Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

I am quite new to this section of 2+2. I've been lurking for about two weeks and I'm wondering if anyone here has had any real success gambling on sports. Are there any consistent winners here? This could be a very naive question but I felt like asking nevertheless. I do notice that there are a lot of intelligent people here that know a ton about sports but I don't know if these same people make any real money off the bookies.

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

The answer to your question is yes, although probably not the way you envision it. Most people that win at sports betting do so by line shopping, scalping, middling, and so on. There just aren't that many long-term winning handicappers.

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

I honestly don't think sports betting is worth it if money is your main motivation. there are many easier ways to make money then sports betting (casino whorring, poker, even possibly the stock market). However it really does make the games more fun for me, and I have been able to squeeze out a small profit over the last 3 years (probably about 50 units during that time).

Ken

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

[ QUOTE ]
The answer to your question is yes, although probably not the way you envision it. Most people that win at sports betting do so by line shopping, scalping, middling, and so on. There just aren't that many long-term winning handicappers.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey Tech... you make it sound as though anyone could learn to do this - much the same as I believe just about anyone can learn to beat low limit hold'em. You put in the time, learn the math and there's your profit (albeit small at times).

Do you think this is true?

I thought the great advantage to sports betting was that once you were "winning," there was not the same "limit" restriction. In theory, once you can beat the books, there's no limit to how much you can bet. In poker, in theory, the games get tougher as you move up.

ElSapo

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I honestly don't think sports betting is worth it if money is your main motivation.

[/ QUOTE ]

And you'd be incorrect. Sportsbetting is the perfect way to make money providing you are diciplined and sharp.

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I honestly don't think sports betting is worth it if money is your main motivation.

[/ QUOTE ]

And you'd be incorrect. Sportsbetting is the perfect way to make money providing you are diciplined and sharp.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd really disagree. under your assumptions poker is a much better way to make money. why put the time into handicapping games, and searching through dozens of books for better lines when you can play poker with rakeback or bonuses which nearly assure profit, even if you aren't considerably better then the competition?

If you have to wonder if you can make "considerable" money sports betting, then I tihnk there are much better ways to go about it, but to each there own.

Ken

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

Because IF (and it's a big if) you do have a small edge in betting sports, you can bet as much as you like to make as much money as possible. In poker the more you bet the harder the games get, and we are talking about significant money, which you aren't really gonna make while bonuswhoring 1/2 :P

There's bonuses in sports betting too. I'm pretty new to it, but all my bets are effectively juice-free by using bonuses and then betting arbs to finish the wagering requirements.

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

As you said, each to their own.

Sports is tougher to profit off, mainly because there isn't the info out there as there is for poker. For someone who knows what they are doing, sports is definately more profitable. Part of it is because of exponential growth (up to a point anyway), and partly because there are just so many ways to profit off sports.

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

I read at one point david sklansky made 100% of his source of income betting 4K a game...

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Hey Tech... you make it sound as though anyone could learn to do this - much the same as I believe just about anyone can learn to beat low limit hold'em. You put in the time, learn the math and there's your profit (albeit small at times).

Do you think this is true?


[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, I would say you are right that anyone can learn to make money at sports without handicapping. One of the best scalpers/middlers (for those of you that know him, I am talking about Dreamer) is a terrible handicapper. But he still does very well at sports betting.

[ QUOTE ]

I thought the great advantage to sports betting was that once you were "winning," there was not the same "limit" restriction. In theory, once you can beat the books, there's no limit to how much you can bet. In poker, in theory, the games get tougher as you move up.


[/ QUOTE ]

My opinion has changed on this over time. It sounds great in theory, but it doesn't work so well in practice. For one thing, when you are a winning bettor making large bets, you get the shaft from sportsbooks. You get crappy lines, your account might get closed, your limits might get cut, all of your bets might require "approval," and stuff like that. Also, as your bet sizes get larger, it is hard to get good lines on games because your bet might actually move the line (except on events with large handles like NFL games).

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I honestly don't think sports betting is worth it if money is your main motivation. there are many easier ways to make money then sports betting (casino whorring, poker, even possibly the stock market).

[/ QUOTE ]
I think what you mean to say is sports HANDICAPPING isn't worth it for making money long term. sports BETTING can mean a variety of different strategies that may or may not have anything to do with actually picking winners, and can most definitely be easier than poker, casino, and the stock market (though I personally do well with all of these, and continue to do all four combined for variety sake). the long-term profit potential for sportsbetting with a large bankroll beats any other form of traditional investing that I can possibly think of.

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

[ QUOTE ]
the long-term profit potential for sportsbetting with a large bankroll beats any other form of traditional investing that I can possibly think of.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree

As with most ventures, it takes money to make money.. and this is one of the reasons I'm not exactly killing the books. My plays are all pretty small, as I'm not made of cash, and Im still not relatively confident with playing at bigger stakes. It has been a good December though, and I think any month can be just as profitable.. so to answer your question, yes.. you can make substantial amounts of money doing this.

