An Introduction to Sports Betting

I started betting on sports after being furloughed from my job due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It was one outlet which helped me cope with the sometimes excessive boredom that comes with actually taking a pandemic seriously.

I was one of those kids who pretty much just watched and played sports in lieu of a social life, so I can say with confidence that I have developed the mental toolset to understand and predict things in a sporting context reasonably well. I’m by no means prodigous at sports gambling, but I have a pretty decent return and it helped make watching sports interesting again.

So far I have profited by $1,224, having wagered a total of $4,545 (not including active bets), which is a return on investment of 27% before taxes. With some significant outliers my average bet is just over $11; however, I’d guess that the majority of my bets are in the $1-5 range

I believe that with a bit of general sports knowledge, some free time, expendable income, and self-control, betting on sports is a relatively easy and enjoyable way to make a little bit of money.

I won’t get into the types of bets such as moneyline or spread bets, but it’s important to understand how odds work. Negative odds mean a winning return will be less than the wager, while a positive odds bet would return more than the wager. The exception to the rule is that -100 and +100 odds both return the exact wager amount.

Negative odds means a bet is more likely to happen, which is why the rate of return is much lower. The way I see it, any odds below -200 aren’t worth it because the rate of return is so low. I prefer higher odds bets between -100 and say 400. I prefer betting on my intuition about a single outcome or a combination of multiple outcomes. Intuition doesn’t mean much when the odds are lower than -200 (i.e. more likely) and the thought of losing more than twice the amount I would stand to gain because of an aberration scares me off from those low odds bets.

I would suggest opening accounts with multiple betting services. I use Draftkings, Fox Bet, and Barstool Sportsbook. Almost every time I open any of these betting apps there will be a different promotion for new users. These promotions include matching a certain amount of your deposit, or giving new users better odds for a specific event.

The new user promotions can be a very good way to start off with some profit, but the main reason to use multiple betting services are the daily odds boosts and promotions. The majority of odds boosts are minor. For example - from -200 to -175, or 100 to 115. Occasionally, however, you will find a substantial boost of more than 50 or 100.

One recurring promotion that I really like happens anytime there is a Monday/Sunday/Thursday night football (NFL) game on Draftkings. When you bet on the first scorer of the game (typically odds between 600 &1200), you get your money back if your pick doesn’t score first but scores at any point in the game. It drastically changes the risk reward factor in your favor.

Aside from odds boosts and promotions, I would suggest that you stay away from betting on sports in which you are not very familiar. In my case, I avoid the regular moneyline and spread bets on football, baseball, and basketball and bet on soccer instead.

I use google sheets to keep track of every bet I make. My girlfriend, who is a computer science major, created formulas which automatically fill in the payout and result, so I only need to fill in the bet amount and the odds.

I have separate tabs for short term bets (1-7 days), long term bets, and a tab for my bet history. Once my bets have all concluded I just fill in the outcome (win loss or void) and copy/paste the old bets into the history.

As you can see from my long term bets on Spurs to win every competition they play in this year, I am prone to betting with my heart sometimes more so than with my head.

I would suggest google sheets as opposed to an offline version of excel so that wherever you are you can fill in your bets on your phone rather than waiting to get back to your computer.

I can’t recommend keeping track of your bets in this fashion enough. I feel confident knowing exactly how much I am wagering and can evaluate my successes and failures. It’s also absolutely beautiful to look at (when you’re winning).

If you are interested in this spreadsheet I can make a blank copy and would be happy to teach you how to use it. There are certain cells that cannot be altered or the formulas will get all messed up.