Obviously, sports betting is gambling. However, there is a solid strategy that you can earn some money like an investment that is offered a bank. It uses 'odds-on' favorite on online bookmakers. If you are interested in this betting strategy and getting money from gambling, read tips below.
By the way, favorites are horses that pay relatively shorter odds (Odds means money) and are the most favored by the betting public to win the race. In the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Place Betting is. The favorites betting system focuses on home favorites with a winning percentage of.470 of greater during the course of the season. If the team has lost three consecutive games at home as a favorite. If we only bet favorites, we will win one race out of three on average. That means, betting two dollars at even money (1-1) we would spend $6.00 in wagers and lose $4.00 of it before getting $4.00 in return.
You have to calculate your wagers based on a variety of criteria (eg. Confidence level, odds). Proportionate systems require betting a portion of your bankroll (or balance) and then increasing.
An “odds-on” favorite is a selection where the money that you gamble returns less than the amount you gambled. For example it is when you bet $100 but you win less than $100. An “evens” bet will win you the same amount of money as you gambled but an “odds-on” bet will give you less. For example: 1/3 = Three to one ON – This means to win $10 you must gamble $30. So you will win back less than your original stake.
Everywhere, especially in team sports and tennis.
For example you may see a fixture like this in the English FA Cup: Manchester United vs Cheltenham F.C.
For almost everyone – the fans, the bookmakers and the punters - it is very obvious that Manchester SHOULD win this football match. A few possible reasons are:
a) Manchester United are in the Premier League and Cheltenham FC are in Championship League 3
b) Manchester United are playing at home
c) Cheltenham FC have never beaten Manchester United in a competitive game
So the bookmakers would probably offer odds that look something like this:
Manchester United to win 1/20
Draw 8/1
Cheltenham to win 16/1
This means that if you bet on Manchester United then you would have to bet a lot of money to return a small amount. If you bet $100 and Manchester United win then you will return $105 – a profit of $5 (plus your original bet)
Betting on “odds-on” favorites can sometimes feel like a waste of money because it often seems that the returns are very small or to get a good profitable return then you often need to gamble a lot of money. Also, the risks can often seem too high for such small returns, losing after gambling on a favorite can be very disappointing and annoying.
However, a return of $5 on a $100 bet is still a profit of 5% and this is something that punters like to use when comparing how much return a typical bank would give if the same investment was made. For people who gamble on long odds-on favorites they believe their money is “safe” and it pays back more than a bank and so for these types of gamblers it is worth doing as it is profitable.
With the following system of strategic betting – it may be possible for you to get profitable returns and at the same time keep your risks lower. It comes from the old idea that “over time, a dripping tap will fill a bucket”.
This betting strategy is a long term investment plan and needs patience and the knowledge and ability to be able to bet on a lot of different sports. However, some sports should be avoided at all times when it comes to putting large amounts on “odds-on” favorites.
If you choose to follow any betting strategies you find here or elsewhere on-line, or fellow punters recommend to you or you discover on your own, you will often find or make “guidelines” that are recommended. Here are some for this strategy:
1. Start with a fixed amount – if possible – a minimum of $1000.
2. Only bet on “odds on” favorites.
3. Place at least one bet a week. (The more you do a week the quicker your total will increase)
4. Only gamble 10% or less of your “total” amount.
5. Do not place bets on horse racing, F1 or golf events.
The way the system works is as follows: It is recommend that you bet 10% or less of your total fixed amount and that you choose odds on bets that you feel will almost definitely win. You can also look at different bookmakers odds as sometimes odds-on prices can be quite different. The most profitable odds-on bets come from rugby, cricket, soccer, tennis, American Football, basketball, baseball and ice hockey. Golf and F1 should be avoided as there are too many variables – for example the weather that can strongly affect the result and make things too risky to bet odds on – use F1 and golf to find “value” bets instead. Odds on betting is also not recommended on horse racing for too many reasons to be given here.
The following table shows what happens if you gamble on odds on soccer, cricket, American football, ice hockey and rugby matches.
No. | Betting Fixture | Odds | Bet | Return | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Soccer Celtic to Win (Saturday) | 1/5 | $100 | Win $20 | $1120 |
2 | Soccer Chelsea to win (Sunday - afternoon) | 1/3 | $112 | $37.33 | $1157.33 |
3 | Soccer Barcelona to win (Sunday - night) | 1/4 | $115.73 | Win $28.93 | $1186.26 |
4 | American Football New England Patriots to win (Monday) | 4/7 | $59.31 (5%) Risk is high | Win $33.89 | $1220.15 |
5 | Ice Hockey Chicago to win (Tuesday) | 4/7 | $61.00 (5%) | Lose $61.00 | $1159 |
6 | Soccer Spain to win (Friday) | 1/8 | $115.90 | Win $14.49 | $1130.39 |
7 | Cricket Pakistan to win (Saturday) | 1/3 | $114.00 | Win $38.00 | $1152.00 |
8 | Rugby New Zealand to win (Sunday) | 1/10 | $115.20 | Win $11.52 | $1163.52 |
9 | Soccer Bayern Munich to win (Tuesday) | 1/4 | $116.35 | Win $29.09 | $1192.61 |
10 | Soccer Celtic to win (Wednesday) | 1/10 | $119.26 | Win $11.93 | $1204.54 |
So you can see that after gambling on “odds-on” favorites only and by not betting more than 10% of the total value the profit is at over $200 within just ten bets. That also includes a losing bet – note that also 5% was bet where the odds offered were higher than 1/3. The risk is slightly higher and the result is not so certain for higher odds on bets so it is sometimes a good idea to reduce the stake (the amount you bet) for some fixtures. The thing to remember is that “A winner is a WINNER – no matter how small the return!” and overtime you can fill that bucket with the drips! Good luck!