GL!

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

I started sports betting 3 months ago and in that time I have won $171.81! I started to get the paradise chip set, so $10 on football games, and then I made some larger bets that came through, (Thanks White Sox and USC!).

Handicapping isn't worth the time IMO and I believe with my skill level Poker will likely continue to be more profitable for me. However, Sports Betting does hold a great place. There is no reason to keep your entire BR in a poker site or neteller. ING or Emigrant Direct is a set up from these options but the best option for your excess BR money is in scalping and middling sports. You should have no problem finding a scalp or middle that should return .5% to 2% every couple of weeks. Annualized that is approx. 13-52% return on your money which blows ING and ED out of the water. I'd imagine you can generate much more by spending a larger amount of time doing it. Or you can spend almost no time doing it and still beat ING/ED.

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

Went from $100 to $2k in December. Football only.

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

I'm a loser

It's impossible [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

I've made decent money betting home dog moneylines. I love situations where the game is basically a coinflip but I'm getting the positive side of the vig. Makes me feel like the house.

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

Wanna beat sports? Then you gotta narrow down and get to know a sport well like I know boxing. I read all the mags, attend the fights, and make friends w/ trainers so I can hang out around the training camp.

Holla,

Indy

A point that needs to be made
 

Dont you think its harder to beat a game like football, as the entire public knows the game so well? People suck at boxing which is why I got 6:1 on tyson's last fight.

Indy

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

Wayne Root and Jim Feist don't wear those shiny suits for nothing.

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

serious answer:

Yes, people make significant money. I'm small time and add 4 figures per month to my lifestyle.

So far, read the FAQ. Use bonuses from the sportsbooks. Look for profitable middles/arbs/etc. Pay attention to posters who know what they are talking about and ride their coattails. For example, Null's picks, NoChance's system, and NajdorfDefense's system are carrying me through college basketball. Mr Baseball was hot at the end of the baseball season. The bar stool pundits picks were good for NFL. I carried my own weight in college football. Just look for who's hot and who has a history and ride them. Also, like Warren Buffet's investing, bet what you know. I'm fanatical about Illini bball and major conference college football. I look for the gaps there. I pay attention to people who seem to be betting what they know real well.

I started following this forum in Late July and it's been very sweet since.

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

i made quite a bit of money (for me anyways, mid-5 figures) from middle of '02 - early '05 mostly on football (lots on props and when parlaying props was the goodness) and nba basketball (mostly 1st quarter and 1st half lines)

from early '05 til now im only down total a few hundred bucks (a few big ups and downs kept it somewhat level), and for no reason whatsoever have not bet more than 5 props all year but am getting above water on the nba 1st q/h bets

prior to '02 (and since '95) i never kept records of how i did, but i would guess that i was an overall loser during that time frame despite a number of huge scores

i'm not a stat-rat, i dont spend 500 hours a day thinking about betting sports, but i do bet games early and late, on a ton of different books, with varying bet amounts, etc.

it's certainly possible to make money hand over fist betting sports if you have a large bankroll to begin with, but right now i wouldnt want to base my sole income off of it - poker's much better for that i think

the lesson to be learned with sports messageboards is to never be angry when you bet someone else's picks - no one has all the answers, and someone's winning streak may be ending just when you hop on

Re: Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?
 

Absolutely, and particularly if you know how to bet the Futures books, middles, arbs, line-shopping and bankroll mgmt properly. Futures books in sports are like horse racing -- i.e. parimutuel, betting v the public not the house --, but without the huge 17% vig they takeout at the racetrack, and you can find plenty of pro horseplayers, so it is certainly very possible.

I go to LV for March Madness every year, I spend a whole week there and 2-3 days of that is pure line-shopping, arbing, and checking the futures books.
I cannot tell you how many woulda-been 'flat' days were turned into winning days, and up days turned into huge up days due to having that extra point or half-point on my side.

The easiest sports to win at are the less followed sports/events, like smalltime college hoops and football, boxing, horse racing, etc. PA bettors were big on Smarty Jones and Afleet Alex long before the crowd, for example, SJ was undefeated entering the Derby and you could still get 4-1 or better on him at post time. By the time he was a heavy favorite in the Belmont, it was too late, Birdstone, who you could have got at 37-1 who was the son of a Derby winner, grandson of Derby and BC winner was the right pick. Etc.

A lot of the sharp bettors I know make a lot of money each year on smalltime college hoops. That's a good place to start. Develop your own system for rating teams, borrow someone elses, whatever, and then monitor all results closely, even if you didn't wager on them. Modify as needed, realize that variance is a bitch and you will have losing streaks, weeks, months, doesn't mean your system is broken, but something to be aware of.

Naj