Gambling Arbitrage

1. Gambling Arbitrage Calculator
2. Gambling Arbitrage Reddit
3. Gambling Arbitrage
4. Sports Betting Arbitrage Opportunities
5. Sports Betting Arbitrage
6. Sports Betting Arbitrage Bot

Arbitrage betting – also known as arbs, surebets, miraclebets and surewins – is a technique in which you place bets with different online betting companies in order to cover all of the outcomes of a sporting event to guarantee yourself profit.

Arbitrage betting – also known as arbs, surebets, miraclebets and surewins – is a technique in which you place bets with different online betting companies in order to cover all of the outcomes of a sporting event to guarantee yourself profit. Arbitrage Betting Risk 3: Different betting rules; voiding a bet due to cancellation of an event, weather conditions, player injury, etc. In the rare case (not so rare after you place a couple of thousands of arbs) when an event is rescheduled or cancelled mid-play for whatever reason, often different bookmakers will have different rules.

An arb arises when betting companies take an alternative view on the outcomes of a particular sporting event, meaning that they offer different odds to reflect the probabilities. Should you find a situation where bookies disagree by a large enough variance, you could lock in profit regardless of which outcome win.

Because of how a bookie sets their prices, you are guaranteed to lose money if you bet on each outcome within an event at the same bookmaker. For example, backing the favourite to win, underdog to win and the draw in a football match would ensure the bookie rubs their hands with glee as they take your hard-earned cash. This is because the betting company includes an overround in their pricing which gives them an edge as it replaces the true odds of each outcome with their own odds (You can read more about probabilities, odds and overrounds here.

However, comparing the odds for the same sporting event from different betting companies can open up an opportunity because the bookies have an alternative view, or may have made an error. This doesn’t mean that a favourite with one bookie becomes the underdog at another, more that there will be a slight difference in the odds that are on offer.

For example, BetVictor could price a Floyd Mayweather Jr win at decimal odds of 1.48 (67.6% implied probability) whereas 888Sport could think he’s even more likely to win and offer odds of 1.36 (73.5% implied probability). As a result, the price on his opponent would also change between the two bookies and mean that backing the underdog could see a range between 2.75 (36.4% probability) and 3.25 (30.8% probability). If the numbers add up correctly, you could find that backing Mayweather with BetVictor and his opponent with 888Sport could automatically put you into the green no matter who won the bout.

As shown in this boxing example, generally there is only a slight difference between the prices set by bookmakers. This means that you need to bet with high stakes in order to make any serious money as arbitrage bets typically range between 1% and 10% profit. This could mean that a £1,000 stake would return as little as £10 and as much as £100 which may not be worth the vast amounts of time taken to identify the surebet in the first place. Although the likes of online bookies and odds comparison sites have helped the punter identify arbitrage opportunities, it also means that the bookmakers themselves can use them to spot pricing mistakes or identify if there odds are drastically different. This means that the opportunity for arbing is less than it once was.

Software and bots do exist which identify arbitrage opportunities, however I’ve personally never used them so couldn’t comment on their effectiveness. Instead, we’re going to look at how to find arbitrage bets using a manual process, which is actually relatively simple to do, it can just be time consuming. The process is as follows:

1. Using an odds comparison site such as Oddschecker, find a sporting event which offers two outcomes.
2. Find the highest odds available for each outcome from two different bookmakers.
3. Calculate whether the odds represent an arbitrage betting opportunity.
4. If so, calculate the individual stakes you need to bet with at each bookmaker.
5. Place each of the bets.

To explain this process further, let’s look at a real-life example of a surebet based on the step-by-step approach above. As context, I went to Oddschecker, and after a little while of searching, came across the ATP Indian Wells tennis tournament which had Andy Murray (1.18 highest with Boylesports) as the favourite to win the match against Vasek Pospisil (7.00 highest with SkyBet). Why did this match grab my interest? Well, let me share the below table which gives an indication of the odds you’re looking for to potentially identify a surebet.

After noticing that 1.18 and 7.00 looked like a potential arbitrage bet by looking at 1.20 and 6.00 above, the next step is to calculate whether the odds actually represent a surebet. Luckily, there are plenty of online calculators available which do all of the hard work for you. However, we can take a look at the actual calculations to see how things work behind the calculator.

