Whether it is possible to earn money from gambling and make a living from betting are questions which seem to bother many punters.
To give the short answer…
Yes, it is absolutely possible to make money with sports betting.
Image: Gualtiero Boffi (Shutterstock)Bookmakers make money; sports analysts make a living from gambling by compiling odds for bookies; some of my own income derives from sports bettors using this website. Programmers earn a living from gambling by developing various betting applications. Manufacturers of gaming machines make money from peopleâs gambling habits.
I could certainly continue this list as the betting business is a big industry providing many, many people with jobs.
But this is probably not a satisfactory response for sports fans who bet themselves and pursue the dream of supplementing their income, or becoming rich from gambling one day.
However, for these hopeful punters, the answer is also clearly positive…
- Yes: it is possible to develop long-term profitable betting strategies.
- Yes: it is possible to find betting odds which hold value and provide a mathematical edge.
Nothing is Impossible!
The big question is whether you will manage to join the minority, the tiny crowd of betting enthusiasts who finally become successful.
Another question is whether you have the patience (and time) for acquiring the necessary knowledge to win more than you lose, because only knowledge is power; without knowledge there is no chance.
Reliance on luck is not a foundation for lasting success. With luck alone nobody can build a house – only a handful of lottery millionaires can claim the opposite.
Successful Sports Bettors – Examples
In September 2005, in “Expert Betting Advice” forum, a young woman named Maria Santonix started publishing horse racing lay bets. I followed her thread at the time, and I must say that it came across as very authentic. She published daily picks (except Saturdays) and in only 303 days, her initial bank of ÂŁ3,000 increased to ÂŁ100,603.78.
The thread has since been taken offline by the operators of the forum, but if you google “Maria Laying System” you will find a plethora of articles referring to her experiment. Naturally, doubt breeds skepticism and most of the responses are quite critical.
It is difficult to find really credible information about betting success on the Internet. In the majority of threads you will read statements such as âI know someone who knows someone who makes his living from bettingâ.
The only website I am currently aware of which has published quarterly betting results for several years is Alan Seymourâs Sports Arbitrage Review. Alan writes about his experiences as a professional arbitrage trader and has been arbing since 2002.
Famous Last Words
If you have anything substantial to contribute to this topic please leave your comment below. It will warm our hearts and be absolutely great!
As I continue to develop betting courses and tutorials, I would be very keen to learn which specific content you are interested in most.
I thank you in advance for you valuable contribution! Every thought helps to develop this website into a sparkling source of knowledge in the often far too confusing worldwide web. đ
Great stuff here guys, really enjoyed the reading.Just came over this site today. Just to answer the inital question, yes it’s definitely possible. I have been living from betting for almost 11 years now, and I am still doing it. I am more of a trader than a pure bettor.I live in Mexico as well, althought I am not Mexican. I am a bit in a hurry now but will check in again tomorrow and participate in the discussion.
Best
Junah
Hello Junah,
Please help me out! I am new to betting and I have lost a lot of money. I would appreciate if you could be giving me winning games on a daily basis. I wouldn’t mind paying for it. Thanks. My email address is teninteni @ yahoo dot com. Thank you sir.
Hello there,
I follow English and Spanish league mostly.
What was it You wanted to ask/share?
Have a good time.
Kudos guys I really like this topic and I aspire to win big someday. Im just wondering if I could dialogue with some people here and compare our thoughts. Like which league youve studied so well and i tell you my thought from other leagues.You can always get across to me in fb.
Hey Everyone,
thank you everyone for your replies.
As I have told Rod, it is not a “finished business plan” I have in mind (yet?), just a very
loose idea / concept that IÂŽd like to discuss with some people who know the sports-betting market well.
Thank you Mark too. I will give your trial a go.
Cheers
Rich
Hello Richtrader, I dont do trading… only betting (I place my bet and wait for the game to finish). I know about the 90-95%, several years ago I even purchased a basketball tipster subscription. I was ignorant, so I lost and got deceived. Anyway, I am interested in learning how to maximize my profits, also I would love to get a critique of my betting ways.
my email is rtgfiru[at]gmail[dot]com
Mark,Hi.
I was not a little intrigued by your post.
Do you mind if I ask what the 62% figure refers to? I’m assuming it can only be winning selections but then all the odds you bet at are what? Roughly evens ? So that is a particular market then?
Also what roi does the ÂŁ29,000 @ ÂŁ100 come to?
