A Guide to Sports Betting Money Management

Tom Venter
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When betting on sports, you should be familiar with the various betting options accessible. Sports betting can feel like a bit of a black art when it comes to financial management. There are many people that promote various betting techniques, employing lingo that may be confusing and peddling their systems in exchange for the money you have worked so hard to earn. The idea is to simplify things, dispel any uncertainty generated by smoke and mirrors, and put you in a position to make more money for yourself. Because of the stress, this will cause you, let’s start with the basics and get a sense of where you currently are in terms of sports betting. 

Sports bets represent a high-risk investment 

Yes, it is an investment, and if you do not treat it with the care and attention that investment requires, you will lose the money that you put into it. Those who want to be moralistic or frightened you call it “gambling,” but in truth, a sportsbook, casino, racino, or any institution that accepts wagers is a Financial Institution. Those who want to be moralistic or scared, refer to it as “gambling.” There are even casinos that will lend players money. The banking operations at a casino are not dissimilar to the banking processes seen at a derivatives broker. The difference is that one set of markets emanates legitimacy due to the participation of large institutions, whilst the other group of markets is dominated by a public market linked with persons who struggle with arithmetic and may be under the influence of alcohol. 

If you treat sports betting as a type of entertainment money that you can blow through, you will do just that, and you will lose it all, most likely very quickly. If you continue in this manner, your money will be squandered. 

investment portfolio, one that you are aware can be lost fully and that the losses would not financially harm you, you have a chance of winning. This entire Betting Guides area has been written to help you psychologically and physically. Your goal is to have a fruitful working relationship with the OTC market. 

Yes, sports betting is an activity in the market for over-the-counter swaps 

What makes you think that? A swap, on the other hand, is a contract between two parties that involves the exchange of financial instruments (options, notes, bonds, and currencies), cashflows, or payments over a certain period. Sports betting is one type of swap, but there are many other types of swaps accessible. 

Assume you agree to pay your sportsbook $220 in exchange for a bet on a specific team beating the spread in a specific sporting event. If your prediction is correct, the bookmaker will return you $200 in addition to the initial payout. If you bet against your favorite team, you may perceive the money you win as an insurance payment to compensate for the disappointment of your team’s loss. 

A business entity can make payments to a counterparty as insurance that if another business fails on their debt or suffers a credit event, the business entity will get a greater one-time payment. Sports betting is similar to naked credit default swaps in that a corporate entity can pay a counterparty in this manner. Are you ready to take your venture a little more seriously now that you’ve realized you’re in the money game? 

Flat betting is the greatest method to utilize 

Using this method to put bets on athletic events is likely to provide the best outcomes. In each game, you always bet the same total amount. Take attention to the terms used; you should bet between 3 and 5% of your whole account balance. Not total allotment or overall bankroll, just account bankroll. The term “account bankroll” is used since you will have multiple accounts across the industry rather than just one at a sportsbook. Your entire budget is split among numerous different sportsbooks. 

You have $2,000 to gamble on sports and decide to split it evenly among five different sportsbooks, assigning $400 to each. This means you may be betting between $12 and $20 on each game. Although it may not appear to be much, remember that you are viewing this as an investment opportunity. You are not betting on only one game per day or a few times per year, as the average losing bettor who does not take this activity seriously does; rather, you are betting on multiple games where you believe there is a chance for a successful return. It is a clinical procedure, similar to avoiding building an emotional attachment to your investing portfolio. 

This form of flat betting can be approached from a variety of perspectives 

If you start with $400 in your account and gradually grow it to $1,000, your average wager per game will rise from $12 to $20 to $30 to $50. This is a rise in percentage terms. You wager the same flat absolute amount of money each time, regardless of the size of your bankroll when you bet by absolute amount. This is done based on the initial investment and the proportion to bet on each game. Using our example, the cost of each game will range from $12 to $20, depending on the size of your account bankroll. Even if you spend less than $200, you will still bet $12-20 per game, and if you spend more than $2,000, you will still bet $12-20 per game. There is a considerable risk that the money in your account balance will do very well at one sportsbook while losing everything at another. Given that circumstance, there is also a very real probability that you will make a considerable sum of money. Remember that you are considering this as an investment, thus you should think about rebalancing the assets in your sportsbook account. The percentage of an account that will be utilized equals the win probability minus the loss probability multiplied by the amount won. 

Before placing a wager, it is critical to assess the likelihood of your success. In most circumstances, the likelihood of winning is assessed based on an examination of the track record for the sort of wager under consideration over a lengthier period. Do you bet against the point spread? Do you place bets on the total score? You are using a large enough sample size from your track record to calculate how much money to wager on each type of bet. If you have a winning percentage of at least 53% and want to wager on point spreads and totals, the Kelly Criterion is an excellent tool to have. Let’s stay away from the following betting tactics, shall we? 

The Martingale Betting System 

In every regard, this is a bad plan. Keep clear from this at all costs. How can this horrible tactic possibly work? If you utilize this technique, you are probably negligent when it comes to sports betting, and you are probably dumb when it comes to mathematics, statistics, and finance. As an example, let us consider the case of John Richards. John is 26 years old, works in a warehouse, and lives in a Columbus, Ohio suburb. John is obese and has difficulty obtaining dates with ladies. We aim to help the audience comprehend at least some of the past of this made-up persona. 

John keeps all of his money, a total of $1,000, in a single sportsbook account. He recently started betting on the National Football League (NFL), and, like any other loser, he bets on his favorite club (the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, because Tom Brady is now playing for them) as well games that take place during the other two Sunday periods. He finds himself betting against the spread five times a week because he is looking for action, action. This includes betting on the game that will be played on Monday Night Football or Thursday Night Football. 

No betting technique can ever guarantee a profit 

There is no assurance of profit as long as there is the possibility of loss, the presence of a vigorish, and the putting of wagers. A gaming strategy can either help you withstand a storm of financial losses or hasten the rate at which you incur them. 

Your goal is to guarantee that your betting strategy keeps you from uncontrollably emptying your bankroll. Flat betting or using the Kelly Criterion (if you are more experienced and profitable) will, at best, result in a losing streak, a slow bleed from which you may be able to recoup with a high winning percentage at a later time.