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?
 

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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.

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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?
 

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

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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?
 

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

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

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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?
 

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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?


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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.

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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.


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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).