Arbitrage betting is a risk-free opportunity to make a guaranteed profit on a game by exploiting differences in odds offered between a number of bookmakers. Sure Bets Finder ➨ Click to see Free Surebets Today ✔️ Enjoy Arbitrage Odds from 80+ Sportsbooks 📊 100% Sure Wins No Matter The Outcome. Arbitrage betting is simple & effective. We'll show you the exact strategy we use to make profit from arbitrage bets & how you can too. An elderly woman in a bank demonstrates the manager how she wins money with betting - funny office humour. Caution, for adults only!

Arbitrage betting is a risk-free opportunity to make a guaranteed profit on a particular sporting event by exploiting differences in odds being offered between a number of bookmakers.

Sure Bets

Arbitrage bets or sure bets are one of the fastest ways to earn massively, and if you draft a viable strategy, you will be able to make a living out of it. Of course, to reach that goal, you should always make sure to bet only in safe, licensed arbitrage bets sportsbooks or casinos.

What is Arbitrage?

A trading technique whereby exactly offsetting positions are taken in a market simultaneously but at different prices. The difference in price represents an immediate risk-free profit that is independent of the subsequent movement in the price of the instruments traded. This technique has long been used in financial markets, which can be difficult for non-professionals to access.

What is Sports Arbitrage?

Numerous arbitrage situations also referred to as sure bets, scalps, and risk-free bets, are created every day in sports-betting markets amongst the growing number of worldwide bookmakers in existence. These anomalies show up regularly & repeatedly.

The purpose of this site is to help you make money as a Sports-Arbitrage Trader.

Arbitrage Betting Example.

A pre-season NFL match between Atlanta & Jacksonville gave us the following market-anomaly between William Hill & FanDuel:

This arbitrage yields a profit of just over 6%, meaning that a correctly structured investment of $1000 would yield $63.22 of risk-free profit regardless of which team won the match

Arbitrage Betting Software

Tools to make your Sure bets arbitrage processes more efficient and profitable and a software-driven arbitrage location service.
If you are only just learning about this technique, then don’t buy anything right now. Use the zero-risk trial to judge the opportunity for yourself and decide whether this form of trading is suitable to you. Many of your questions will be answered within the FAQ.
However, if you want to speed up your learning & deepen your knowledge immediately, then you should delve into our full Sports-Arbitrage Course
If you are already experienced with arbitrage, you should consider using the BetAlerts service to leverage your time and significantly increase your profitability.

Common tips to follow when looking for sure bets

Some tips come to mind when arbitrage bets are discussed, most notably those addressing with bet types that will allow for considerable gains in the long run. Here are some of the golden tips that will help you increase your bankroll sooner than you thought was possible.

You will learn:

• How and why arbitrage works
• The factors required for arbitrage to exist
• Which events yield the best opportunities
• Three ways to maximize your profits (taking NO risk)
• Pitfalls to be aware of and how to avoid them
• How to keep track of your bets, accounts and money movements
• How to optimize your processes to take full advantage of risk-free betting opportunities
• How to take advantage of a bookmaker’s pricing error without taking any risk
• Using bet-exchanges in arbitrage
• How to reduce transaction costs and exchange rate losses when dealing with foreign bookmakers
• How to profit even when an arb’s profit percentage is less than the credit card transaction fee levied by the bookmaker
• How to deal with bookmakers who do not inform you of the maximum stake allowed before you attempt to place your bet
• Why it sometimes pays to be prepared to tie up funds for months in an arbitrage
• How to manage your trading capital most effectively
• Techniques which prevent bookmakers from identifying you as an arbitrageur
• The dangers of “pseudo-arbs” & why they should be avoided
• How to construct arbs from usual handicap & Asian handicap bets
• How to use the various odds-comparison services most effectively and what dangers to watch out for
• The five types of baseball arbitrage and their differing risk-profiles
• How to use soccer markets to generate risk-free windfalls of over 100%
• How to find the hidden arbs in golf that most arbitrage traders will never even see

Arbitrage betting formula

Consider this scenario in a golf 2-way match-up with a ‘head to head’ pricing of 1.90 on each player. If he takes a total of $100 on each side, the bookmaker has taken $200 and whatever the result pays out only $190, generating a risk-free profit of $10.

