Sports Betting Arbitrage

February 19, 2020
J. Jefferies
Knowledge

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Sports arbitrage betting is a way that some sports handicappers make a guaranteed profit regardless of the outcome of the actual game played. Wagers generated by this system are often referred to as “surebets” or “miraclebets” or “arbs’. You don’t need any in depth knowledge of the sports you are betting on. You don’t need to know if the game is being played indoors or in the rain. You don’t even need to know how to pronounce the names of the teams playing. All you really need is the ability to spot opportunities where this strategy can be used.

What is Arbitrage Betting?

So, what exactly is this arbitrage betting you speak of? Well, in short, it is betting strategy that takes advantage of the different odds of different sportsbooks looking for price discrepancies. You basically place a series of wagers on all possible outcomes of a single sporting event in a way that ensures a profit regardless of the outcome.

Quick Arbitrage Betting Example

Sportsbook 1 has our beloved Pond City Bluegills at +110 playing the River Bank Gators.

Sportsbook 2 has the River Bank Gators as +110.

In this scenario, we would place an equal bet on both teams at +110. So, let’s say the Bluegills win that game. On our bet we placed on sportsbook 1 we placed a $100 and gained $110. On the bet we placed on sportsbook 2 we lost and gave the sportsbook $100. The profit from both, however, was $10.

Granted the above example would be extremely rare. Most profit margins are not nearly this size. Therefore a larger bankroll would be needed to secure a decent sized profit.

Disadvantages of Arbitrage Betting

So, you are guaranteed to make money betting with this system in place. Woohoo, let’s go. But not so fast please. There are also some disadvantages to this system.

For one, arbitrage bets are fairly difficult to find. There are, after all, a number of handicappers looking for these type of wagers (which don’t pop up very often). So, when an opportunity does appear, that opportunity will possibly only exist for a few minutes until it gets corrected by the sportsbooks (the market).

The second disadvantage is that the profit margins are fairly small in size. This makes it necessary to have a significant sized bankroll. Even in the example above, we would need to put down $200 dollars total to make $10 in profit. On average, you will only make a couple of percent return on your overall wager.

Another disadvantage is that the bookmakers do not enjoy losing money. Hence, they are not at all excited about this strategy, and they will do what they can to stop bettors from using this strategy. They may limit your betting account or even say no more bets for you and shut your account down.

In Summary

Just like with the Pythagorean Theorem and contrarian wagering, sports arbitrage betting can be a decent way to make profits if you have enough bankroll to work with, stay on course with bankroll management and find the right opportunities. It also comes with some glaring disadvantages so please do your due diligence. Whether you decide to go this route or not, I wish you the best.