I was reading through an old racing magazine last week and came a cross a ‘system’ that concerned betting favourites in an exacta bet and the person who wrote the peice believed that he had found a way of making a profit.
His suggestion was to take all races of ten runners or less where the favourite is 2/1 or bigger and place an exacta bet on the favourite to beat all other runners in the race.
For example the betting in a nine runner race may be:
Horse A 11/4, Horse B 9/2, Horse C 6/1, Horse D 6/1, Horse E 15/2, Horse F 8/1, Horse G 12/1, Horse H 12/1, Horse I 33/1
The suggestion would be to bet eight forecasts (or Exacta bets as I prefer these and they generally pay out more), on the favourite to beat all of the other runners into second place. A total of eight bets at an easy to use £1 makes £8 in total.
If there were ten runners there would be nine bets at £9, six runners would mean five bets totaling £5.
In such races the favourite wins about 25% of the time where there are ten runners or less and the starting price is 2/1 or bigger, so in the long term you will get a payout once in every four races.
All okay so far, however the profit that is made does depend on the price of the horse that finishes second. So if the horse coming second is 12/1 you will get a much bigger payout than if the horse is the 9/2 second favourite.
Some real examples.
Looking at yesterdays results at Hamilton, Plumpton and Uttoxeter, there were actually 13 qualifying races and a total of six winning favourites meaning six winning bets.
The total profit from betting £1 on all Exacta bets as stated depending on the number of runners was a fairly handsome £60.50, with two races at Hamilton making a profit of £11.80 and £37.30, three at Plumpton making £14.70, £6.60 and £31.30 and just one at Uttoxeter making £7.80.
When betting forecasts or Exacta bets, you don’t get your stake back, so if you place five bets in a six runner race and the payout is £17.30, you actually get back £12.30 as it is the total less your stake amount.
Also when you do look at the payouts after each race they are shown to a £1 stake so if the payout was £17.30 and you had bet £2 for each bet, you would get back £34.60 less your £10 stake.
So a total of £60.50 to just £1 stakes on an afternoon of racing doesn’t sound too bad at all but it got me thinking, was this the best way to play these races?
Just betting the favourites to win.
I then worked out what would happen if you used the same stakes per race, (a £1 stake per runner less one) and placed that on the favourite in each race.
Well the total profit this time was even better at £79.30 but whether betting this way or an Exacta bet clearly does depend on how much the Exacta pays out and is down to the price of the favourite and the horse finishing second.
The biggest profit made on the Exactas was for £37.30 in the last race at Hamilton where the 4/1 favouite beat a 10/1 shot into second.
The Exacta paid out £46.30, less £9 as it was a ten runner race making £37.30 as the profit made.
Had all of the winning Exactas paid out this amount, then you would have made £175.80 on the day.
However had they all paid out the lowest amount which was £6.60 from the 4.00 Plumpton, you would have lost £8.40.
Where does this leave us?
Clearly just backing the favourites to win with a stake amount that of one less than the field, paid out more on this occasion but we did have a 46% strike rate of winning favourites on this day, nearly double what you will get in the long term.
Backing all favourites to win at level stakes we know does not work so is there a way we can incorporate the Exatca bet idea to make money on certain occasions?
Well as we know, you do get a better payout when the second horse has a decent starting price and the payout of £37.30 profit in the Hamilton race was because the second horse came in at 10/1.
So what about betting the favourite to come first and then only horses at 10/1 or bigger to finish second? This way you will probably have less winners but there will be less outlay for each race and when an outsider does finish second to the favourite, you will get a very good payout indeed.
Recently an 11/4 favourite beat a 33/1 shot in a nine runner race at Chepstow where the Exacta paid out £102.70 for a £1 stake. Less the £8 bet that is a profit of £94.70 and a few of these each week would make the effort well worth while.
I am always looking out for these angles that can be used to make a profit, quite often they may need some tinkering around with the rules to get the best from each idea.
For example maybe stick to low grade handicaps where the outsiders have a better chance of finishing second, or just pair the favourite with the two outsiders in the race.
This is of course more of a fun bet than a serious betting strategy, but there are quite a few ideas that you can play about with here and it could be worth some time looking into this if you can narrow down the bets to those that do pay out over £100 or so each time.