This situation, however, describes a bookmaker’s ideal scenario; it does not represent the practical reality of bookmaking. More likely would be a scenario where a total of $200 to win $180 is laid on one of the two outcomes.

The other side will have attracted far less money (perhaps it is not part of an arbitrage!), with clients investing, say, a total of $100 to win $90. In this scenario, the bookmaker is exactly $80 ‘short,’ and he now appears to be in the position of a punter looking for a specific result.

Closer inspection reveals that if he gets the result he prefers, he has won $110. (Keeping $200 and paying out $90). Alternatively, if the ‘other side’ wins, the loss is $80. ($180 having been paid with only $100 kept from the ‘short side). So, the bookmaker has risked losing $80 to win a possible $110, and that translates into odds of 11/8 (2.38), a 5.3% swing in his favor from the odds he quoted (1.90).

Arbitrage Betting Finder & Sure Bets Finder

When bookmakers compile their odds, they are merely reflecting their opinion of how an event is likely to unfold and or where the majority of its customers are likely to want to place their money. The only certainty they have is that they will structure their prices to ensure that the percentages are in their favor. While there are times when various bookmakers’ odds are the same on a particular event, there are many occasions when their views and, therefore, the odds they offer are very different.

These differences give rise to arbitrage opportunities, and with the application of a simple mathematical model and a little search time, anyone can uncover and profit from them.

Finding arbitrage betting opportunities

The first hurdle when it comes to arbitrage betting is simply finding where the opportunities are.

While betting exchanges make it relatively easy to identify opportunities in markets in which you have already bet (Betfair for example have a one click “cash out” option), comparing a range of different bookmakers in markets you wish to bet can be very time consuming.

Sites such as Odds Portal provide free widgets to members which allow the comparison of different bookmakers at a glance, however still require looking a literally thousands of different markets.

Professional solutions also exist which automatically search for and identify arbitrage opportunities using live feeds from bookmakers. These solutions however are not cheap, ranging anywhere from $150 a month.

But if you do invest time and/or money it is possible to identify arbitrage opportunities, that is however not the final hurdle to your free money.

Problems with arbitrage betting

Timing

Arbitrage betting opportunities tend to only be available for a very (eg seconds to 5 minutes), a short period of time.

Bookmakers aren’t silly, they also compare their odds with a range of different books around the globe and will realise if their number is off even slightly. Not only that, but there are thousands of other punters with their own systems looking to beat you to the punch and get their bets on.

Betting limits

To make betting worthwhile you do need to get a decent return for your time. No one is interested in simply clicking buttons to make $5 an hour with a $1000 bankroll.

Unfortunately many arbitrage opportunities occur in obscure markets with little liquidity. The day you find an 8% profit arbitrage on Latvian Division 2 Handball is the day bookmakers will offer you a maximum bet of $10.

Resources

Searching for small percentages with few opportunities can severely tie up large portions of your bankroll for large periods of time, restricting you from betting into other markets.

Cancelled bets

Occasionally bookmakers do make mistakes when setting markets. Whether it’s the work experience kid keying in the wrong numbers or a glitch in their software, obviously incorrect odds can be posted from time to time.

When this happens most bookmakers will cancel all bets made at the incorrect price. If this bet forms part of your arbitrage then you will be left exposed with the bookmaker on the other side of the arbitrage with no way to cancel your bet.

Bookmakers don’t like it

While betting exchanges thrive off trading and arbitrage betting, the vast majority of bookmakers hate it and will potentially close your account if they find you are an arbitrage bettor. There are of course exceptions such as Pinnacle Sports, however, they really are the exception and not the rule.

Arbitrage betting is certainly something that does exist, and on the rare occasion it can be found it is much better to “trade out” and take even a small guaranteed profit. However it is questionable as to whether it is a long term or sustainable betting strategy that is worth the time and financial resources.

In the coming weeks, we will be reviewing an arbitrage betting software package to see if it really does provide the promised profits or whether the difficulty and rarity of arbitrage bets are just too much to bet worth the investment.

Arbitrage betting calculator

Measurements for sure bets are taken automatically as part of our software’s search routine. Each time it scans for prices, new arbs are added to the live-arbs database and calculated correctly before they are sent to subscribers.

On subsequent passes, when the software detects that those original prices are no longer available, it either updates the arb to its new yield or it.

