All sports fans have at one point or another had the dream of winning the lottery. The fantasy is to win big enough to eradicate any debts, leave work, and live happily ever after. While many people might argue that it will not happen to them here are some helpful tips to increase your chances of getting lucky.
Beating the bookie can be difficult because he controls the numbers. The bookmakers are able to set the odds depending upon how they view a particular sports event. Since it is his game, he also gets to decide what the winning margin will be for your bets.
As an example, if you are betting on American Football and you bet that Team A will beat Team B by more than 7 points, the bookie will usually offer odds of 8/5 or better. This means that if you bet $10 and Team A wins by more than 7 points, you get paid $16.
Margin of Victory
The first key to winning is determining what kind of margin of victory the bookmaker is offering for a particular team. To find this out, first, check the point spread and then subtract either three points for Football and Basketball or 7.5 points for Hockey and Baseball.
An Example:
You think Team A is going to win by more than 5 points so the bookmaker has set a 10/11 margin on winning by 1-7 points. This means that if you bet $10 on Team A to win, the bookie will pay $11 for every dollar you bet.
Calculating the Best Odds for Your Bet
So to calculate your best odds, you need to find the lowest margin offered by any bookie. This is called “the best odds.”
Example: You are looking at two different bookmakers who have Team A being 1-7 points favorite. Bookmaker 1 has a 10/11 margin for Team A to win by 1-7 points while bookmaker 2 has an 11/10.5 margin. The best odds are with bookmaker 2 because you get paid more when your team wins.
This is the simplest example, but if you want to do a more in-depth analysis, here are some other things you need to look at.
The Spread vs the Moneyline
Another factor to consider is the spread vs the money line. Some bookmakers will offer better odds on one or the other but not both on bet365 games. For example, you might be able to get 11/4 for Team A winning by 1-7 points instead of 10/11 like in our previous example.
However, Team A might be a -200 favorite on the money line versus +170 when you take into account both the spread and the money line. In this instance, Team B would have to win by more than 8 points for your bet to win.
The Bookmaker’s Payment Schedule
Many bookmakers offer a “double result” payout schedule, where the winning team also has to win by at least a certain margin. Usually, this margin is 1-3 points for football but it can vary depending on the sport.
For example, if you are betting Team A to beat Team B by more than 7 points and the bookmaker says that Team A must also win by at least 4 points to win your wager, the payout is usually 7/4.
For you to win $10, Team A would have to win by 11 or more points but if they only won by 10 then you get nothing and lose $10. This means that this bookmaker has a double result at 14-15 and 17-18.
The Number of Bets You Make
It is always good to spread your bets over two or more bookmakers. This not only increases your chances but also ensures that you get the best odds on each bet. There are some people who bet the same amount with every bookmaker, which leaves them open to exploitation by the bookie.
The bookie will offer the same margin on each bet, which means that your winning bets can become losing bets if you are not careful. In this instance, a good tip is to make sure the margins offered by different bookmakers do not add up to more than 100 points.
Final Thoughts
So now that you have mastered the basics, it is up to you to find the best betting margin for your bet. Hopefully, this article has given you a good start but there are many more sites out there with information on how to calculate odds so keep looking if you want to win big!Always remember that you will have to combine a couple of these calculations before you can determine your best odds. You can enjoy many bet365 games on this site and win a lot of money by knowing the proper way to calculate your best odds for any bet.