consuming and often times you will miss a scalp because of it.

With a line services you will be able to view the latest odds from dozens of sports books at once and in real-time. Many have scalp alerts built into the program which will give you an audible alert or a pop-up when a scalp is available.

Sports Betting Arbitrage Finder

Some of the more popular ones available today are Sports Insights and Line Tracker. Prices range from $300-$600/month.

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.

Arbitrage Betting Tips

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.

Betting

How it works?

Sports Betting Arbitrage Software

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.

Arbitrage Betting Example
Tennis Match: N. Djokovic vs R. Nadal | Total Stake: $1000
Outcome 1Outcome 2Profit

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.

Sports betting arbitrage example

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.

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?

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?

Sports betting arbitrage las vegas

As you can see from this example the difference in these lines is $10.

So, if Nancy was to bet Detroit at sports book A for $100 she would win $220 if the Tigers won (her $100 stake + $120 in profit).

To complete the scalp Nancy would also need to bet Texas at sports book B for $-110 and if the Rangers won she would win $210 (her $110 stake and $100 in profit).

Now, as you can see from the above example that no matter which team wins the game Nancy will make $10.

How Much Can You Make Scalping?

There a number of factors to consider when calculating potential profit from scalping. First of which is your bankroll and betting limits. The more money you can devote to scalping and the higher limits your sports book will take play a key role in how much return you can expect.

Next is the availability of the variances. Sometimes you can sit at your computer all day and watch the scalps just roll in. Other times, you may only see a couple of scalps per day. Because you are at the mercy of the oddsmakers line movements you really can never predict how many scalps will be available to you.

Lastly, the amount of the variances will play a big role in your bottom line. On average, most scalps range from a few cents up to around twenty cents. Occasionally you will be able to find one higher but they are the exception, not the rule and generally are only available for a matter of minutes. The key to managing these variances is to be able to have the patience to pass on the variances of only a couple cents and wait for the ones that are around ten cents or more.

What Do You Need to Get Started in Arbitrage?

You can start scalping with just a computer, some money and a handful of funded sports book accounts. However to make it worth doing you will need a couple of essentials.

Arbitrage Calculator

Because you are dealing in real money you want to do everything possible to minimize mistakes that could cost you dearly. That's where the Arbitrage Calculator comes in. Essentially an Arbitrage Calculator is either a spreadsheet or web based program that calculates your scalp for you to eliminate the guess work and the mistakes.

You input the amount you wish to bet, the odds at sports book A and the odds and sports book B and the calculator will tell you how much to bet at each sports book. There are many sites online that offer these calculators for free and some will even calculate your expected return for you and keep track of your winnings. Click here to get TheSpread.com's Free Sports Arbitrage/Scalp Calculator.

Line Service

This is not completely essential to scalping however it will make your life a whole lot easier. Without a lines program, you will be resigned to manually visiting each sports book constantly to check the most current lines. This is incredibly time consuming and often times you will miss a scalp because of it.

With a line services you will be able to view the latest odds from dozens of sports books at once and in real-time. Many have scalp alerts built into the program which will give you an audible alert or a pop-up when a scalp is available.

Sports Betting Arbitrage Finder

Some of the more popular ones available today are Sports Insights and Line Tracker. Prices range from $300-$600/month.

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.

Arbitrage Betting Tips

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?

Sports Betting Arbitrage Software

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.

Arbitrage Betting Example
Tennis Match: N. Djokovic vs R. Nadal | Total Stake: $1000
Outcome 1Outcome 2Profit

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.

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?

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.





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