Automated Betting: A Goldmine or A Poorhouse?

Not long after Betfair opened automated betting became the biggest thing in the gambling world. For the first time a regular punter could get software that would place their bets automatically.

Everybody began making software to automate betting.

And then, as always, realisation set in that it wasn’t going to be as easy as turning the software on and becoming rich because… the software only placed the bets you told it to.

So if you were a losing punter then you still lost, it’s just that you did it on auto-pilot.

Slowly the hype around betting bots died down but, to this day, there is still a fascination with automated betting.

And understandably so. It makes the dream of being able to turn your computer on, start your betting bot and come home to a profit possible.

But in reality is it a goldmine or a fast track to the poorhouse?

Well, the truth is, that depends on you.

There are two major things to consider before automating your betting:

1. Are you making a profit
2. Can it be automated

There are a variety of different tools out there to automated your betting, but I’ve never seen anybody who focuses on trying to find selections through the software make a serious profit from any of them, except traders (which isn’t really automated).

Of course, if the bot developers had found a way to make serious profits then they’d be… well, making serious profits.

The exception to this rule are the betting bots that allow you to custom code functionality in a serious way in them. There are a couple of these commercially available and the range of features available means that it’s very likely they have users making profits.

So, let’s start with number one. Are you making a profit?

If you’re not making a profit then only one thing will happen when you automate your betting, you’ll lose money faster.

Betting bots are tools. They implement what you tell them to. If you tell them to bet on selections that don’t make a profit, then they’re going to do that for you.

It’s usually at that point people start to play with the betting bot settings to try and get it to make a profit, with one result. They lose money faster.

And this is due to a fundamental misunderstanding of what a betting bot is and does.

A betting bot is a tool that will place bets on selections found either through the bots own selection process which you setup or that you have uploaded to it.

It cannot make you a profit just because it’s automated. It is simply a tool that places your bets for you so you don’t have to worry.

One of the most common mistakes is to think that you can use the staking plans in the betting bot to turn losing selections into profitable ones.

After all, you can’t normally use those staking plans because you’re not available during trhe day.

Wrong.

If your selections aren’t making a profit to flat betting then 99% of the time they’re going to lose more when you start using a staking plan on them.

So, if you’re thinking about automating your betting then you should already be making a profit.

The next thing to ask yourself is…

Can I automate my process?

I’m a firm believer that if you’re going to automate your betting then as much of it as physically possible should be automated.

Look at your entire process, from finding the selections through to placing the bets and determine if it can be automated.

The only time it won’t be able to be automated is when you’re making a manual assessment of something yourself. Otherwise, it will always be possible to be automated.

Next you need to determine how much the automation is worth to you.

Are you betting at £2 stakes? If so then it’s unlikely to make sense to get something custom coded.

If you’re betting at £200 stakes then it probably is worth getting something custom coded.

Work out how much you value your time at.

At £2 stakes you may be making £150 profit per month. If your time is worth £20 an hour, then you’re being paid for 7.5 hours each month. If you can automate your betting so you only spend three hours a month then you’ve just saved yourself 3.5 hours of time, and at £20 per hour that’s £70 per month.

That means it may be worth spending up to £210 on software because within three months it will have paid for itself in time.

At £20 stakes you may be making £1500 profit per month. If your time is worth £20 an hour then you’re being paid for 75 hours each month. If automating can reduce this to three hours then you’ve saved 72 hours of time, at £20 per hour that’s £1440 per month.

In this case it may be worth getting something custom coded to make it 100% automated if possible because even if it costs you £3000, you will have paid it back within two months and no longer have any time commitment.

Something else to consider is your results.

Most people focus on the betting of selections automatically because they’re not in during the day.

However, the actually placing of bets doesn’t usually take up much time. It’s the discovery of the selections and the calculation of results that takes the most time.

Your betting bot may be able to calculate the results of your selections for your automatically. This can save you hours of time each day.

In fact automating the result taking can sometimes be the biggest time saver of all.

So, if you‘ve been thinking about automating your betting, consider all the angles before making the decision if it’s right for you. If it is right for you then decide what can be automated and how much it’s worth to you in time. Doing this will give you a budget for how much you’d be prepared to spend on your automation and that will direct you as to the best type of software for yourself.