Thanks
Hi Rich,
Sure we would be glad to help you. Just like trading Forex and stocks there is not many who profit from sports betting in the long run (around 5% of the general public do). Most think they can win a lot without backing it up and in our industry they are known as squares. Most struggle to hit over the break even mark every year and those who do, tend to hit not much higher than the 58% mark over the year. The most I have personally came across for a year is 66% and anyone claiming above these figures is likely lying. We have averaged 62% over the last 2 years and have documented evidence along with reviews to prove such claims. Last year our ÂŁ100 bettors profited around ÂŁ29k alone.
We offer a free trial for all who are interested, another way of proving that we are not all talk. After your trial should you wish to stay, you will only pay for winning selections. Each winning selections has a fee of ÂŁ10.
If you are interested please get in contact with myself, mark-docherty[at]live[dot]co.uk
Thanks,
Mark
Hey Guys,
as I have posted early this month I am former professional financial-markets trader who is now looking at sports-betting with great interest.
What I am trying to figure out is if some of the strategies that I have applied very successfully on the markets (always looking at relative-value / correlations) can be applied to sports-betting.
Theoretically I see no reason why not, but to be honest I do not understand yet enough
to be 100% positive.
Now, I know from financial-markets that 95-99% (pick your number) of people posting/advertising lose money / are snake-oil salesman and therefore I am extremely cautious who to trust.
On this site the “culture” seems different and therefore I am more inclined to beliefe that there are actually successful traders on here (and I know how important it is to collaborate with other successful traders having sat in one of the most successful trading rooms of the city of London).
ThatÂŽs why I would like to ask any of you successful “punters” to contact me to see if there is a way we could collaborate (could be exchanging trading-approaches/ideas, investments, whatever…)…
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Rich
Rich,
I for one am telling the truth and I might be willing to at least discuss this with you.
I’m at the point where I expect to have great difficulty getting my placed next season and that would be a big part of my motivation.
However I’m mindful of being seen to use this site for personal gain so I will leave it up to Soccerwidow to pass on my email address should they see fit.
Hi Rich,
I am willing to discuss what I do with you.
My email is amorris1820[at]gmail[dot]com
Hi Tony, Rod & Mark, it’s great to see here a lively discussion. Feel free to continue at the blog by sticking to my principle that there is nothing good in this world that is not worthwhile to be shared. đ
Anyway, as you have started sharing your email addresses.. I had to amend them to following format… name[at]site[dot]ending Be careful not to leave click-able emails on the Internet, there are robots out there which read everything which is published and then start spamming the owners.
Hello Tony, thanks for your considering my opinion, I will try to make myself clear (I am from Mexico, not exactly 100% great at english đ )
1.- I dont believe in gambling forums (I agree this is not a forum, I respect this site as a must if you want to learn about sports betting). I have been betting since I was a boy, 10 years old, family tradition. I only did multiples, we call them parlays, and my family does not believe somebody can profit from betting. I took this seriously about 6 years ago, but in a very unscientific way. I did a lot of betting all in to odds in the range of 1.01-1.25 and started experimenting with different ideas. Then I had a “Eureka” moment as to how I could exploit statistical information and how to rate the teams. I really cant say how many hours because I am still learning, experimenting, educating myself with math, excel, database arquitechture, programming, etc. Was it hard work?NO IT WAS NOT. I enjoyed every moment, suffered deeply when I had proof some of my ideas were wrong, but the motivation has always been there.
I think that hard work does not always become success. I think its discipline and commitment to the idea. There have been months that no progress was made no matter the hours spent studying or collecting data. There have been minutes in which I made the most important aspects of my system, a reality.
2.- I did poker, I still have a normal job, I was good at sports but hated school. I like to study, read, research, I wanted to be a musician. The common theme… Creativity. This led me to explore betting as a living, then betting different from the “pros” in the forums. I know I can apply my creative thinking into numerous things, I do it, but being successfull at football betting gives me time (via automation), money (not big enough right now), and a sense of achievement no other profession would give me (gambling background since a kid). It also becomes an example to other people that think their idea is strange, difficult, or have no social support.
3.- I have been trying to trade inplay, I have to be honest with me, in more than 3 years I have not got a positive expected return. Its all been losing on the long rung. Multiples, will work if you have a mathematical advantage of course, but the betting management makes it more difficult handle, predicting its losing trends, winning trends and the odds I usually place my bets are high (avr 2.5-2.7).
4.- No idea. Or maybe I do not understand what you mean. I dont think its worth X amount of dollars, I just know that I bet my savings into it.
I think that embracing risk, is embracing the nature of life. I have seen healthy people die unexpectedly, peaceful people been murdered (I live in Mexico, violent place), embracing risk becomes difficult when you age (I am 29 years old) but when I get some children I want to teach them to defy odds, to believe in their nature, to be strong and compassionate inward…. in order to do so, I must lead by example.