You can also narrow your searches using specific criteria that are important to you. For example, if you have a particular interest in arbs of a particular yield or which only involved individual bookmakers, you can view this data using the “Advanced Search” feature.

Arbitrage betting FAQS

How can different odds show up in the same match at the same time?

Every odd maker has their own models of calculating odds which sometimes varies based on their own factors.Is Arbitrage Betting Risk Free?

Yes if done correctly, Arbitrage betting can be 100^ risk free which is why they are called sure bets.
So why doesn’t everybody Arbitrage Bet if it’s risk-free?

Because Arbitrage betting opportunities appear and disappear incredibly quickly. which makes it hard for everyone to follow and bet.
How does arbitrage occur in sports events?

When bookmakers compile their odds, they are merely reflecting their opinion of how an event is likely to unfold and or where the majority of its customers are likely to want to place their money. The only certainty they have is that they will structure their prices to ensure that the percentages are in their favor.
How many bookmaker accounts will I need to open to Arbitrage bet?

At least 25. The more accounts you have, the more opportunities you will have. Of course, this also means that you will have more administration to keep on top of, and your funds may be spread more thinly.

Arbitrage Betting Case Study

In a previous section, we have looked at the basic theory behind arbitrage betting, where we discovered how shopping the odds of different bookmakers can be used to create a market that can be bet to guarantee a profit.

An arbitrage bet is really the holy grail for any sport punter, guaranteed profit without any risk. However arbitrage bets are an elusive beast, not only do most bookmakers know the odds available throughout the world and adjust accordingly, but it can be difficult to place enough money on an outcome to really make the search between bookmakers worth the effort.

However that’s not to say that opportunities don’t exist, and aren’t easy to find if you’re willing to wait for opportunities.

Using special promotions to guarantee profits

When bookmakers offer special bonus odds on events it can be tempting to simply take the odds as providing value and riding out the result. Assuming the market you are betting into is reasonably efficient and accurate this would generally be considered a positive expected value bet. But why put any of your bankrolls at risk at all if you don’t need to?

In this case study we will show you how you can use arbitrage betting to lock in up to 33% profit on your turnover simply by taking advantage of special bonus odds offered by bookmakers.

As you would have learned in our review, one of the world’s biggest sports bookmakers Ladbrokes regularly offer special odds across a number of sports as an incentive to new and existing members. One such promotion that has run for the past two weekends is offering $2 favorites on all EPL matches played on Saturdays.

While there are some conditions attached such as a maximum bet of $20, this is a promotion simply to good to pass up as an arbitrage opportunity.

How to place arbitrage bets

For our arbitrage bets to be successful we need the winning outcome for both bets in the match to be greater than the total amount of money outlaid.

To do this we will need to shop for the best odds available on the underdog in each match (as the favourite will be the bonus bet). For this case study we have used the odds available from Crown Bet as they had the best available odds at the time of writing, however in general it is recommended that you compare odds with our other recommended bookmakers Centrebet, Pinnacle Sports, Sportsbet, and William Hill before placing any bets.

Once you have the bonus bet odds, and the best odds available for the underdog, put these odds into an arbitrage calculator along with the stake you wish to place on the bonus bet. The calculator will not only tell you if there is an arbitrage opportunity available, but also the exact amount you should be on the underdog.

It is also worth noting here that even if the bookmaker offering the bonus odds has the best available odds for the underdog, you should never place the underdog bet with them. Bookmakers do not like arbitrage punters, and may ban you or limit your bet sizes if they notice this kind of activity.

Ladbrokes EPL $2 favorite case study

By using the above method to bet the maximum $20 on each of the 6 favorites in the EPL matches to be held on Saturday the 12th of Sept 2020 with Ladbrokes, and the underdog prices available from Bet it is possible to lock in a profit for the day regardless of how many favorites or underdogs win during the day.

As the below table shows, by using the arbitrage calculator to ensure that the total amount bet on each match doesn’t exceed $40 (the payout of the $2 favourite), a profit of between 15% and 48% can be guaranteed for each match.

