Demystifying Betting Myths
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Sports Betting for a Living? Is Earning Money from Gambling possible?


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.

:mrgreen:

Man jumps from word Impossible to PossibleImage: 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. 😛


Last Update: 18 February 2016

Categories:Betting Advice Betting Guidance Most Popular Responsible Gambling



137 Responses to “Sports Betting for a Living? Is Earning Money from Gambling possible?”

  1. 28 November 2015 at 12:28 am #

    I want someone who bets into a betting exchange site to cooperate with.

  2. 8 November 2015 at 1:43 pm #

    Hi everyone, Pls I need a tip for successful betting,I’ve been playing matchbet for sometime now and have not won.pls somebody help me I need money for a serious project thanks and God bless

    • 26 November 2015 at 11:22 pm #

      Super83 where are you from?

  3. 4 October 2015 at 5:22 pm #

    Hi All

    I am new to this forum I have been reading most of the posts here, I am new to betting.

    I am so interested in everything that involves risk but for the past few months I have been betting on horses and football. I use only one betting company William hill and is it allowed to open accounts with more than 2 betting shops.

    I am sure everyone ask this question , I want to know if its possible to make profit on betting and what amount is reasonable to deposit into a betting account just to be safe.

    I am also interested in Forex Trading I managed to open a demo account but I am sure there is someone here who can help with by just mentoring on how it works and if its possible to make money too with forex trading. Professionally I am an accountant and I am always eager to venture into new things and experiment.

    Many thanks

    • 19 July 2016 at 1:11 pm #

      you should check out Mike Cruickshank’s software, start with bonus bagging then move onto profit maximiser. They have lots of training videos and use all the online bookie sites, so to answer your question yes you can have accounts with more than one bookie, however some are owned by the same company just be aware of this e.g. Paddy Power and Betfair. I would use his methods for 80% of your total betting but come up with a 20% system where you appear to be like every other punter. Bookies have software which can tell if your constantly taking bets above the Betfair lay odds, this is arbitrage betting but for a sustainable long term income you need to mix it up a bit. I learned this the hard way after being banned from many sites and excluded from promotions on even more.

  4. 2 October 2015 at 11:36 pm #

    May I respectfully request comment from far more worthy minds than my own, I have been trialing football goal totals in blocks of 3 parlayed to return around $1.90 / $2.00 when one drops i martingale to recover the lost unit, (i feel the shrieks) it seems to be working fine. I handicap the totals myself from statistic data and feel comfortable with my selections, has anyone been here before ? and is the devil waiting to take me down in a long losing streak.

  5. 2 October 2015 at 5:29 pm #

    What I have found best is to focus on Units won/lost.

    I’ve made various simulations with my betting angles, playing them like accumulators VS a ratchet system (x% from your highest bank record), and I see that its far better, for me and most people, to make single bets.

    Psychologically speaking, its a lot easier to manage. Which makes it far easier to stick to, meaning more discipline and a better study of what may come.

    I seriously encourage you to find positive expected value strategies using inflection points techniques or true odds calculation to find value in a game. After you have a record of past results that show a profit, try to simulate betting those results in an accumulator of 1-2% stake, maybe 2 results per ticket, 3 at the most. Depending on the odds, you will see a big volatility on how you win money.

    Take those same results, place a 3%-5% stake and recalculate your stake everytime a result comes in, winning or losing (THIS IS NOT RATCHET) and you will see less volatility and maybe the same result the accumulator accomplishes.

    The most important thing to choose the staking method, either accumulators or single bets, is your psychology to withstand the losing side of your strategy. I use an aggressive system and losing 30% from my highest bank record is normal, but its always kind of hard to the mind.

    Using single bets, at 1%, and calculating your % only when you surpass your highest bank record (RATCHET) may suit you best. You would need a losing run of 100 units to wipe out your bank, that wont be easy if your betting odds are not too high.

    Find a valuable strategy, think about how much losing you can withstand and then give it time. Winning 50 units per year at 1% from your bank for each bet in a ratchet system, will give you approx 64% ROI, that is 14% more than flat betting those units. And depending on the odds you will see a much more comfortable volatility that you can endure to see the end of the season.