Firstly, if not using an online calculator, you need to work out the arbitrage percentage which identifies whether you have a surebet. As mentioned above, with an individual bookmaker, the total percentage of all outcomes in a sporting bet will add up to greater than 100% due to the overround. Therefore, we are looking for opportunities where all outcomes from different bookies add up to less than 100% as this suggest that the bookies have different opinions on the outcomes. To calculate the arbitrage percentage, you can use the following formula:

Arbitrage % = ((1 / decimal odds for outcome A) x 100) + ((1 / decimal odds for outcome B) x 100)

Andy Murray Win: (1 / 1.18) x 100 = 84.746%

Vasek Pospisil Win: (1 / 7.00) x 100 = 14.286%

84.75% + 14.29% = 99.032% (less than 100%, therefore an arbitrage bet)

Having found a surebet, we then need to calculate the profit we will receive based on the amount of money we are willing to invest. If, for example, you are wanting to place £500 stake on the tennis surebet above, you would calculate the profit using the following formula:

Profit = (Investment / Arbitrage %) – Investment

(£500 / 99.032%) – £500 = £4.89 profit (from £500 stake)

The next step is to calculate how your investment needs to be broken down in terms of stakes across both bets. This is so that you are returning the same profit regardless of which outcome wins. The idea is to return the same profit regardless of whether the first or second outcome is successful, so it is critical to use the correct stakes – if not, you could find that one outcome is more profitable than the other or that you actually lose money if one outcome wins. To calculate the individual stakes:

Gambling Arbitrage Calculator

Individual bets = (Investment x Individual Arbitrage %) / Total Arbitrage %

Andy Murray Stake = (£500 x 84.746%) / 99.032% = £427.87

Vasek Pospisil Stake = (£500 x 14.286%) / 99.032% = £72.13

£427.87 + £72.13 = £500 total stake

You therefore know that to make £4.89 profit from £500 (0.968% profit) you need to place a bet of £427.87 on Andy Murray to win at odds of 1.18 and £72.13 on Vasek Pospisil to win at odds of 7.00. As you can see, this is quite a lot of work for less than £5.00 profit, but as mentioned, online calculators can take a lot of the manual work away from this process.

As an aside, it is also worthwhile knowing how to calculate the stake for outcome B if you know how much you plan to bet on outcome A. Rather than the above approach where we split the total stake (£500) into two bets to guarantee the same profit, we can work out how much to place on outcome B if we have bet £500 just on outcome A. This can be done using the following formula:

Stake for outcome B = Stake for outcome A x (Odds for outcome A / Odds for outcome B)

£500 x (1.18 / 7.00) = £84.29 stake for outcome B

To work out total profit, you would then use the above figures in the following calculations:

Profit if outcome A wins: (stake for outcome A x odds for outcome A) – (total investment)

Profit if outcome B wins: (stake for outcome B x odds for outcome B) – (total investment)

If Murray wins: (£500 x 1.18) – (£500 + £84.29) = £5.71

If Pospisil wins: (£84.29 x 7.00) – (£84.29 + £500) = £5.74

So, by investing £584.29 in this match, you would make a profit of £5.71 if Murray wins or £5.74 if Pospisil wins.

As described above, we’ve talked about finding surebets by looking at online bookmakers and odds comparison sites to identify the best prices for each outcome in a sporting event. This isn’t the only arbing opportunity though – it is also possible to do this via betting exchanges and in betting shops. For instance, you could use the likes of Betfair to back and lay a bet to create a guaranteed profit – along similar lines to trading in the financial markets – although an extra considerations is that you need to factor in the commission for using the service. Similarly, there is also the practice of ‘sharbing’ where you are able to create an arbitrage opportunity by using an online bookie for one outcome and a betting shop for the second as shops are usually slower to respond to price changes than online bookies.

Although arbing is not illegal per se, it is viewed very negatively by bookmakers and can often result in bets being cancelled should it be detected. This can have a knock on effect if a bet on outcome A is cancelled with bookie A, but outcome B is not cancelled with bookie B, meaning that you could be seriously out of pocket considering the large stakes at play. Going one step further, it is also not uncommon for betting accounts to be suspended if people are suspected of using surebets. Therefore, heed a word of caution when approaching arbitrage betting despite the promised guaranteed profit on offer.

Ready For More?

Sports betting is supposed to be extremely hard to beat. In fact, only a small percentage of bettors win long-term profits through this type of gambling.

Arbitrage betting (arbing) offers you a shortcut toward making money.

You can be the world’s worst handicapper and still win through arbing.

This method involves wagering on all outcomes of a match in a way that guarantees profit. To do this, you must find two or more bookmakers that differ enough on the odds to lock in your win.

Here’s an example:

• Cincinnati Bengals +200
• Baltimore Ravens -175
• You bet $150 on the Bengals
• You should wager $78.55 on the Ravens to maximize your arb
• Your profit will be $7.10

The trouble with arbing is that it doesn’t offer a very big profit margin. Nevertheless, you can still win a decent amount of money if your wagers are large enough.

Of course, you have to find good arbs before counting your winnings. That said, I’ll discuss more on this subject, including software that can help you spot profitable opportunities.

The Main Challenge Is Finding Arbs

The sportsbook and online sportsbooks aren’t any help themselves aren’t any help with arbitrage betting; they actually despise arbers. Therefore, you’ll be on your own when trying to find these opportunities. Assuming you can regularly spot arbs, then you can make profits again and again.

The good news is that plenty of arbs exist on a daily basis.

After all, the sports betting world is filled with different markets.

The trouble, though, is that you need to both find arbs and bet on each leg in time. Assuming you mess up just one of the legs, then your guaranteed profit will likely be gone.