Arbitrage betting on EPL matches week 1 2020

Home	Odds	Stake	Win	Away	Odds	Stake	Win	Profit	ROI
Liverpool	2.00	20.00	40.00	Leeds	2.75	14.55	40.01	5.45	15.79%
Fulham	2.00	20.00	40.00	Arsenal	3.80	10.53	40.00	9.47	31.03%
West Ham	4.25	9.41	39.99	Newcastle	2.00	20.00	40.00	10.59	36.00%
Burnley	5.75	6.96	40.02	Man Utd	2.00	20.00	40.00	13.04	48.39%
Tottenham	5.00	8.00	40.00	Everton	2.00	20.00	40.00	12.00	42.86%
West Brom	2.00	20.00	40.00	Leicester	4.00	10.00	40.00	10.00	33.33%
Total	84.37	95.08	33.74%

With a total of $179.34 bet for the day and a profit of $60.55, a return of investment of 33.74% is guaranteed using the currently available odds regardless of the results in each match.

While a $60 profit may not be a lot for some, for many it is a healthy boost to the bankroll for little effort and without tying up a large chunk of your bankroll.

For those with accounts with multiple bookmakers who are willing to shop for and find even better prices this profit can increase even further.

Of course, these arbitrage opportunities are not just limited to EPL betting. We recommend keeping an eye on the “promotions” page at Ladbrokes to see all the current opportunities available.

It is also worth following any bookmaker you have an account with on Twitter to be kept up to date on any promotions they may be running as these may also present arbitrage opportunities.

Tool coming soon…

Meanwhile, for all the other Predictions you can go to our Predictions page by clicking here on Today’s Predictions.

Next, in this guide, we want to discuss arbitrage betting. The principle behind it is actually quite simple. The main idea is to make a wager on each and every possible result of an event by placing a series of bets and using a variety of stakes and odds to guarantee your success. This form of betting does yield positive results and is a strategy you could use to improve your chances of winning.

However, you need to understand that nothing is too easy or too simple as it seems. If you believe that all you have to do is make those bets, you are wrong. Like everything else, arbitrage sports betting requires hard work and the right mindset. Hence, our goal is to explain what it is about, show you how to make the right calculations to become successful when using this strategy and weigh down the pros and cons so that at the end you will know whether it is worth using or not. Let’s get started.

Top bookmakers for arbitrage betting

Bookie	Review	Highlights	Cash Out	Bonus	Visit
Unibet	Application for Android & iOS Over 145,000 live markets available on 65,000 events	Money Back as a Bonus up to £40 if your first bet loses + £10 Casino	CLAIM BONUS
18+ begambleaware.org. New customers only. Min deposit £10. Money back as bonus if first bet loses. Wagering requirements: sportsbook 3x at min. odds of 1.40 (2/5), casino 35x. Unless forfeited the sportsbook bonus must be wagered before using the casino bonus. Bonus expires 7 days after opt-in. No deposit required for NI customers. Call 08081699314 to claim. Full T&Cs apply. #AD
888sport	Sports App for iOS and Android Price Boosts	Bet £10 Get £40	CLAIM BONUS
New Customers only, 18+. £10 min deposit. The bonus will be applied once the full deposit amount has been wagered at least once with cumulative odds of 1.5 or greater. Wagering must be cleared within 60 days. This offer may not be combined with any other offer. Deposit balance is available for withdrawal at any time. General deposit method & withdrawal restrictions apply & full T&C's apply. #AD

* T&C’s apply, 18+.

The Main Principle behind Arbitrage

In the above paragraph, we told you that arbitrage gambling involves betting on every possible result of a game to ensure you win a profit in the end. Now, here is an example to get a better idea of how it works. When it comes to a soccer match, there can be three possible outcomes: for team A to win the match, for team B to win the match, and for the game to end with a draw. Hence, you will need to place a total of three bets. When it comes to a tennis match, two bets would be placed, one for each player to win.

Of course, taking advantage of arbitrage gambling with a single sportsbook is not the best idea. We already said it a few times in the previous sections of this guide that sportsbooks set the odds in their favour, which means that such a strategy will eventually lead to a loss rather than a profit. For instance, if a bookmaker were to think that there were equal chances of each player winning a tennis match, then they might set odds of 1.91 for player A and odds of 1.91 for player B.

What does this mean for you? If you bet £100 on each player, you would make a profit of about £191 for the winning bet, including the stake of £100. However, you would have wagered £200, which means that even if you won some money, it did not surpass the amount that you staked. On top of that, it turns out you lost £9.

