How can we earn a living with sports betting?

Sports betting, which had always been very developed overseas, reached France a few years ago. The trend spread rapidly on the internet almost as fast as the specialist sites were developed. Inevitably, people saw it as an easy way to win money, but in reality it is the opposite.. To experience sports betting is possible , but it requires a lot of effort and discipline. There are a lot more losers than winners.

Which sports betting methods can we earn a living with?

You will not win by relying on just one method. To win, there are 3 methods, practiced on sports betting sites, which work: sure bet, value bet and trading.

Sure bet

A sure bet is a 100% winning bet as long as you bet on all of the possible results of a sporting event. For this, the sum of the probability of each result has to be less than 100%. What happens most often is that bookmakers match their odds. Jérome, a professional punter, explains it to us: “I am happy to make a sure bet at 3%. But this also means that to win a lot you need to bet a lot….Personally, I have around £12,000 split between different bookmakers. I bet on average £2,700 daily, so £81,000 per month. With this I win 2,400 pounds per month. »

Value bet

A value bet is a bet where we predict that the odds offered by the bookmaker have been underestimated. Yoann, a value bet specialist, explains to us how he finds them: “I look at the odds using an odds comparator. When particular odds seem high to me, I analyse the match statistics to determine my own predictions and the odds which match them. If my odds are lower than those of the bookmaker, I bet.”

Trading

But trading, which is practiced on betting exchange sites such as Betfair, is the most profitable method, once you have mastered it. This is true in the case of Hervé who explains trading to us. “A trade consists of a purchase (back) and a sale (lay) of the same bet at two different odds in a short space of time. You can either purchase and then resell, or the other way around. The difference between the odds of the purchase and the odds of the sale is the end profit or loss.”

To “trade”, it is best to “follow the event live on television and to have trading software which allows you to make orders in the fastest way” Hervé continues.

Beware of scams

The other methods, notably those based on the internet, are eccentric (recurrent winnings method) or very risky (Martingale). If you apply these methods, you are almost sure of losing.

“You have to be very thorough, Yoann insists, in both the selection of bets and placing the bets. You need a strict method and you must never stray from it.” No matter which method you adopt, you must also manage your portfolio well.

Devote your life to betting and control your bets

To make a living through sports betting, you must accept many constraints. In effect, sports meetings take place on evenings and week-ends. As a result, your social life and your family life suffer.

“I sleep according to the biggest tennis tournaments, my sport of preference, explains Hervé, a trading specialist. When they take place in Europe, I trade during the afternoon of every day and the weekends for the finals. It’s more complicated when the tournaments take place in Asia or America. When this happens, I have to stay awake for part of the night and I live in time shifts. Of course I give myself time off when there are fewer events. It makes up for it.”

To make a living on sports betting is possible. Some punters in the UK win up to 150 ,000 pounds per year. But this is not easy for them, there are many constraints. However, nothing is better than the rush of adrenalin during a match when we can see that the result is turning around.

Want to know more? Discover the full interviews of 3 professional punters on how to make a living thanks to sports betting:

• Jérome, sure bet enthusiast
• Yoann, value bet specialist
• Hervé, sports betting trader