Can You Beat the Bookies?

It’s a question asked by almost all gamblers, and usually pretty early on in their betting lives. There’s an old saying that ‘You never see a bookie on a bicycle’, which basically suggests that they make so much money from pricing up events to their advantage that you’re more likely to see them driving an expensive car than peddling their way to work. So, read on and we’ll teach you a little bit about how to beat the bookies.

It’s difficult but it can be done! The first thing to do is make sure that you’re betting at a site that gives you the best odds. If you’re betting on football or horses, then your best bet for the most competitive all round odds on sports are as follows:

USA: Bovada Sports – To check out their site and claim their generous joining bonus, go here.

UK, Europe & many other global regions: bet365 – To join & avail yourself to the current new customer bonus (T&Cs apply), go here.

Canada: Sports Interaction – To check out their Canada only site and claim a generous joining bonus, go here.

Competition

These days, punters have far more options available than was the case years ago when bookmakers started out. Most people had no choice and were limited to a single local betting shop, a trip to the greyhound track or to making bets with some underground sharks if they lived in a jurisdiction that prevented gambling. Now however you can fire up your computer and bet with a vast array of bookies and sportsbooks.

One thing you need to do if you want to be a winning sports bettor is to shop around. You should try to find the best odds you can for all of your bets, and this can mean having accounts at lots of different sites, and being able to move money in and out of them quickly. If you blindly take the odds on offer at whatever site is convenient, or that you have money on, when there is a better price available elsewhere, you’re simply costing yourself money.

You might find that British and Irish bookmakers are more likely to make mistakes pricing up American sports, while U.S.based sportsbooks might be overly generous with their English Premier League odds. In order to beat the over round you need to make sure that you’re always shopping around. It can be a lot of work, but it pays off.

Another important reason for spreading your betting around the various bookie sites is that many sites will limit or close your account if you become too big of a winner. If you bet small amounts at a wide variety of sites, you’re much less likely to trigger alarms that will have the management look at your account and decide whether your business is worth their while.

Bonuses and Special Offers

If you want beat the bookies, you’re going to need to take advantage of all of the special offers that you can. You’ll often see online bookmakers and sportsbooks running special offers and deposit bonuses. Promotions like ‘Money back if your horse finishes second’ add value to your bets and you should factor them into your calculations in deciding whether or not a bet is profitable.

Always be on the look out for reload bonuses where the site will offer you for example a $50 free bet if you lodge some money to your account and make $100 worth of bets. Remember that the sportsbook are fighting with each other to get your attention so take advantage of them whenever you can!

Best Current Signup Bonus for 2024

Bet365 Sports

Play Here

Easy to use
So many markets
Top customer service

» Visit the site for the latest signup offer

Research

When it comes to making money on sports betting, unfortunately there’s generally no substitute for hard work (except pure good luck). The big winners at sports betting tend to be those who study the form and statistics and then hunt for value in the markets, hoping that somewhere one of the bookmakers has made a small mistake which they can take advantage of.

In truth sports like horse racing, American football and soccer are very well researched by the bookmakers and you’ll find it difficult to make a whole lot from these games.

If however you’re a specialist in a sport like snooker, golf, swimming or boxing, you have a better chance to make some good money by simply knowing more about the game than the bookmaker, to the point where you can overcome the edge which they build into their prices. After all, at the end of the day its just your opinion against theirs. We have another article that will teach you a bit more about how to get good at sports betting.

Manage Your Money

Pick a fraction of your betting bankroll that you want to stake on each bet and stick with it. Most people recommend never betting more than 5% of your bankroll on a single bet, and some say you’re better off keeping to 2-3%. Even if you see what you think is a dead cert, you should keep your discipline. i.e. You’re never going to beat the bookie if you don’t have any money to bet against him!

Latest Sports Betting Articles

July 31, 2020