Rembember, it all starts with your human values. I love hard work but not for the sake of it. I do believe in innovation, it takes hard work but within a focused goal. My main motivation is the lessons I shall learn embracing this mindset, so I can teach others what worked for me and what did not…. and of course, I want economic freedom to devote myself to enjoy life and improve peoples life…. having several thousand dollars coming to my account via sports betting sounds like a great way to achieve this for me đ
I hope this helps, anything else I am here to contribute…. This website did a lot for me, paying it forward is the least I can do.
Sorry for the mistakes.I had forgotten that I couldn’t edit.
Rod,I wonder if I could ask you a couple of questions having read your reply and also Right Wingers extremely knowledgable reply.I will quite understand if you don’t answer for any reason.
I should confess that because of my experiences on gambling forums ( I don’t here as this isn’t really a forum) I have in fact become more intrigued by gamblers and why they gamble than in gambling itself.Indeed I think if I was young and at uni Id try to make it the subject of my thesis.
Anyway here goes,
1) You mention that you have spent a lot of time on this.I keep reading on forums that ” making money form betting( on soccer) takes a lot of hard work.How many hours do you think you’ve spent on this?
2)Given that anyone who is able to figure out a profitable system from scratch is probably skilled enough to have made money if they had concentrated on something else ( could be poker or could be learning a skill which could enhance your job prospects) why choose football?
This really is a question I’m increasingly fascinated to know the answer to( from gamblers).
I mean why choose something that every ‘ expert’ on every forum it seems to believe is ‘hard work’?
Do you believe that it is easier to make money betting on football than a) any other sport b) tournament poker c ) doing something completely different including just working behind a bar
3) I have tried to make it clear on here that the best way to profit from betting on soccer is to trade outright markets and bet in multiple yet it’s velar to me that you have not the slightest intention of even trying this out for yourself.
Why?
4) How much do you think your system is worth?
Finally,I was mightily intrigued by you comment at the end re achieving great things through embracing risk.
It seems to me that gambling forums are full of people who are singularly trying to bet on football while being very risk averse.
From everything I’ve read on football betting it seems that embracing risk is not the way to do it.So be careful.
Thanks for reading this.I want to reiterate that I am sincerely intrigued by gamblers motivation and I think that not enough bettors take their own motivation into account before embarking on a lot of apparently hard work.
(If Rob does not answer these questions perhaps others could answer any question that applies to their experiences.Cheers)
Thank you very much for your reply.
At first I thought about doing this myself, but building a big bank takes a lot of time. I have struggled to save enough to invest in my portfolio for the previous seasons, it has taken time to build up, but still its little money (10,000 USD aprox as of now).
I know about the liquidity issue with some leagues… this is why I only bet on the 1×2 market.
I only bet on those two bookmakers because they offer an API, this helps for me to build an automated software that helps me place the bets at the proper times (odds movement is a parameter for my calculation).
You are right about the match betting and building a war chest with the bonuses and free bets. I have not used that option, so that will help me increase a little more my current bank.
I am also looking into my portfolio’s betting strategies all the time, constantly comparing them to past results and worst trends. I do not fear the odds because only a handful are made 100% of public information, the rest I make use of a personal way of rating the teams plus the odds movement, which makes my approach very unlikely to be copied by anyone. I have seen that some of my betting strategies have increased their profitability, and I am aware that everything changes. This has happened in the past, and this is how I have been refining my portfolio.
I appreciate your comments and suggestions, like I said before, you have been an inspiration and your articles came at the right time when I was developing my idea, helping me know more about the concepts I thought about but did not know their names. Still, I enjoy so much your quotes articles and I think that in order to achieve great things, you need to embrace risk.
I will continue to develop my portfolio, maybe I will incorporate other betting markets or even derivatives from my current betting strategies…. Maybe you are right, I should continue using only the money I currently have and take more risks with developing a more aggressive portfolio than looking for external capital.
Thanks again đ
Hi Rod,
My advice is not to get out of your depth too quickly. Any form of financing should be avoided as a means of raising capital. Whoever has the money to inject has the control of any business enterprise.
With credit you of course have interest payments to make, which will skim off the top line of your betting system yield.
Venture capital is not an option. Not only do I think you will struggle to interest anyone, but you will also have to surrender a significant portion of the profits to get investors to buy in to your operation.
Selling the system nullifies its effectiveness and ruins your own betting revenue stream.
