Becoming A Profitable Sports Bettor​

Content curated from and authored by Clear Data Sports

Almost everyone who bets on sports is a sports fan of some sort. It's not unheard of for a casual gambler to put down a bet on the Super Bowl of Final Four, but, by and large, everyone placing a bet on sports is a fan, is knowledgeable to varying degrees, and is hoping to leverage that knowledge into profitability.

But knowing the sport and understanding the variables of a matchup might help you talk intelligently about a game, but it doesn't mean you'll make money off it. Most bettors don't.

It's why casinos and sportsbooks are desperate to bring you in as a customer. They assume that, in the long run, they will take your money.

The good news, however, is that not everyone loses. And if you go about sports betting intelligently, you don't have to lose money either.

Understanding the Math

The games are played on the field, but the bets are won or lost in the numbers. So the very first thing you need to do to be a profitable sports gambler is learn the math.

The magic number that you need to always keep in mind is 52.4 percent. That is your break-even number. At 52.4 percent, you won't win anything, and you won't lose anything. So everything over that is the black, and anything under that is the red.

And as we've explained previously, the reason the number isn't 50 percent is because of the bookmaker's juice. They get paid for their services whether you win or lose.

And before you think to yourself that because of your superior knowledge, you can easily hit on 60 percent or more of your bets, you should know that the very best sharps in the industry are successful about 55 percent of the time.

So keep your expectations realistic, and forget the idea that you're going to quit your day job and become a full-time sports gambler. At least for now.

Study statistics and find even the slightest edge that can shift things your way by a couple of percentage points, and you'll be ahead of most gamblers.

Stay Consistent

We're going to discuss a variety of strategies that sports bettors use, but before getting into those details, you need to remember that using your chosen strategy consistently is the best course of action. In other words, pick something and stick with it.

Like in blackjack, you know to always split aces and 8s. Now you might lose three times in a row doing that, but good gambling strategies are built for the long term.

So you keep doing it, and eventually, the math works its way to the mean. Eventually, you hit a pair of blackjacks with those split aces.

The same is true for any good sports betting strategy. You might have a bad day or a bad week, but numbers don't care about trends or streaks. Eventually, the math will work itself out.

You will undoubtedly lose a lot of bets. Everyone does. But just like with blackjack, it's about surviving those losing streaks until the math turns back in your favor.