Whether it is possible to earn money from gambling and make a living from betting are questions which seem to bother many punters.
To give the short answer…
Yes, it is absolutely possible to make money with sports betting.
Image: Gualtiero Boffi (Shutterstock)Bookmakers make money; sports analysts make a living from gambling by compiling odds for bookies; some of my own income derives from sports bettors using this website. Programmers earn a living from gambling by developing various betting applications. Manufacturers of gaming machines make money from people’s gambling habits.
I could certainly continue this list as the betting business is a big industry providing many, many people with jobs.
But this is probably not a satisfactory response for sports fans who bet themselves and pursue the dream of supplementing their income, or becoming rich from gambling one day.
However, for these hopeful punters, the answer is also clearly positive…
- Yes: it is possible to develop long-term profitable betting strategies.
- Yes: it is possible to find betting odds which hold value and provide a mathematical edge.
Nothing is Impossible!
The big question is whether you will manage to join the minority, the tiny crowd of betting enthusiasts who finally become successful.
Another question is whether you have the patience (and time) for acquiring the necessary knowledge to win more than you lose, because only knowledge is power; without knowledge there is no chance.
Reliance on luck is not a foundation for lasting success. With luck alone nobody can build a house – only a handful of lottery millionaires can claim the opposite.
Successful Sports Bettors – Examples
In September 2005, in “Expert Betting Advice” forum, a young woman named Maria Santonix started publishing horse racing lay bets. I followed her thread at the time, and I must say that it came across as very authentic. She published daily picks (except Saturdays) and in only 303 days, her initial bank of £3,000 increased to £100,603.78.
The thread has since been taken offline by the operators of the forum, but if you google “Maria Laying System” you will find a plethora of articles referring to her experiment. Naturally, doubt breeds skepticism and most of the responses are quite critical.
It is difficult to find really credible information about betting success on the Internet. In the majority of threads you will read statements such as “I know someone who knows someone who makes his living from betting”.
The only website I am currently aware of which has published quarterly betting results for several years is Alan Seymour’s Sports Arbitrage Review. Alan writes about his experiences as a professional arbitrage trader and has been arbing since 2002.
Famous Last Words
If you have anything substantial to contribute to this topic please leave your comment below. It will warm our hearts and be absolutely great!
As I continue to develop betting courses and tutorials, I would be very keen to learn which specific content you are interested in most.
I thank you in advance for you valuable contribution! Every thought helps to develop this website into a sparkling source of knowledge in the often far too confusing worldwide web. 😛
I am now betting on soccer for about 5 years. And I think that its possible to make a living witht betting. I have a fulltime job and I am often making more money out of betting on soccer than my salary is. I always wanted to have a passive income. I like soccer to watch, its my hobby. I have managed to earn a good amount of money out of it. The more money I bet the more exiting I am. I tried a lots of strategys….eventually I found one good strategy. THen started with a small amount tot test my strategy…it worked.
There are rules to the strategy…the most important thing is to stick to the rules!!!
You have to make a lot of mistakes to finally make a good income out of betting.
Alan
Hi Alan,
Would I be right in saying that you are trading rather than straight betting seeing as you mention strategy and rules?
If you are betting 90 minute markets I very much doubt that a strategy can help you win so much money but if I’m wrong you are probably a genius.
So I’m going to ask you the obvious question.
What do you think of my way of betting and may I presume you will be giving it a try?
Cheers
Hi Tony,
I know you mentioned in previous posts you were thinking of sharing your football betting strategy by means of an ebook. Can I ask is it available to buy or do you offer 1 on 1 training?
What!?
Did I say that?
If I did,I apologise to Soccerwidow.It wouldn’t be appropriate at all for me to ever use a site such as this to effectively spam.
What I object to is having to read under The Golden Rules of Gambling and probably elsewhere I dare say,that you should NEVER bet in multiples when that is how I make my living!
As for my strategy,all you need to know is that yes you need to bet in multiples BUT you do not bet ALL of your bank on multiples.You have to leave a certain percentage til the last month or so in Oder to hedge your multiple bets.
The rest is up to you.It may well be the case that other people are better at this than I am once they understand why it works.As I say,you are effectively trading the long term markets (and then leveraging those trades as it were.)
I’ve just given you more information than I ever had.
By the way,interestingly enough,originally I was betting each- way all the time because up until 2010 there was incredible value in the place part of outright markets …..and that is how I discovered that what I now do actually works.
