Sunday, September 29, 2019
Online Betting With Matched Bets for Guaranteed Profits
Sports betting is a thing that the writer these days knows a little about. But it wasn't always that way by any means.
Back in 1984 I had a fiver burning a hole in my pocket and for whatever reason I made the decision to risk it all on the Grand National. Scanning through the list of participants only one name rang any sort of bell with me. It was a horse called Hallo Dandy. I remembered the name simply because I had pulled it randomly out of a hat in the office sweepstake the previous year, and it had come in placed fourth. It obviously had something going for it.
These were the days of course before the Internet had arrived on the scene, so I headed for my local bookmaker's shop, fiver in hand. "I want to place a five pound bet on Hallo Daddy to win the Grand National," I informed him.
"Do you want it to win," he asked me.
I stared at him in wonderment. "Of course I want it to win," I sighed. "I've put a fiver on it, I don't want it to lose do I?"
With a strained patience the bookmaker took my five pound note and offered me the price, which if my memory is right was 40/1 (41.0) at the time, recording my Win bet on what was effectively a Grand National outsider.
When on the big day Hallo Dandy stormed home it was at a mere 14/1 (15.0). In spite of my appalling ignorance I was up to the tune of two hundred pounds. Much better and more experienced punters came away with nothing at all.
There is no doubt that pure luck does have a part to play in the story of gambling. However the punter who consistently makes a profit from betting needs to have a reserve of subject knowledge that comprises something more than a spare fiver and the fading recollection of a triumphant office sweepstake. All else being the same the pricing structure is designed to ensure that whatever might happen on the football field or the racing track, the sportsbook will in the long term be the winner.
There are two ways through which the intrinsic advantage that the sportsbook has can be turned around. The first is through some sort of specialist knowledge, in other words knowledge over and above the intelligence upon which the linemaker has acted initially to set the price. The second is through taking advantage of free bets offered to you by the online sportsbook in an attempt to entice you to open an account at which it is anticipated you will eventually lose money.
The intelligent punter will take advantage of free bets to lock in an assured profit, but having done so will not come back at some later stage to lose that money again on a whim. When the exercise is repeated at all the other books that offer such an incentive the customer stands to win several hundred pounds in guaranteed profit whatever the outcome of the fixture or race at absolutely no risk at all to his own funds.
Surprisingly, there is no catch. The free bet is the bait through which potentially heavy gamblers are lured into the orbit of the sportsbook. The bookmakers know there are a few tactical players out there who will take advantage, but the rich pickings for them overall make the whole exercise worthwhile.
Back in 1984 I had a fiver burning a hole in my pocket and for whatever reason I made the decision to risk it all on the Grand National. Scanning through the list of participants only one name rang any sort of bell with me. It was a horse called Hallo Dandy. I remembered the name simply because I had pulled it randomly out of a hat in the office sweepstake the previous year, and it had come in placed fourth. It obviously had something going for it.
These were the days of course before the Internet had arrived on the scene, so I headed for my local bookmaker's shop, fiver in hand. "I want to place a five pound bet on Hallo Daddy to win the Grand National," I informed him.
"Do you want it to win," he asked me.
I stared at him in wonderment. "Of course I want it to win," I sighed. "I've put a fiver on it, I don't want it to lose do I?"
With a strained patience the bookmaker took my five pound note and offered me the price, which if my memory is right was 40/1 (41.0) at the time, recording my Win bet on what was effectively a Grand National outsider.
When on the big day Hallo Dandy stormed home it was at a mere 14/1 (15.0). In spite of my appalling ignorance I was up to the tune of two hundred pounds. Much better and more experienced punters came away with nothing at all.
There is no doubt that pure luck does have a part to play in the story of gambling. However the punter who consistently makes a profit from betting needs to have a reserve of subject knowledge that comprises something more than a spare fiver and the fading recollection of a triumphant office sweepstake. All else being the same the pricing structure is designed to ensure that whatever might happen on the football field or the racing track, the sportsbook will in the long term be the winner.
There are two ways through which the intrinsic advantage that the sportsbook has can be turned around. The first is through some sort of specialist knowledge, in other words knowledge over and above the intelligence upon which the linemaker has acted initially to set the price. The second is through taking advantage of free bets offered to you by the online sportsbook in an attempt to entice you to open an account at which it is anticipated you will eventually lose money.
The intelligent punter will take advantage of free bets to lock in an assured profit, but having done so will not come back at some later stage to lose that money again on a whim. When the exercise is repeated at all the other books that offer such an incentive the customer stands to win several hundred pounds in guaranteed profit whatever the outcome of the fixture or race at absolutely no risk at all to his own funds.
Surprisingly, there is no catch. The free bet is the bait through which potentially heavy gamblers are lured into the orbit of the sportsbook. The bookmakers know there are a few tactical players out there who will take advantage, but the rich pickings for them overall make the whole exercise worthwhile.