It sounds like you are quite keen to take advantage as soon as possible although I would urge caution.
Take it very slowly and on your own at the moment. Things have a habit of changing very quickly and perhaps you have not seen the full cycle of results if you have been betting for less than two seasons.
And if you have not grown your bank to the stage where you can bet with larger stakes, then you will not fully understand the extent of liquidity in the market just yet.
As you are only using two bookmakers, I would suggest opening accounts with many more – those which have free bet offers – undertake some ‘matched betting’ exercises to win as much ‘free money’ as you can to build up your war chest. You can easily make GBP 2000-3000 in this fashion with a month’s worth of hard work.
And please build up your system gradually – the tendency to want to make immediate returns is the mistake that most gamblers make. Patience is the key.
Our own system is constantly under surveillance, the staking plan is always monitored, even the average and highest odds come under scrutiny to spot trends early enough to decide whether a system still has potential (if the odds start dropping, for example.).
We had a wonderful system betting on the 0-0 half-time score in the Icelandic league four or five seasons ago, because at the level of odds available betting on every match to be 0-0 at half-time brought a nice nest egg, purely because the odds were there. At the start of the following season, it seemed like the bookies had cottoned on to the statistical trend and the odds shortened making the whole thing unviable ever since.
As far as being limited by bookmakers, we have only had one account cancellation around five years ago – Stan James – a firm which offered a nice free bet offer but didn’t like people taking advantage of it, even if they made money. To be honest, I made one slip and did a matched bet involving an obscure South American league game and my stakes were limited for the next two bets, with account cancellation following thereafter.
So why have we had no trouble since? Because we never withdraw money from the bookmakers. We always match it out using an exchange and withdraw money only from the latter. It’s more time consuming but a nailed on certainty not to upset your bookie. He knows you’re doing it but he’s not going to give you up if you are always throwing money at him in lost bets which are covered in your exchange. Besides, we are usually also able to make a small arbitrage profit on the process, which pays for the extra work needed.
If you, like us, have something which works in the long run, then the bookies are gold dust and to be treated like royalty. You really don’t want to screw the system by being limited or cancelled.
I hope this helps and many thanks for your question.
Hey Right Winger,
you say ‘So why have we had no trouble since [the single account cancellation]? Because we never withdraw money from the bookmakers. We always match it out using an exchange and withdraw money only from the latter. Itâs more time consuming but a nailed on certainty not to upset your bookie. He knows youâre doing it but heâs not going to give you up if you are always throwing money at him in lost bets which are covered in your exchange. Besides, we are usually also able to make a small arbitrage profit on the process, which pays for the extra work needed.’
Can you please explain this process in more detail? Perhaps with a hypothetical example?
And if this process is feasible, would it not suggest that a savvy bettor need never worry unduly about having any of his (or her) accounts limited or cancelled?
Is this the same thing as betting with betting exchanges which, according to another article, charge expensive premiums?
Hello… Thank you soccerwidow, your website has given me the refinement I needed for my betting portfolio. When I purchased one of your league 1×2 tables I was sure I was on the right direction. I’ve been betting since I was a 10 year old boy (I live in Mexico, back then a kid could walk into a shop with his dad without problems, I am 30 now), the last 4 years I started to develop a database, similar to your HDA tables. Two years ago I made a portfolio inspired by your articles and started my journey into professional betting.
My approach is much different than yours, but it has given me results. I learned a lot from you regarding bank management and I have to say thanks to this website I developed the patience and knowledge to refine my concepts to the point of winning.
I used data from the 2012-2013 season to start my betting on the 2013-2014 season, mostly top european leagues and some second divisions. Then I developed a new mindset for the 2014-2015 season, and so far my theory has been profitable.
I aquired the 2010-2011, 2011-2012 data and made a back test to see if my theory hold the winnings and discover that most of my betting strategies would have given me profits since 2010.
To make this post shorter, I have a betting portfolio that wins money. Marathon bet limited my stakes, so now I am betting only with pinnacle and betfair. But the question I have for you is this…. What do you recommend I should do if I have a winning portfolio, but I do not have the capital to exploit this advantage? Should I take a credit from my bank? Sell the system? Go to a venture capital firm?
Thank you so much again đ
Very interesting topic and a good read. I can’t say I make money from soccer nor will I state that you can’t however I have been investing in sports for 10 years and the most profitable sports I find by far are college basketball, baseball and American football.
I average around the 60% mark every year and are profiting. Don’t get me wrong I have lost a lot of money along the way and to be profitable it does take patience and the ability to stomach losses if you can do this backed with a winning strategy you could well be profitable.