The concept of arbitrage betting revolves around placing several wagers on one event, usually at different sites, to ensure you’re making a profit. If executed correctly, this betting technique eliminates virtually all risks.
Arbitrage is best explained with an example. Let’s take a football event where team A is playing against team B. Normally, you’d bet on only one outcome – either team A will win (or cover the spread), or team B will. In arbitrage, you’re essentially placing bets that “both” teams will fulfill the betting conditions.
As a sports gambling expert, I’m here to break down how arbitrage betting works, why you should consider this approach, and how to win by placing arbitrage bets, so let’s get started.
How Does Arbitrage Betting Work?
The trick to arbitrage betting is to not place these “opposing” wagers in the same sportsbook. For starters, the vast majority of sports betting sites won’t even allow you to do it, and in case you somehow manage to trick the system, you’ll likely lose all winnings and receive a ban.
Circling back to the example, it would be completely legit to bet on Team A in Sportsbook 1, and then go to Sportsbook 2 to bet on Team B. Only one team will win, meaning that you are guaranteed one won wager.
So, how do you make money with arbitrage bets? It’s all in the odds – you’ll need to hunt for the most favorable prices for your chosen lines.
Arbitrage Betting Applications
Arbitrage is a method that can be intelligently deployed with certain betting types. For example, it’s virtually impossible to negate the betting risk in same game parlays and round robins, but it’s simple to do it with moneyline or prop betting.
Below are the main betting types I deem suitable for arbitrage, so let’s start from the top:
- Moneyline: The best-suited betting type for arbitrage is moneyline. This way, you’ll be betting on clear-cut outcomes with the lowest room for surprises. It provides small but consistent returns.
- Spread: Spread betting is a bit more complex since multiple conditions must be fulfilled for individual outcomes to win or lose. The issue with arbitrage spreads is that pinpointing completely polarized spreads is more difficult than opposing moneyline opportunities. Higher returns are the obvious benefit of this type of arbitrage.
- Proposition bets: Countless types of props can be used for arbitrage betting, but a few are just ideal. Most “yes/no” and “over/under” props are perfect, as all you have to do is bet on both outcomes. This time around, you’ll need to find sportsbooks that both support your chosen prop bet and have good prices on such selections.
- Live betting: The epitome of “high risk, high reward” when it comes to arbitrage, live betting boils down to odds and prices that rapidly change as the game unfolds. It’s perfect for seasoned bettors and defeats the purpose of mitigating risk in the hands of a beginner.
How to Find Arbitrage Betting Opportunities
The old-school method is to visit as many online sportsbooks as you can find and write down the prices for your preferred markets. A drastically simpler method is to give arbitrage betting calculator tools a shot; some of them are free or at least have free trials, so you may want to try these apps.
The other, simpler option is to use one of the many arb betting software solutions available on the market, such as Rebel Betting. This software can find all the best arbitrage betting opportunities for you in the blink of an eye using clever algorithms.
What’s crucial to understand is that there is a small amount of fixed odds and prices, most of which won’t be useful for arbitrage. That’s why I firmly believe it’s better to narrow down your search to a handful of sportsbooks and place a small number of decently high bets.
Popular sportsbooks have fairly consistent bet pricing models, so it might be worthwhile to become a regular at sites like DraftKings and BetMGM.
