Sports betting has exploded, to say the least. Not only has it changed how analysts talk about sports, but sports betting has also changed the landscape of how fans watch their favorite sports. I know you’re excited to start sports betting but don’t go in blind. Check out these sports betting tips.
Focus On One Team/Sport
The first tip is to focus on one team. While it be may tempting to bet on multiple teams, it is not a good practice to do so. One of the reasons is that it is easier to keep up with the major stats/trends of your local team compared with teams outside of your local area. For example, if I reside in New York, it would be much easier for me to follow a team like the Bills throughout the season than the Cowboys. Restricting your focus while sports betting tips to one team, allows you to keep up with all the major news around your local team. Simply put, it’s wiser to have vast knowledge about your favorite team instead of surface-level knowledge about multiple teams.
Learn The Basics of Sports Betting
Next up, maybe the most important of the sports betting tips for bettors — learn the basics. Let’s take the spread for example. If you’re not sure what that is, head over to our sports betting training camp. But for the TLDR readers: the spread is how many points teams will win or lose by. For example, if you have an NBA game featuring the Phoenix Suns against the Detroit Pistons. Since the Suns would be considered the better team, the odds maker may provide a betting line of four to five points.
If Phoenix wins by five points, this means that the team has covered the given spread. On the other hand, if the Suns were to win by less than five points, then that means that they did NOT cover the spread. With that in mind, you should keep track of how your team performs against the spread during the season before you make a bet on whether your squad will cover the spread in any given contest. Also check out moneyline, parlays and hedging topics.
Bankroll
Next, we will talk about money. If you’re not doing so already, you should consider keeping a separate bankroll for sports betting. After all, it would be very foolish to bet with money that you use to pay your monthly expenses. While your team may win most of its games, that team will also go through stretches where it won’t cover the parameters in which you’re betting. As it was mentioned earlier, living beyond your means in this instance will be more harmful than good. Another suggestion to consider is betting smaller amounts. Utilizing this method not only allows the bettor to make more bets but also increases the likelihood of creating a larger bankroll over an extended period.
Shop Around for Lines
Be sure to get the best value for your bet before you place it. Let’s use filling up your gas tank as an example. If gas station A is charging $3.25 per gallon and station B is charging $3.75 per gallon. You’re going to go with the less expensive option because it will take you less money to fill up your tank at the lower price point. Well, the same principle can apply to sports betting as well. Using our odds discussion as an example.
Let’s say one WynnBET gives a highly favored team -175 odds of winning a game and BetMGM gives that same team -145 odds of winning a game. The (-) represents the risk to get a $100 return on your investment. It is better to go with the second option. Consumers often shop around when it comes to buying homes and cars to make sure they’re getting the most bang for their buck. With that in mind, that same principle should be leveraged in this scenario as well.
Research Trends
The final sports betting tip is to do your due diligence. Even if this means, just keeping an eye on basic trends. Let’s take home and away splits for example. Say your favorite team has won five consecutive games during a recent home stand. Before you decide to roll the dice on them against their next opponent, you should probably look at some noticeable trends during that streak.
In this scenario, I will use the Golden State Warriors as my example. A few weeks ago, this team won five consecutive games at home, which is nothing to sneeze at, right? However, this team has played terribly on the road all season. Based on that recent winning streak, you may be tempted to bet on them in their next road game. However, being that this team has played poorly on the road, you may opt to go in the other direction. While betting against this trend won’t guarantee 100%-win rate, it’s a good starting place for your research.
Sports Betting Tips: Final Thoughts
Sports betting isn’t easy. If it was, we would all be living like Musk buying multi-billion-dollar companies, just to tweet out dick jokes. Who knows, maybe you’ll get there. Either way at least you got the basics of sports betting down. If you want to bet on sports the easy way, check out The Bettor Edge. We give out free picks from our statistical model each day!