Good luck.
Hey Tony Morris,
I am a former professional financial markets-trader (traded for nearly 10 years) who is now looking into sports-betting… is there a way to contact you directly? Sorry if this seems a stupid question but did not find a way on this website…
cheers rich
Hello,
I am quite new to the exciting but challenging world of betting. I have lost quite a fortune trying to make some side cash through betting until I discovered this website! Please I would like a volunteer that is ready to be supplying me good games everyday so as to make some cool cash from betting. Please any volunteer should contact me on teninteni @ yahoo. com. Thank you
In the past I’ve always been hit and miss with my betting. Anyway I came back and had a tip from a friend basically bet on teams that are at least 2-0 up in football place about 4 or 5 in one lot so say a 4 fold with odds like 4.1/1 with them combined so for £5 it’s over 20 in return I did this a few times and actually managed to turn over 300 in a day then 2 days later made 560
could you explain that strategy in more detail? Thanks.
Please how do I get to contact you directly?
It’s well known that you can make a living from horseracing as there are numerous well known pro gamblers who bet solely on horses. But there not many well known sports betting professional gamblers. And even I can only name a couple of pro soccer bettors.
In theory horseracing, though much more complex, is easier to beat since there is a great deal of ‘hidden’ information which nonetheless can be gleaned by a determined, a very determined, bettor.
Whereas in soccer pretty much ALL the available information is easily accessed by ANYONE thus in theory it’s much harder to gain an edge over the market.
Having said that I should point out that the information I use to make a living from betting on football is right under everyone’s noses and yet they ignore it…..not realising how valuable it is one presumes!
Hi Tony,
I would really like to know more about your method. Is your book currently for sale? If not are there any other resources you would recommend in the meantime.
Many thanks
Adam
You can successfully make a living from betting – I do from backing horses (never laying) and I aim to make a 100pt profit per year and usually do (the lowest was 82pt in the last 10 years back in 2008). I bet to 1000 pound per point now with stakes between 1-3 pts and have on average only 7 bets a month. It requires patience and the knowledge that you will win over a year. Do not chase losing runs and you have to keep your nerve. I had a big payday yesterday as I back Silviniaco Conti in the King George back in October – 1000 e.w at 5/1…romped in yesterday at 15/8. Three months I waited for the return…! Getting on with the bookmakers is my biggest hassle and I am starting to accept clients to help me with that now.
Hi Jordan,
You mention ‘the nature of the strategy’ so I assume you have analysed the situation and expect to take big hits every seventh day or so.
If you’ve found something which seems to work, then figuring out the optimum staking plan is the next step. Applying your staking plan retrospectively to the data you have analysed using historical odds will help you see if the strategy is sustainable. The longest winning and losing streaks are also important to identify to help you set the staking plan.
Yes, we all lose bets and there is simply no avoiding this. Taking the emotion out of betting is key to becoming a better bettor. We try to keep things as simple as possible by relying purely on numbers. Check out our flagship Probability and Value Calculator.
I’m still in the beginners stage where i think i’ve found a betting strategy but lack the amount of experience to discover whether its really working or whether im just getting lucky!
I’m doubling my money on a daily basis, to find myself taking a big hit around the 7th day (because of the nature of the strategy), but still having more money after the big hit than what i starter at, so im still in a good position.
I think my only issue is after that big hit it seems to affect my mental cool too much. However fully knowing that if i apply the same strategy again ill more than likely surpass what i had before the big hit and over a long period of time will ‘Probably’ make a steady profit. Does this mean its sustainable?
Is there any advice other than ‘you just need to keep your cool’ that can help deal with those big blows?
thanks, jordan
Hello again Tony, and thanks for your ‘energetic’ comment 🙂
The podium is all yours – Any further explanation you can provide will surely be of interest to our readers.
Take care and good luck.
Hi Soccerwidows Bloke.
I’ve only just seen this comment. I’m a bit disappointed to find that there hasn’t been too many other posts I must say.
I have already made you aware (by email) of what I do. I specialise in antepost sports accumulators.
I do these bets throughout the season and, in short, the reason that I am able to overcome the overrounds is because, in effect, I am ‘trading’.
It really annoys me to read on forums etc that ALL accumulators are bad because what I do ONLY WORKS IF you bet in multiples!!!
As far as my ‘energetic’ commenting is concerned I ask you to forgive my ‘shouting’ but in all honesty if you were aware of the abuse etc that I have incurred on forums when all I was trying to do was HELP people you would hopefully understand my frustration.
