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You may not need any incentive to bet on sports. After all, wagering on sports is an exciting activity.
However, you’ll find that sports betting does have some additional benefits beyond just excitement. These advantages can make you even more pumped about sports wagering versus other forms of gambling.
Of course, you also have to consider the reverse in that sports betting has its downsides. You want to be aware of these drawbacks before jumping head-first into the matter.
That said, I’m going to discuss three reasons why you should and shouldn’t wager on sports. I’ll also offer advice on whether sports betting is ultimately worth the effort.
Reasons to Gamble on Sports
Everybody has their own reasoning for betting on sports. Some of these incentives are quite specific.
However, the three reasons for wagering on sports discussed below are general aspects that apply to many bettors.
1 – You Can Beat Sports Betting
Most forms of gambling have a house edge that’s difficult to overcome without a tremendous amount of luck. Casino games, the lottery, and bingo are all luck-based types of gambling that give the house an advantage.
Sports betting, in contrast, is one of the few gambling activities that gives you a realistic opportunity to win profits.
Of course, you need to be much more skilled than the average bettor to earn serious money.
These skills are harder to come by than most people realize. One not only needs to win over half of their bets, but they must also beat the juice (a.k.a. vig), too.
Vig refers to the commission that sportsbooks take from the losing side of a wager. This commission provides sportsbooks with a better chance of profiting and also makes sports gambling harder.
But even with the vig included, betting still isn’t impossible to beat. You simply need to have the right skills to win enough.
How do you develop these skills? The first step is to learn the basics of handicapping, or the process of determining which outcome offers the most value.
Bookmakers employ professional handicappers to analyze matchups and set lines.
Beating the bookies is really difficult, but this feat can be accomplished with enough effort and experience.
“Sharps” are experts at finding out which side has the most value and wagering accordingly. In fact, sportsbooks actually fear sharps and will adjust lines accordingly, so they don’t get punished by professionals.
You don’t have to be an elite sharp just to make money from sports betting. But you must spend enough time on the matter to improve and become a winning bettor.
One of the best tools you can use is sports betting software.
A number of programs exist online that can provide advanced stats and give you a stronger opportunity of winning.
These programs not only provide useful stats, but they also track sportsbook lines from around the industry. In turn, the software can point out when there are favorable arbitrage bets and steam moves.
Which Sport Is Best To Bet On
Long story short, sports betting is a difficult type of gambling to beat. But you can find all the tools you need to win with some effort.
2 – Gambling Makes Sports More Exciting
You may already love watching your favorite teams and sports. But you’ll get even more excitement by putting a little money on the outcomes.
In fact, these thrills are exactly what makes sports gambling so popular in the first place. Many gamblers love the combination of rooting for a certain team to win and also hoping that their bet pulls through.
Bet On Sports Games
Another factor at play here involves betting on matches with friends and watching the action afterward. Nothing is more exciting as a sports gambler than when you’re in a room full of buddies who’ve also put wagers down.
You don’t even have to wager a lot to enjoy this activity. Instead, you can simply throw a few dollars on an outcome and get many of the same thrills as somebody who risks $1,000.
The key is to consider your financial situation and determine how much you can reasonably bet. I suggest setting up a bankroll that’s specifically for sports betting and never wagering more than 5% of this amount on a single match.
3 – Potentially Cheap Form of Entertainment
As mentioned above, you don’t have to be wealthy to bet on sports.
Most bookmakers accept wagers as little as $10, or even less in some cases. Sports gambling is available to everybody from all walks of life. Just like going to a movie or playing putt-putt golf, you can use sports betting as a form of entertainment.
You may even find that this type of wagering offers more entertainment per dollar.
For example, you can wager $10 on a football game and watch it for three hours. By the end, you’ve only spent a little over $3 per hour.
Of course, you can always bet more if your bankroll allows for doing so. But keep in mind that you can enjoy sports betting for a relatively cheap amount.
Reasons to Avoid Sports Betting
I’m personally really into sports wagering. I think that it’s one of the most exciting forms of gambling available.
However, sports betting isn’t entirely perfect. You want to consider the following drawbacks before deciding to wager on sports.
1 – Sports Gambling Is Tough to Beat
Earlier, I discussed how sports betting is one of the few types of gambling that can actually be beaten long term. This factor draws many bettors who have dreams of becoming multimillionaires.
However, winning just a few dollars, let alone millions, from sports betting is difficult in the long run. The chief problem is that oddsmakers are so good at setting lines that they leave little room for value.
As if this isn’t hard enough, you also have to deal with the juice. You’re going to lose plenty of wagers, and you’ll pay vig on every loss.
Even the best sports gamblers only win around 55% of their wages.
Losers, on the other hand, win somewhere between 45% and 47% of their bets.
Far more people are in the losing category than the winning one. That said, you face an uphill battle when trying to become a successful bettor.
2 – You Can Lose a Lot of Money
One good thing about sports betting is that you’ll win a fair number of wagers in comparison to something like slots. Even as a bad bettor, you’ll probably win about 45% of your wagers.
