Anyone here make any significant money betting on sports?

BoxLiquid · #1 12-25-2005, 06:16 AM

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.

tech · #2 12-25-2005, 01:39 PM

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.

Ken_AA · #3 12-26-2005, 12:50 AM

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

Mr_J · #4 12-26-2005, 01:16 AM

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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.

Ken_AA · #5 12-26-2005, 01:32 AM

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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

vilemerchant · #6 12-26-2005, 01:41 AM

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.

Mr_J · #7 12-26-2005, 02:59 AM

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.

playersare · #8 12-26-2005, 02:38 PM

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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).

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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.

20Five · #9 12-26-2005, 02:49 PM

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

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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!

Recliner · #10 12-26-2005, 04:20 PM

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.