In fact I have given up trying to explain how what I do is the best way to bet on football because the internet is full of experts who have actually won very little curiously enough.
But the good news is that it looks like I am very very close to finally proving beyond any reasonable doubt that my method the best way to bet on football.
The $64000 question is however……will gambling forums admit they got it wrong!?
I really don’t think they will. We will see.
Very interesting discussion. Personally I have been tampering with Betfair football trading, but I am wondering about Tony’s statement about only betting on multiples.
Hey Toni Morris,
Can you please provide your detailed betting tips and advises? You’d be glad to hear that you’ve successfully caught my attention. I’ve been betting religiously over the last 2 years and have made a small profit too. But I sure as hell know that its not going to sustain longer (as it was combination of everything – luck, randomness and guts). Now that I want more, I know I would have to invest more too. And I wouldn’t do that without having any kind of insurance (sorta managing risk) albeit 100% risk-free isn’t guaranteed (AFAIK)
Dear tony morris,
I have been betting on football and gamble for 12 years . And they took everything from me. Time , money and friends.
Can you please help me ? I just need some advice from you please buddy.
Thank you.
I actually do make my living from betting ( on football) and I also have hopes of one day publishing the best soccer betting book there could possibly be.
Now before I make my point let me say that soccerwidow is clearly a very smart very well informed individual.
I understand why she writes the things she writes and overall I’m impressed by this site.
BUT the main reason that virtually no one on here will ever make a living betting on football is Because virtually all the received wisdom on football betting is
W R O N G !!
By FAR the BEST / EASIEST way to make money betting on football is by doing something that sites like this say is impossible.
Great Blog.
A successful, legitimate betting business requires good mathematical technique, and strong correct business rules. Making a successful and sustained profit means “long run” success and this comes from acquiring a mathematical advantage (a small one) -> cumulative net profits leveraged over time -> success .
The profits depend on good technique which you have to actively acquire. It has to be sound technique and has to be applied correctly. Your ignorance and your average risk decays exponentially, and it is never zero. This is the same as saying you learn the easy stuff quickly, and with sustained effort the more difficult skills will follow. The consequence is that success grows slowly, if at all, in the beginning. Losses should be relatively small (the price you pay for experience).
If I may offer the following aphorisms from people wiser (and richer) than me
Sports betting is many things, but it is never a gamble.
Nothing is harder than thinking of ways to make easy money.
In professional sports, everyone makes money, except the punters.
Money does not buy success, and does not create opportunity or ability. The correct order is ability, opportunity, success then money.
rgds SK9
I am currently trying to make a profit at sports betting. Whether it turns into a living remains to be seen but at the moment I seem to be doing OK. I did want to ask you one question about the research and trialing you do.
Consider this: I have a large excel file of the 1×2 result from various leagues. I can experiment but trying different schemes such as betting on favorites or betting on the away team. As expected all of these schemes showed no profit but about a 5% to 10% loss.
I then experimented by selecting the team to bet on randomly. The stake for each bet was calculated to return a level profit. I could repeat this over and over. Surprisingly some of these trials showed a profit, but the majority showed a loss. However the results overall were better than the other schemes. Should I conclude that it is better bet randomly than to bet on favourites?
Also in the research you do in long term results how can you be sure that profits you find are the result of a pattern in the data rather than just random variation?
Ross
Hi Ross,
Betting always on favourites is not a good idea. It does not matter if randomly or with a strategy.
Bookmakers have a tendency to match public opinion when pricing matches. They have to do this otherwise they would be forced out of business sooner than later. Just think about it – public opinion and news stories usually focus on favourites. People love betting on them because they believe if a team is marked up as the favourite it has a better chance of winning.
In order to balance their books, bookmakers have no choice other than to reduce the odds for favourites and, therefore, favourites are priced very rarely at their true odds. Betting only on favourites invariably leads to a long-term loss, as you have figured out yourself with your own calculations.
Here is an article which addresses this topic: How Bookmakers’ Odds Match Public Opinion
We are right now updating our Home-Draw-Away betting tables and they will be up for sale hopefully towards the end of next week. This time we have included simulations showing profit/losses using odds clusters as well as odds ratios. The information contained in these simulations is very eye-opening and you will see that there are only very few odds cluster groups where betting on favourites returns positive results. But mainly, the tables show other approaches to make profits and move away from favourite betting.
