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Is Arbitrage Worthwhile Pursuing? Is Arbitrage Legal?


Arbitrage is ‘Sure Betting’

In the world of sports betting the art of arbitrage involves wagering on both or all sides of an event with the right combination of odds and stakes in place to make a profit whatever the outcome of that event.

Illustration - successful arbitrage bettingImage: 3Dmask (Shutterstock)

The principle of arbitrage is ‘sure betting‘, supposedly with minimum risk (for the seasoned arbitrageur) and long-term, guaranteed profits.

Surely this is the closest you can come to attaining the “Holy Grail” in betting? Or maybe not?

Despite the apparent rewards on offer the number of worldwide professional sports arbitrageurs is in the low tens of thousands, not more. In comparison, the German stock market employs over 3,200 staff, whilst one of the largest providers of automated arbitrage services, RebelBetting has even fewer subscribers than this number (as we write).

So, why such a relatively small group of customers taking advantage of the so-called ‘guaranteed’ gains averaging between 1.5% and 3.5% per bet (a typical ‘arb‘ provides around 2.5%), with perhaps 15-25% potential profit on the capital employed each month? That’s a far higher reward than any bank, building society, or share dividend offers!

Is Arbitrage legal?

There is no question that arbitrage is legal because the arber is simply exploiting price differences in the market, effectively buying and selling (bets) as any trader does. There is nothing illegal about this.

However, it is understandable that bookmakers are not fond of arbers. Every company has the right (even arbitrarily) to decide who their customers should be and many bookmakers prohibit arbers from their books. As soon as suspicion is aroused bookmaker accounts are quickly limited or even closed.

High Capital Requirement and Personal Characteristics

Successful arbitrage betting ultimately guarantees small returns but the sacrifice is that the process requires large funds. The money is tied-up in the venture for a potentially long period of time.

Pursuing an average 2.5-3.0% profit per betting round and targeting a return of 15-25% of the capital employed per month, the ‘arber’ needs, for example, a starting bank of at least 25,000 € in order to make 5,000 € profit per month.

Wow! A lot of money required at the start to make it worthwhile, and entering the arbitrage arena on these terms will be impossible for many.

Of course, arbitrage betting is a pretty safe investment, but in addition to substantial funds it requires not only great expertise but also some strong personal characteristics to make it possible at all:

  • Many time-consuming calculations must be performed. Ouch, lots of maths!
  • Clear and complete records of every transaction must be kept. How boring!
  • Discipline and consistency has to be maintained at all times. Far too unsocial!

And lastly, a really stable, reliable and fast internet connection is essential, without any limitations to any bookmaker or exchange worldwide.

However, the average punter is perhaps not such a ‘professional’ investor, but bets for fun and/or the excitement of watching an event knowing that money is riding on the outcome. Of course, he hopes to profit from the wager but his are gambles, not investments. Is that the reason why there are so few ‘arbers’ out there and active in the market?


Last Update: 1 February 2018

Categories:Arbitrage Betting Advice



81 Responses to “Is Arbitrage Worthwhile Pursuing? Is Arbitrage Legal?”

  1. 25 June 2018 at 10:13 am #

    Hello Don

    Can I also get some info…..on the program…. I’m a first time arber….

    And I need all d advice I can get…
    Peaceezekiel24@gmail.com

  2. 4 January 2017 at 11:11 am #

    Who uses Arbitrage Betting Scaner betburger.com ?

  3. 24 August 2016 at 12:39 am #

    have a look at , www.saverbets.com , heaps better than arbs , donar

  4. 20 August 2016 at 9:44 pm #

    hi guys , if anyone is interested my saverbets program is running fine , saverbets.com any problems let me know , donar (at) westnet.c-m.au, thanks donar

    • 21 August 2016 at 11:13 am #

      Hi Donar,

      Right now we are concentrating on choosing a new theme and moving all our content to it. We want to completely restructure this site, integrate email subscriptions and much more. Sorry, but this is taking all our focus on the task in hand.

      Generally speaking we are not big fans of advertising services of other websites for free. Websites, however promising they are, have the unfortunate habit to disappear over night, and we are therefore required constantly to check if any links on our website are still active and available. The more links we have the more work we need to put into checking.

      Best wishes,
      Soccerwidow

      • 23 August 2016 at 1:27 am #

        hi i have a snip of the welcome page in my web site , http://www.saverbets.com , i would send it as an attachment but there is no provision to do that.
        soccer widow has been on my saverbets site as a link for at least the past 4 months , this was the arrangement i had with robert admittedly some time ago , thanks don rees

        donar@westnet.com.au

  5. 28 May 2016 at 12:23 pm #

    hey guys I am profesional arber My max profit per mounth was 10k, I know guys making mach more ,+50k mount constantly How thay make it? the first rule is to have a lot of friends How to avoid limits you need to lern by your self, the tactic need to be diferent from bookie to bookie And if you make nice money they will limit you I can avoid limits complitly but it is more profitable to be limited One way to avoid fast limits is live arbing Rounding stakes is not the moste important think No one will tell you how to make this kind of money becouse this are secrets to protect own buisnes I also read that one guy here made around 2k arbs This is very low number of bets But more profitable than arbitrage is that you bet only the wrong odd-one way bet-value bet side For value betting you need bankrool manegnent and you can use limited accounts Some bookies also close accouns and put betting limits to 0€

    • 2 July 2016 at 11:49 pm #

      Hello! I am arbing only live but I get limited after few bets.. I tried alot of uk bookies and they all do the same… I was reading some forums and tried to aske some questions but people don’t wanna give any advice and laugh at me cuz I am women… if anyone can give me any advice i will be very grateful. Thanks!

      • 5 July 2016 at 4:08 pm #

        Check out YOU TUBE channel ‘arberhunter’ for arbing instructionals. Also ensure you wipe iEsnare, use a different PC for the betfair element of laying and separate device and payasugo dongles, for multiple ID accounts. a different IP address is created wit dongles.good luck

    • 3 July 2016 at 11:55 am #

      can you please give me some advice about live betting ?i dont know what to do anymore… i get limited after 1 day… 🙁

  6. 15 May 2016 at 9:47 pm #

    Do any of you actually make decent money and how do you make money from arbs without getting shut down etc, I have 15 grand if anyone wants to point me in the right direction my name @gmail.com is my email

  7. 11 February 2016 at 11:49 am #

    HEY guys … some of you msy find this of interest–IS NOT A marketing or adveritising tool, just instructionals how to ARB. I hate bookies with a vengeance, and have joy empowering anyone how to milk them. YOU TUBE: arberhunter, FB & twitter the same….worth a look

  8. 24 January 2016 at 11:23 pm #

    trial , captcha problems in xp trying win ten

  9. 9 January 2016 at 10:32 pm #

    One thing to beware of on exchanges, in particular, regarding horse races:
    Is people entering in ‘false’ asks or bids for horses in the early evening, the day prior to the meeting around 4/5/6 pm.
    They see a horse is attracting some attention. Lets say the horse is priced between 3/1 & best 4/1, yet there are small orders for 4.7 … someone could go in ‘heavy handed’ on the fixed odds of 4/1 … ‘sell’ it to lay at 4.5 … then entere their own ‘false’ bid of, say, £2000, to make fellow arbers/or just plain backers of backed horses, all jump on the gravy train in a frenzy. Consequently your own [fixed odds 4/1} arb lays…you withdraw your false £2000 order and the frenzy dies, for instance.
    In the trading world there is a similar tactic called ‘spoofing’, which causes the same response, but is considered not entirely ethical

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