As you can see, arbitrage gambling is not just about placing bets on every possible result of a game. There is more to it than you know. There would not be any sportsbooks in operation these days if this strategy worked so flawlessly and effortlessly.

So, if you want to make it work, you need to look for opportunities at different places. This means checking out odds with a variety of bookmakers. Many times these opportunities are addressed as arbs. Imagine another sportsbook set the odds for the tennis match from above. However, they thought that player A was more likely to win than player B. Let’s say they set odds of 1.70 for player A to win and odds of 2.20 for player B to win. In that case, you could take advantage of this opportunity. You could easily bet on player A to win with the first bookmaker we talked about and also bet on player B to win with the second bookmaker.

We will dig into the calculations behind this later on. For now, you simply have to take our word for it. You can read all about it in the next sections of our post. At the end of it, you can also find out answers to some frequently asked questions, such as: “Is arbitrage illegal?”

So, all we can say is that to be successful, you should place a bet worth £107 on player A at odds of 1.91, plus another bet worth of £93 on player B at odds of 2.20. Now, if player A won, you would get a total of £204.37, and if player B won, you would receive £204.60.

So, no matter which player you were to choose, you would have made a profit in both cases. We tried to illustrate how this system works so that you get a better idea of the arbitrage system and its aspects.

And in the next sections, we are going to show you more examples, explain a few additional things, as well as answer the question: “Is arbitrage legal?”

How to Spot Arbs

The truth about arbs is that they are not very easy to find. The worst thing is, they do not last very long. So, aside from being good at spotting arbs, you should also be very quick and take the opportunity before it has gone. The main problem is that other people are looking for arbs as well.

Now, let’s take a look at some sources of arbitrage betting opportunities online:

• Your research – This option takes the most time and work but is sure to return more profits than the rest. Doing your own research can be very effective, but it also is time-consuming. You need to be strong and patient. The biggest advantage of spotting arbs yourself is that you get the chance to use them before anyone else finds them. You also get the opportunity to pick between more valuable and less valuable arbs. This does come with its disadvantages.
• The main problem is that you need to do the calculations on your own, which may lead to a mistake. Another downside is that it just takes time and not all of us are ready to devote to such a cause. However, when it comes to arbitrage betting, it is best to rely on yourself.
• Alert and software services – You can subscribe to alert services, which will notify you when there is a potential arb to take advantage of. You can also purchase tracking software that will locate arbs for you. This is the simplest way to go, as it does not require much effort or work on your behalf. However, since other people use this technology too, you may face the same problem of these arbs disappearing in the blink of an eye. Besides, you have to pay for such a service.
• Forums and websites – If you do not think you can find arbitrage opportunities on your own, you may be tempted to check out forums and websites where other bettors identify arbs and post information about them. Again, you can face the same problem of these opportunities lasting a little while due to other people using the same websites and forums. Not to mention, you will not come across the best arbs because bettors like to keep them to themselves when they spot them.

Keep reading. We will answer some questions at the end of this post, including “Is arbitrage illegal?”

Why is Arbitrage Possible?

The main reason why arbitrage is possible is that the odds for a given event may be different with different bookmakers, creating a great opportunity for you to make a profit out of this strategy. However, it must be noted that the difference has to be significant in order for this to hold true. It may be as a result of sportsbooks having different opinions about the possible outcome of a sports event. Or it might be that sportsbooks are trying to balance their platform by adjusting the odds.

The initial odds normally depend on what bookmakers believe will be the outcome of an event. It is normal for the odds to differ a little, but if the difference is notable, an opportunity for arbitrage sports betting may arise. Be it as it may, after the initial odds are displayed, an operator may change them depending on the wagers placed by bettors. They do this in order to reduce the risk of losing massive amounts of money. For this purpose, they may increase the odds on an outcome if they receive plenty of wagers for it and decrease the odds for the other outcome.

How to Do Your Calculations

Live Arbitrage Betting Strategy Odds

Here you can find everything you have to know about your calculations. Overall, there are three main calculations to make.

First Calculation

The first one is to determine if there is an opportunity or not. For the purpose, you should check out all of the odds available for both outcomes and feature the best. After that, use this calculation to determine the individual arbitrage percentage (IAP). Apply the calculation to all the odds. The result is expressed as a percentage. Here goes the formula to use:

(1 / Odds) x 100 = IAP

Live Arbitrage Betting Strategy Strategies

Remember the examples we used in the beginning of this arbitrage betting article? Let’s apply them to this calculation.