I am making $ 50 every day it’s my living. I only bring $1000 to casino . I doing this for 9 years. By discipline and knowledge u can make money.
It is possible to make a living from sports betting. We must follow certain rules and our skills can make the difference between a hopeful and statistical punter.
From my perspective, experience play a great role in finding winners. First of all we must have a winning system which takes into consideration the quantitative and qualitative factors which may affect the outcome of a game. For instance while analyzing quantitative factors for football match can be in terms of form, head to head encounters, goal statistics and team ratings.
On the other hand qualitative factors can be in terms of weather condition, injuries, management change, importance of the match and so on. After devising a winning system, we must have a good staking plan for proper money management to ensure that our bet are profitable over the long term.
All records must be kept to know our prediction rate and as such we can control the risk involved and find better ways to improve our profit. Other factors which can be crucial for succeeding in sports betting in the long run are discipline, time management, self control (not chasing losses) and self motivation.
Thank You
guys Iam playing for 4 years ,lost 10.000 so far,but still say it is possible to make profit I did it many times,,the only thing why Iam not earning money on this is that Iam going mad and do not focus after Iam on top…lose is easy and easy to lose control..
I made 1000 from 5 not from one bet but loadr in one week !! beacuse Iam focused and then withdraw and make another 2500 from 200 in 2 days….but after I thought its so easy and started to lose a but and when u start losing want to win back that u lost…and BANG all lost..;) as long as u keep controlled u vill win,but as soon as dont focus going mad there is no god help u to win a penny
I know why you lost. You made 2500 from 200 Pounds. But can you make 25000 from 2000 pounds? Or 250000 from 20000 ? Mathematically we are talking about the same thing. But from the stress/nerves perspective, it’s a different story.
I use some strategies to turn 50 quids in 200 quids in a few days. Almost invariably. But I can’t turn 5000 to 20000 because when the stakes get at that level, the emotion plays a much bigger role.
Now, I am playing but only within figures that make comfortable. Black tokens are not for me. But I make money that I put aside. So I am happy with that and I hope that in the next few years, I will be able to control more money on my bets.
Recently I started wondering what is more important in sports betting, is it more important to win, or is it more important not to lose? I think that for long-term profit is more important not to lose often using insurances like DNB or Asian Handicap, then if you bet lets say 30 games in a month and you had lost 10 you’re definitely going to make some profit, of course betting on decent odds, like not less than 1.60.
Hi Alex, the answer to your question is actually straight forward… the only important goal is to end up with a profit, that means to win more money than to lose. How you achieve this depends entirely on your personal strategy.
For example, if your strategy would be backing a certain correct score, then you would certainly lose much more often than win a bet. But if you know how to calculate the odds, and entirely stick to value, then you’ll finish with a profit.
There is nothing such as “decent” odds. Successful betting is all about prices/ value.
With you on this. There are no decent odds. Everything depends on how much the bookie/market is asking for the risk vs. the chances of this risk to materialize while you are holding the title (bet).
Even a 1/100 is a great value if the risk has only 1/1000 chances to materialize.
From my brief experience in this field (betting), I think it’s possible to earn money from betting in the long run; however betting on sports for a living it’s far away in my opinion; there are too many variables involved in this venture, too many ups and downs; It requires a great deal of mental strength, patience and time as you mentioned.
It’s not easy to have 3 good weeks in profit to finally succumb in the 4th week of a month and feel all your hard work went to trash, or more specifically when a late goal in the minute 90+3 spoils one, two or three bets every weekend, or when you calculated 85% to 90% of success and just fails miserably. Those are key moments when the big crowd of gambling enthusiasts lose their heads, trying to recover lost money with bigger stakes, gambling on anything just because it’s on TV; I went through all that and the emotional roller coaster associated with it which it’s not a healthy at all.
I think success or failure when trying to turn betting into a steady source of income it’s mostly based on how strong your mindset is to react when it turns sour (and there are plenty of sour moments in this activity), only those who are able to lead with it the best possible way can be successful because it’s NOT EASY AT ALL!
There’s something I found here https://www.soccerwidow.com/betting-advice/bookmakers/how-do-bookmakers-tick/2/ which has been tickling on my mind since I read it:
“If you wish to become successful with any form of betting you must understand the way of thinking (the business plan) of the bookmakers. Why? Because these firms survive and thrive from the money they encourage you to lose through nothing more than your own ignorance of how their ‘system’ works.”
Very well said.