What is sports arbitrage betting?

Sports arbitrage covers all possible outcomes

Now that you are familiar with the terms arbitrage and sports betting, we can connect them together into sports arbitrage betting. Try to remember the meaning of the following quotation:

If you are a responsible investor, then sports arbitrage is not gambling or a lottery in any way, as you do not rely on probability. On the other hand, sports betting is pure gambling in all circumstances.

See an example of the sports arbitrage

As an example, let us present to you a tennis match between two players who have already been written into the history of this sport – Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. In the table below you can see the odds presented by two bookmakers, Pinnacle Sports and Unibet, respectively. Nowlet’s move on to the description of the odds that are in the table, as well as to the example of how differently this can be perceived by the sports bettor and the sports arbitrage bettor. Sports bettors will take this opportunity to “randomly guess” the winning participant; however, on the other hand, sports arbitrage bettors will take this opportunity to gain profit from this arbitrage, regardless of the result of the match.

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We will now describe this situation in a very detailed way, and although we do recommend that you read the chapter from cover to cover, we suggest to advanced bettors to skip this basic description and continue reading after the next four paragraphs.

Description in detail

In the table below it can be seen that Pinnacle Sports has written the odds in favour of Roger Federer, who has odds of 1.80; and on the other hand Novak Djokovic has odds of 2.20. What does it mean? The bookmaker Pinnacle Sports is of the belief that Roger Federer has bigger chances of winning the match; and according to the information available, assumes that Novak Djokovic is most likely to lose this game. The odds are, however, quite close to each other, which means that the match could be very tight. If we consider, for example, odds of 1.10 and 6.50, it is obvious that the odds are more in favour of the first player or team with odds of 1.10, compared to the other player with odds of 6.50.

What does each odd mean?

What exactly does each odd mean? Imagine that you bet €100 on Roger Federer on odds of 1.80. If you win you receive €180 (100*1.8), and the net profit from this transaction will be €80 (winnings minus stake, 180 minus 100 respectively). In the event that Roger Federer loses the match, you will lose the stake, which is €100. The same happens similarly with Novak Djokovic. If you bet €100 on odds of 2.20, if Djokovic wins you receive €220, and the net profit will be €120. You can notice from this that the net profit from the player who is less likely to win the match is higher; nonetheless, do not forget that there is less likelihood of such an occurrence.

Try to calculate how it would be with the odds in the same match, but in the other bookmaker, Unibet. You may notice that if you, as a sports bettor decide to bet on Novak Djokovic, it is preferable for you to choose to place the bet at Unibet. Do you know why? Right – because Unibet offers higher odds on Novak Djokovic compared to Pinnacle Sports. In other words, if you bet on Novak Djokovic at Unibet (in the event of his win) you will receive much more. In the case of Unibet, if you place a bet of €100 you can win €240, and the net profit from the transaction is thus €140. On the other hand, in Pinnacle Sports, if you place a bet of €100 on odds of 2.20, you can win €220, and the respective net profit will be €20 less, at €120.

It is very important for you to understand what the odds mean, and what the result of each action is – win or lose. Try to think again about the following terms: stake, odds, winnings, net profit and loss. The whole principle of sports arbitrage betting is based on the knowledge of those terms, so it is important to pay maximum attention to this section so that you will easily understand it later. In the next paragraph we will introduce you to a comparison of how the sports bettor and the sports arbitrage bettor think and act.

Sports bettor Bill

Sports bettor Bill will think the following way: “I would like to bet on the Roger Federer vs. Novak Djokovic match, and I am 100% sure that Roger will win.” He will analyse the market and find out that Pinnacle Sports offers higher odds on Federer than any other bookmaker on the market does. Thus he decides to bet €100 on Roger Federer at odds of 1.80. “Well, as I cannot make a mistake in my prediction, I will earn €80 – it is great to win it so easily.” However, do not forget that those players are human beings and not gods; and even Federer is not almighty, and is not about to win every match of his life. Keep in mind that if he loses, you lose your whole stake, which is €100. Let’s get back to the sports bettor. Bill will watch every second of the match carefully, with adrenaline pumping in his veins. This match can take hours; and when it is 5:3 in the fifth set for Roger Federer, and he does not convert the two match balls he has while serving (one of them saved by Novak Djokovic with a fantastic return), he is starting to be pretty nervous, while walking around the room and preparing for the worst – to lose his stake of €100. Now imagine what happens: Novak Djokovic turns the set to 7:5, and wins the match. Bill will go crazy because of this. By the way, this scenario is definitely not a fiction. It has truly taken place, and not even so very long ago. It happened in the semifinals of the US Open in 2011. And it is not a unique case at all – if you do not believe us, ask any sports bettor and s/he will convince you.