However, the fact that you do win a decent amount of bets also makes sports gambling deceptive. You may be tricked into thinking that you have betting solved amidst a successful streak.
These situations breed overconfidence. You may suddenly start increasing your bets with visions of going on to become a professional.
Of course, sports betting has a funny way of biting you just when you’re most confident. You may suddenly go through a downswing and think that it’s just a temporary hiccup on your road to riches.
The reality is that every good bettor goes through these up and downswings. If you’re a bad sports gambler, you’re going to see a lot more of the downswings. Furthermore, you’ll lose plenty of money when suffering through cold streaks.
3 – Serious Betting Takes Some of the Fun Away
The sports betting fantasy is to gamble on the games you love and make huge profits while doing so. The reality, unfortunately, is much different.
Professional sports bettors don’t bring six or even seven figures a year by inviting their buddies over to drink beer and place wagers.
Instead, they have a more-precise and mathematical approach.
Haralabos Voulgaris, now the Director of Quantitative Research for the Dallas Mavericks, is one of the most-legendary sports bettors ever. He used calculated formulas to beat basketball for years before moving into an NBA front-office gig.
Assuming you’re even half as successful as Voulgaris, you could very likely deal with the boring statistical side of sports betting. But the key is to leave any fantasies about watching sports as a casual observer at the door.
Conclusion
Should you get into sports betting?
You can see that there are reasons both for and against jumping into sports gambling. Given the fairly equal pros and cons, you need to decide for yourself if sports wagering is worth getting into.
Assuming you want a form of gambling that can be beaten and are willing to put the work in, then you should definitely try sports betting.
Again, it’s one of the few types of gambling that can offer long-term winnings.
Of course, you don’t need to have aspirations of being a pro and making huge profits. Instead, you can simply wager on sports for the entertainment value.
You’ll find more than enough entertainment in sports betting.
After all, bookmakers feature a large number of markets and lines.
However, you may second-guess getting into this activity if you’re just looking to kick back and gamble without thinking much.
Nothing compels you to do any research before making a bet. But you may become frustrated with losses if you’re not willing to put any research into the matter.
Another downside to consider is that even if you do pursue sports gambling seriously, you have no guarantees of winning. A number of talented gamblers have thrown their knowledge into betting, only to get crushed in the process.
Assuming you bet too much on top of losses, you stand to lose a lot of money. Your situation will only get worse if you fall into the temptation of chasing losses.
In the end, the decision of whether to bet on sports comes down to your tastes and preferences. If you think the pros outweigh the cons, then you should definitely give sports betting a try.
“Wait, why does this NFL team have a -235 next to its name? What’s with New England Patriots (-15) vs. Miami Dolphins (+15)? Help! HEEEELPPPP!”
If that sounds like you, we’re here to assist you. If you’ve stared at a board at a sportsbook or just seen spreads and moneylines on the Internet and been utterly confused, don’t worry. It’s not just you. Those numbers can be confounding.
But hopefully, once you’re done reading this, you’ll completely understand how they work. As you prepare to dive into the world of sports betting, here’s a breakdown of how the lines work, starting with …
Spreads
It would be really easy to bet on a game if you could put money on a heavy favorite to win.
That’s where point spreads come in. Let’s look at an example:
Philadelphia Eagles (-4.5)
New York Giants (+4.5)
In this case, you can bet on either two outcomes: you can put money on the Eagles to win the game by 4.5 points OR MORE, which makes them the favorites. Or you can bet that the Giants will either win or lose by LESS THAN 4.5 points. They’re the underdogs.
Now, sometimes the spread “moves” during the days leading up to the game. Perhaps the Eagles’ spread ends up being -3.5 (in which they must win by 3.5 points or more to give you a victory in your bet). Your bet all depends on whichever spread you bet on, whether it was when the Eagles were favored by 4.5 or 3.5 points.
If you ever see “PK” or “pick” next to a team, it means there’s no spread and you can bet on who will win, no matter what the score is.
Moneylines
Let’s take that same example above but use moneylines:
Philadelphia Eagles (-200)
New York Giants (+150)
The team with a minus symbol is the favorite, and the number is how much money you would need to bet to win $100. In this case, you would have to bet $200 on the Eagles in order to win an additional $100.
The Giants are the underdogs. If they’re +150, that means you could bet $100 to win $150.
Note that you can bet any amount you want, but those numbers are always calculated and posted the same way, either in how much money you would need to wager to win $100 or how much money you could win by wagering $100.
Odds
If you’re betting on something like the team who will win the Super Bowl in the future, you might see it look like this:
New England Patriots — 3/1
Baltimore Ravens — 5/1
Kansas City Chiefs — 8/1
If you were betting on the Patriots and their 3/1 odds, you would win $3 for every $1 you spend. So if you bet $50 on the Pats and they ended up winning the Super Bowl, you’d win $150 (plus your original wager) back.
Good luck!