Here’s an example:

• Tampa Bay Rays +185
• New York Yankees -160
• You wager $200 on the Rays
• The bookmaker shifts the Yankees’ odds to -200
• You’re guaranteed to lose if you still wager on the Yankees
• You’ve basically placed a regular $200 bet on Tampa Bay

Arbitrage betting is a combination of making profitable wagers and capitalizing on opportunities in time. If you’re able to master these skills, then you can look forward to consistent winnings.

You Can’t Rely on Finding Arbs by Yourself

Your first inclination regarding arbitrage gambling may be to try and find opportunities yourself. Doing so requires monitoring a variety of sportsbooks and looking for potential arbs.

You can theoretically still find winning opportunities this way. But your chances of doing so with any consistency are next to nothing.

Again, bookmakers hate arbers.

They normally remain close to each other in terms of odds to avoid giving up arbs.

Of course, sportsbooks do differ enough on the odds sometimes to create winning opportunities. But they often close these gaps before too many gamblers can take advantage.

If you’ve got 10 sportsbooks open on your phone and keep refreshing them, then you’ll be terrible at timing arbs. Long story short, you can’t do it on your own.

You Must Use Arb Software

The only sensible way to arbitrage bet is to use software. You need a program that specifically seeks out arbitrage betting opportunities.

Some programs are designed solely for finding arbs and alerting you to them.

These “arb finders” are even available for free in some cases (covered later).

General sports betting software programs can do the same trick in some cases. You can also use these programs for other purposes, such as finding steam moves, public betting percentages, and updated odds.

The key is for you to find a program that tracks this information so you don’t have to.

Free Arbitrage Betting Software Exists

You’ll be pleased to know that you don’t have to spend anything on arbitrage gambling software. Instead, plenty of free programs exist across the internet.

The obvious advantage of free software is that you don’t need to pay for anything. Instead, you can just fire up these programs and begin looking for arbs.

Gambling Arbitrage Reddit

The downside is that freebies don’t work extremely well.

They suffer from the following problems:

• They don’t cover many markets
• They don’t refresh quickly
• Odds often come in on a delay
• It’s hard to bet each leg in time when relying on these programs

You may ultimately decide to invest in software when considering free programs’ limitations. But if you’re still interested in the latter, then you’ll be happy to know that they’re easy to use.

Many companies offer a free version of their software that includes an arb-finding option.

You can continue using this version until deciding to upgrade to the premium service.

The arb-finding feature is self-explanatory in most cases. You just need to apply the relevant filter to figure out where you can take advantage of arbs.

You May Want to Buy Software

Whether or not you decide to pay for arbing software depends upon how serious you are about the matter.

You might begin by using a free service and placing low-stakes wagers.

This route gives you a chance to decide how serious you are about the matter.

Assuming you do become a serious arber, then you should consider upgrading.

Doing so provides you with the following advantages:

Gambling Arbitrage

• Odds refresh faster and give you a stronger chance to bet every leg in time.
• Your get extra features, such as alerts, arbing calculator, and more-detailed filters.
• More markets are covered.

Of these benefits, speed is of the utmost importance. Arbs don’t hang around forever, making free programs risky.

You can cut down on this risk by paying for software. You’ll receive refreshed odds at a faster rate with more in-depth programs.

Concerns With Arbing and Paying for Software

The other side of the equation is that you might not find arbing enjoyable or worth your time. You’ll especially feel this way if you have a small bankroll and are only making a few dollars per arb.

Sports Betting Arbitrage Opportunities

Even with the best software, arbitrage betting can be a time-consuming process.

You’ll likely question the hours you pour into the matter with the slim profit margins involved.

Another downside is that your account may be limited or even banned.

Conclusion

Arbitrage betting is a promising way to make money through sports gambling. When arbitrage betting is done right, it can deliver guaranteed profits.

You just need to find situations where bookmakers differ enough on odds for a given match to win. Of course, this process is easier said than done.

Technically, you can find arbs by yourself. You can constantly refresh online sportsbooks on your phone and monitor the odds. But you’ll be putting yourself through hell with this method.

Instead, you should use either free or paid arb finders.

These programs are designed to monitor lines and alert you to arbs. This scenario cuts out a lot of the work involved with arbitrage gambling.

Sports Betting Arbitrage

The good news is that you can use free programs if you don’t feel like investing in software.

The drawback, though, is that free arb finders don’t refresh odds quickly or cover as many markets.

Buying software comes with the obvious downside of having to spend money. But the benefit is that you’ll get updated odds faster and find arbs across more markets.

In the end, you need to decide how serious you are about arbitrage betting.

Assuming you’re really serious about making money from the matter, then you should pay for software.

If you just want to get your feet wet with arbing, then the free programs should suffice. You may even be able to make a little money with this software.

I suggest arbing with a large bankroll. The more you’re able to wager, the higher profit margins you’ll earn.

Sports Betting Arbitrage Bot

Of course, nothing is stopping you from arbing with a smaller bankroll. But the profits you earn will essentially amount to pennies or dollars per arb.