Getting Maximum Value

As a sports bettor, you should always be looking to gain value when placing any bet. If you were going to buy a watch, and you were given two different prices for the same watch, you’d go for the cheaper option. However in sports betting, many people routinely go for the worst price. Here you’ll find some advice about how you’ll find the right price, and some tips about gaining that extra piece of value.

Price Comparison

A large proportion of people who gamble on sports have a regular Sportsbook that they routinely use. They have used the site for a long time, are comfortable with the way the site works, are happy with the service they have received and have no intention of ever joining another betting site.

While this might be a relaxed state of affairs, without ever comparing the prices you are receiving to other sites, you might be losing out financially in a very big way. A break even gambler who sticks to one site might actually find that they become a regular winner by shopping around for value.

Consider the scenario where you’re betting a favorite in the NFL – you’ve backed the team to overcome a 4.5 point spread. Unknown to you, another sports book has the same team on offer as the 3.5 point favorite. The team wins 17-13, and frustratingly you lose the bet by just half a point. Your bankroll goes down slightly, and you move onto the next bet – oblivious to the fact that you could have been a winner in this game. Repeat this scenario over and over, and there will be many occasions when that extra point or even half a point will have cost you valuable cash – where just a little bit of shopping around over a year might have bought you that extra holiday or that piece of jewelry for that special person.

That isn’t to say that you should immediately go and open up accounts with as many firms as possible, just join a handful of sites where you feel comfortable, and you’ll be able to shop around enough to make it pay.

Gaining Value through Bonuses

If you do join a new site, not only are you gaining more choice when it comes to pricing, you will invariably gain a deposit bonus based upon your initial deposit amount. This is a win-win scenario. Many sportsbooks offer decent sized bonuses for new customers, either in the form of a free bet, or money added to the account. Many of the bigger books offer good achievable bonuses, although be wary of any bonuses you see that seem too good to be true – a quick look at the terms and conditions of the bonus will tell you the whole story.

Offers on Big Sporting Events

As well as bonuses, many books now have regular offers, many based around the bigger sporting events. This offer might be in the form of a money back deal or a free bet promotion if a certain event happens in a game. These could include a specific player scoring a touchdown or a goal, a horse finishing second in a race, or many others. These offers should come into your thinking when placing a bet. One book might have a better price on the team/player you want to back, however the other sports book will give you a free bet in many circumstances, so overall the slightly worse price is actually the value price here.

Gaining Value – Specializing

So far we’ve covered how to gain the most value from the sports book. However as an individual bettor we can push the balance into our favor by specializing in a certain sport.

If you are the type of bettor who likes to bet on anything and everything, although this may be enjoyable, it probably won’t be the best way for you to make money. By concentrating all your efforts on one sport, you can develop a higher level of expertise on that sport. This will allow you to quickly get a feel for where you think the line should be for a game, and allow you to spot value that less educated bettors would miss. The better you become, the more money you’ll make when you have the line right, and the sportsbooks don’t.

Gaining Value – Conclusion

By putting it all together and making use of several books, their bonuses and offers, and of course your level of knowledge of a sport – there is no reason for you not to make your betting experience both a more enjoyable one and a profitable one. Sportsbooks continue to make money as the majority of people gambling on sport fail to do any of these things – buck the trend and make them pay you!