• (1 / 1.91) x 100 = 52.36% (IAP for Player A)
• (1 / 2.20) x 100 = 45.45% (IAP for Player B)

Once you do this, you must add the two figures together:

45.45% + 52.36% = 97.81%

Look at the result. We have got 97.81%, which is less than 100%. This sentence means that there is an arbitrage opportunity. No arbitrage opportunity exists if the result is 100% of greater.

If there is arbitrage, then the figure you get is called a TAP – total arbitrage percentage. The closer the figure is to one hundred, the smaller the potential profit, and vice versa.

Second Calculation

Now, the second calculation to do is to determine the size of your bet. Take a look at this formula:

(IAP x Investment*) / TAP = Stake you need to make

*Investment equals the maximum amount of money you want to stake.

We will now use the examples from above to show you how it is expressed in numbers. Let’s assume your investment is £200. The calculation is as follows:

(52.36% x £200) / 97.81% = £107.06 Stake to make for Player A

(45.45% x £200) / 97.81% = £92.94 Stake to make for Player B

Third Calculation

And the last calculation to do is to determine how much you are likely to win from your arbitrage strategy. Here is the calculation:

(Investment / TAP) – Investment = Expected Profit

Using the above example, we get: (£200 / 97.81%) – £200 = £4.48

If you go back to the first section, we demonstrated that if you wager a total of £200 on player A and player B (£93 for one of the players and £107 for the other player), you will get £204.37 if player A wins and £204.60 if player B wins. When you do the math, it will turn out that your profit will vary between £4.37 and £4.60. Hence, the expected profit calculation is correct. There can be a slight difference of a few cents, but what matters is that you can calculate the potential profit almost accurately.

As long as you have a calculator and the right numbers, it will be a breeze to do your calculations and get your arbitrage betting right. You need to practice this for some time before you get used to it. At first, you may struggle, but don’t stop trying. No one knows everything about everything. This is an ability that must be acquired.

A few Tips on Using Arbitrage

Here’s a list of advice that will help you to be more successful when it comes to this form of betting:

How To Bet Arbitrage

• Spread your bankroll to multiple betting accounts. If you want to take advantage of this strategy, you need to make sure you have accounts with multiple of best online sportsbooks and that they are properly funded. Once you find an arb, you need to act quickly, which means you cannot afford to waste time making deposits.
• Check carefully your calculations. Take a moment to see if your calculations are right before you place your bets.
• Keep it simple; go with sports that offer only two possible outcomes. This will make it easy to get your calculations right. We are not saying that you should always limit yourself to such events because there may be other opportunities out there. However, the longer you stick with these, the easier it will be for you to make a profit.
• Go for betting exchange whenever you can. This will give you a plethora of opportunities when it comes to arbitrage betting. Just keep in mind that it makes the process a bit more complicated.
• Look for arbs yourself. Devote some time to identify your own arbs whenever possible. It is much reliable than using arbitrage forums and websites, tracking software or alert services that are also used by a number of other people.
• Be a part of a team. Looking for arbitrage opportunities on your own can be quite time-consuming. If you form a team, your chances of finding arbs get bigger. Respectively, the time you spend on it is minimised. The more members in your team, the more betting accounts. This will help you maximise your prospective profits.

Don’t stop reading. We have a few more sections for you. In the end, we will answer several common questions, as in “Is arbitrage illegal?”

Pros and Cons of Arbitrage Betting

One of the benefits of this strategy is that it is not difficult to understand and implement. Another benefit is that regardless of the result of a sporting event, you can guarantee a profit by using arbitrage betting. No risk is involved because you are betting on every possible outcome. That said, there also are plenty of disadvantages.

Live Arbitrage Betting Strategy Tactics

What are the Disadvantages

First off, it requires lots of money since you are going to place a bet on a few outcomes at a time. If you want to make a profit, you need to have a big bankroll. Of the total amount of money you stake, arbs will probably offer a 1%-3% return. For example, if you happen to find good arbitrage betting opportunities that offer a two-percent return, you need to bet around £5,000 on each opportunity to get £100 in return. Let’s say you have two arbs. This means that you have to have a total of £10,000 to make this work.

