Arbitrage Betting - Guaranteed Profit

Arbitrage betting on sports is a well-known concept. Essentially what you are doing is investing in a positive return on your money, with little to no risk attached. The process is also utilized by bankers speculating in various financial asset classes.

What is arbitrage betting?

A successful arbitrage bet means that no matter what happens in the game you come out on top and make money. Here is an example of an arbitrage investment with regard to sports betting just to hammer into your head how this works; Liverpool is in this example playing Manchester City. Bet365 has Liverpool listed at 2.00. Betsafe has Manchester City +0.5 listed at 2.20. We now have an arbitrage situation that pays very well. Here's how you work it. You wager with Bet 365 on Liverpool, you lay down $523.81, if it hits your gross win is $1047.62. You then surf quickly over to Betsafe and take $476.19 with them on Manchester City, if it hits you pocket $952.38 No matter how the two soccer giants fare, you are going to be winning $47.62 with zero risk. This is a 2.46% return on your invested capital.

How does sure win situations arise?

The main reason is that bookmakers try to balance their book in order to reduce risk exposure overall. If they are getting bombarded on one side of a betting event they have no choice but to move the line off to get action on the other. This frequently happens when bookmakers launch their odds. Every one interprets betting statistics and information relevant for the betting object slightly different. Therefore, their odds may be relatively different, and favorable arbitrage situations can be found. It also can happen when new information hits the market and odds changes happen fast due to pressure from bettors or simply because the trading department is adjusting accordingly. Usually there will be some bookmakers reacting slowly and an exploitable arbitrage may be found.

Does this sound too good to be true?

Well, arbitrage situations arise every day. Keep in mind; even if this lunch is seemingly free, it requires a lot of work to eat it. You got to isolate the arbitrage situation and allocate money to each relevant outcome in the correct proportion. At the same time you got to look out for odds changes and the possibility of reduced betting limits, problems that can turn your potential profitable betting situation into a risk-nightmare in Nano-seconds. Also, a lot of punters bet on a seemingly legit arbitrage only to find their win cancelled by the bookmaker as the odds he had originally put out were entered wrongly. Be sure to check the terms and conditions of the bookmakers you use. Also, stay away from the obvious errors. A fault of this type could set your arbitrage investment fund back a lot. A bookmaker that notice you exploit his errors will most likely also reduce your betting limits and make it very hard for you to make any money of him.

Can I get someone to do the work for me?

There are arbitrage teams out there that will do a lot of the leg work for you provided you put up the capital. Be wary though as there are many scams promising you huge immediate profits. Many a punter has gone broke this way.

There are also many software programs that can help you find the best arbitrage bets available. After all who has time to search every sport line on every sports book? You can get others to do it for you. Depending on what program you go with, you can set up betting-robots that will automatically bet X amount of dollars when an arbitrage is spotted. You can make money at this while you sleep. This is expensive however, and recommended only to those that are well versed in betting, and the system being used.

Arbitrage betting tips

If arbitrage betting sounds interesting, you should check out our bet tips section. We publish good arbitrage betting tips there when they are available. Hopefully this article has provided you with a good introduction to sports arbitrage betting. The mathematics can be a little tricky to get the hang of if you are a beginner, so make sure you read our additional arbitrage essential articles and other betting articles. Luck favors the prepared mind you know.