What do you think about that? You cannot earn money this way, can you? Would it not be better to proceed to a non-risk, gainful activity?

Sports arbitrage bettor Steve

Let’s turn our thoughts to sports arbitrage bettor Steve. He looks at the opportunity from a different angle. Steve tries to find an arbitrage opportunity, and when he finds it – most effectively by a software such as RebelBetting – he proceeds in the following way. His first step is the same as Bill’s. Steve bets €100 on Roger Federer, on odds of 1.80 at Pinnacle Sports. However, please pay attention now! A sports arbitrage bettor never ends with this step. He’s backed Federer, but nonetheless he continues to place a second bet on the other player in this game. He is doing so to cover all possible outcomes of the match, so that he wins every time, no matter the result of the match. Try to remember: “Sports arbitrage always includes two or more bets that have to be placed.” Thus in our case it is necessary to also bet on the other player, Novak Djokovic. Unibet offers higher odds than Pinnacle Sports on Novak Djokovic at 2.40, and this is the opportunity that Steve will use. “Exactly how much money do I have to bet on Novak so that I will always win the same amount of money?” It is a very good question indeed. The answer is that you have to carefully calculate it. Don’t worry, however; it’s not difficult maths. It is the opposite, and the software can calculate it for you, so it is easier than you could even imagine.

Just to remind you – in sports arbitrage betting it does not matter which of the two players wins the match, and the profit is the same in all cases. So how do you calculate it? It will be the same case as in the video. We will describe the process in a very detailed way below.

How do you calculate the sports arbitrage?

By placing a bet on Roger Federer the sports bettor’s possible winnings are €180. The question now is, how much exactly should he bet on Novak Djokovic so that the possible winning on him is also €180. The amount is €75 (180/2.40); or in other words, if the arbitrage bettor places €75 on odds of 2.40, the winnings will be €180. Then he can easily calculate the non-risk profit. It is simple: winnings, minus the stake placed on Roger Federer, minus the stake placed on Novak Djokovic, = €180 – €100 – €75, which equals €5. It is awesome, isn’t it? and it works both ways. You don’t have to worry about the result, or be afraid how the match is going to end. You just place the bet using the arbitrage opportunity, and you are now turning your first arbitrage bet into profit.

Repetition is the mother of learning, so we are going to take you step – by – step through each case of the possible endings in this match, so we can make sure that you fully understand the content.

Imagine that Roger Federer wins the match. What exactly happens with the placed bets? Pinnacle Sports will pay you the winnings from your bet – which will be €180 (however, do not forget that the stake was €100); thus the net profit from this transaction is €80. On the other hand, Unibet will not pay you anything, because your bet has not won, and thus you lose the stake of €75. The net profit from the arbitrage is thus €5 (€80-€75).

Imagine now that Novak Djokovic wins the match. What exactly happens with the placed bets? Well, Unibet will pay you the winnings from your bet, which will be exactly … Well, how much? Do you know? Steve will help you – don’t worry!

So, you have placed a bet of €75 on odds of 2.40. Is this helpful? Right, the answer is €180 (75*2.40) and the net profit is €180 minus €75, which is €105. Now it is necessary to deduct the stake you have lost while betting on the other player, which is €100; and so the combined net profit here is €5 (€105minus 100).

The process of sports arbitrage has just been described in a very detailed way; however, in reality it takes just a matter of seconds. RebelBetting will show you the arbitrage opportunities. You just simply choose one, and in a couple of seconds you will see the chosen bookmakers opened, and the exact match will be searched, as well as the odds. You now just use the built-in calculator to manage the stakes and place the bets. The process takes just a few seconds.

Are you maybe thinking how little €5 is? It is not much, right? However, think about how long it really took you to earn it? How many sports arbitrages can you place within one hour/day/week/month? The answer is many. Thousands of arbitrages are constantly available waiting to be placed. So, what do you think? Do you like it? Are you as excited about it as we are? Perfect!

To conclude this lesson we would like to highlight some important facts. If you are a sports arbitrage bettor you don’t need to pay attention to the result of the match – you win whatever the result. You don’t need to be stressed during the match like other bettors. If you like, you can sit and watch the match and enjoy every second of it. You know that if Federer doesn’t convert his two match balls, and doesn’t win the match, you don’t need to worry at all! You are going to turn the regular betting into a clever investment. So don’t hesitate a second more – go through our training and become a successful sports arbitrage bettor. Good luck with it!