However, this is not the only opportunity you will come across; hence, you want to fund your account with at least £20,000. This is a jaw-dropping amount of money. And to be honest, you may need a lot more than that to keep it up.

Another downside is difficulty finding arbs. You may spend hours and days looking for arbs and still get unsuccessful because other people are looking for such opportunities too. So, even if you spot an arb, it may be impossible to take advantage of it unless you act fast.

The third big disadvantage is that you need to operate multiple betting accounts. This takes time and money. You need to spend quite a lot of time on this.

Last but not Least

Arbitrage betting involves some risks. Here is what can go wrong:

• The sportsbook may cancel the bets. In that case, you will be awarded back your stake. However, if you have started arbitrage betting, one of your outcomes will remain uncovered. This means that you are exposed to the risk of losing. Of course, you can try to place that bet with a different bookmaker, but the odds may not be the same.
• Your account may be limited or closed. If a sportsbook finds out you tend to arb, they may limit your account or even close it. This will prevent you from fulfilling your arb mission.
• You may get your calculations wrong. No one is immune from making mistakes. It is possible to commit an error when researching the possible opportunities and doing your calculations.
• The odds may change. Sometimes after making your first bet, there might be a change in odds. If this happens, your arb may prove to be ineffective or non-existent. In that case, you either have to place the other bets you planned and accept the fact that you will lose or place no more bets after the first one and see whether you win or not.

Frequently Asked Questions:

There probably are plenty of questions popping into your head right now. Is arbitrage illegal? Is it a good strategy? How much money do I need? We sorted out the most common questions, and we answered them for you. Take a look.

• Q: Is it worth it? How much cash can you make using this strategy?

• A: There is no way to get an accurate answer to this question because a great deal of factors are involved. In the first place, you need to take into consideration how much money you are ready to stake, i.e. the size of your bankroll. If you do not use a lot of money, you cannot make a big profit. Another factor is the amount of arbs you are capable of finding, as well as their sports betting arbitrage percentage. If you are devoted to this, and you manage to find arbs each and every month, you can expect to get returns of about 15% to 25% of the supply of money you have.

• Q: How much money should I set aside to get started?

• A: As it is with the above question, there is no accurate answer here. You can use arbitrage betting with just a few pounds. You are not required to use a fixed amount of money. The bigger your bankroll, the bigger the profits. However, there is always a chance that you make a mistake. So, our advice is to use an amount of money you can part with without going broke. Even though this strategy works most of the time, there is no guarantee that you will win money.

• Q: Why don’t sportsbooks fancy arbers?

• A: The main reason why sportsbooks are not fond of arbers is that the latter make a good profit in the long run, even though they also lose a great deal of bets in the meantime. This is not acceptable for bookmakers because their main goal is to gain more profits than customers do. Long-term winners are not welcome. If a bookmaker finds out that someone wins a lot, especially through arbing, they will probably try to minimise their gambling activity by limiting their account. What is more, they may even shut down an account if they suspect someone is an arber.

• Q: Is arbitrage illegal?

• A: No, it is not. Although sportsbooks do their best to prevent it, it is completely legal. Of course, we are talking about those parts of the world where sports betting is legal. If your country does not allow online gambling, you will be breaking the law by arbitrage betting.

• Q: Is arbitrage sports betting possible in the States?

• A: Yes, it is. However, it is not so easy to use this strategy if you live in the US because there are not many bookmakers to choose from. Due to the complicated gambling situation in the country, bettors have access to a limited amount of gambling portals. As a result of that, there is not a lot of diversity in odds. This means you will have a hard time finding good arbs. However, it does not mean you cannot do it. It takes patience and commitment, and maybe a little bit of luck.

• Q: What sports can I use arbitrage betting on?

• A: You are at liberty to use arbitrage on any sport you can think of. Ideally, though, you will choose sports that allow for two possible outcomes. Not only does it make betting on all the outcomes easier, but it also means you will not have to spend a tonne of money by betting on multiple outcomes. Soccer and tennis seem to be the two sports where this system will be the most favourable. However, this is only our two cents. Other people will probably think differently.

Other Types

If you want to learn the other types of betting, just click on the links below.

Other Betting Markets & Strategies