    Good luck to everyone.

  6. 2 October 2015 at 9:47 am #

    To abz

    good for you, great for the baby ! I used to pay for rent and utility bills.

    Now, we are talking here of betting for living.

    I have beer taste thus beer income was/is good enough for me.
    Problem is to deposit 2% up to 9% and to withdraw, up to 5%.
    Economy 101 is hard for me.

    Can someone explain howto fit numbers. I mean it is cca. 7500 a year !
    Assuming 100K capital and 45K-50K as profit goal, yearly level.

    And no I do not play accus bet. I just want to state that even accus could be good enough.
    Over and under market, or 1X2 coulod be better.

    regards

    Oldman

  7. 1 October 2015 at 12:20 am #

    Common prob for gamblers is can’t save the money.best way to do is buy things.every time I withdrew I just straight buy my things for living and baby stuff.

  8. 28 September 2015 at 11:56 am #

    Hi Oldman,

    Thanks for your very kind words (blush!).

    Combinations or accumulators are certainly a very interesting format especially if you can choose games with staggered starts in order to lay off along the way to create a surebet situation.

    If you also take into account the fact that some bookmakers offer accumulator bonuses, you can use the weight of numbers to guarantee profit from any combination, from 3-folds to 15-folds.

    Bookmakers want you to play accumulators because the chances of winning become smaller and smaller with each leg. They offer bonuses to encourage this and also I believe to allow you to make the profits elsewhere with the ‘lay’ bet. It’s a form of arbitrage which is okay with the bookies, and can generate profits far in excess of the usual 2-3% per arb.

    Thanks for your valued comments and for your interest in Soccerwidow.

  9. 28 September 2015 at 9:13 am #

    Hi

    First all heil to soccerwidow and the site. It is not one of the best betting sites, it is the very best !

    Is it possible to earn money betting ?

    Yes it is !

    I am tired of 90%+ web sites stating oposite thru nonsensical so called arguments.

    My coworker did ( is ) earn about two times his monthly wage betting.

    He was using soccer combos 3 to 6 and 1 or 2 bankers. Thus it was/is possible to win big using soccer combos.

    He explained system to me. I was loseing big time. His bankers were bankers, my bankesr were losers. Of course he did NOT reveal how to choose bankers.

    After three years talking, he quit talking soccer betting, but he did continue money spending.

    In a nutshell it is possible to earn good, betting on sports.

    And yes, I do some penny betting and I do earn few euros, but it is another story.

    regards

    Oldman

  10. 26 September 2015 at 8:32 am #

    Hello friends,
    i am trying to earn from sports betting since 4 years but not able make profit if i do profit will loose fast. i am doing betting for my health issue treatment, can anyone please help me to make money. my mail id is mohankumar4004(AT)gmail(dot)com

  11. 25 September 2015 at 1:52 pm #

    Because if he put every out come in multi bets he would be losing and if he layed each team in the acca he would also take a big lose if the acca came in?

  12. 25 September 2015 at 1:23 pm #

    I think he was laying his multiples together and backing them with correct scores? this got shut down end of last season.

  13. 25 September 2015 at 12:55 pm #

    Has anyone tried Tony’s system and had much luck?

  14. 18 September 2015 at 3:36 pm #

    I’ve been experimenting for years, constantly thinking their must be a way to earn money betting. With so many types of bets and odds shifting all the time.

    I’d had promising starts but ultimately all failed. However i am currently on a 200+ day trial with 190+ bets and i am currently achieving a 10% ROI. I’m publishing all data on my website sportstrading.guru so you can see how consistent bets are and the profits over the last 8 months.

    I am laying the draw in football matches. Average lay odds are 4, and i need a strike rate of 75% to break even. Currently i am at 84%.

    I’ll keep testing this but hopefully thinks will remain consistent.

    Cheers
    Neil

  15. 14 September 2015 at 2:55 am #

    Very interesting thoughts and comments from like minded souls, just remember we are all on the same side, and sharing is caring.

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