Arbitrage Betting

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.

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?

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.

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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Arbitrage Guide

Sports Arbitrage Software

RebelBetting - excellent arbitrage betting software that makes arbing simple even for complete beginners

Pinnacle Sports - best odds, highest limits; perfect bookie for arbitrage traders

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