You’ve finally cracked it.
After years spent funding the bookie bigwigs’ summer holidays, you’ve become a member of the 1% that actually makes money from sports betting.
Perhaps that was down to help from Race Advisor, perhaps you simply learned from your own mistakes – it doesn’t really matter how you achieved it, the fact is that you now generate a regular income from your betting and nothing can stop you.
But wait, what’s that?
Stan James have banned you, Coral too and what’s this message from Paddy Power?
“Your bet on Puffin Billy has been rejected. You may stake a maximum of £1.27 on this selection.”
We can hate bookmakers all we want but unfortunately we need them if we’re going to maximise our profits. Sure, there’s Betfair but who wants to be restricted to one account? Particularly when that account will hike up your commission rate if you make too much money.
So, it turns out that making money isn’t enough. We also need to disguise our betting prowess. Like a successful card counter, the secret to long term profits is as much in portraying the correct image as it is having the skill to win.
We want to look like that person we strive to be better than – the run of the mill mug punter.
Really, this should be the easy bit.
After all, I’m sure we all started out as mug punters – I know I did – so all we need to do now is exhibit those mug punter tendencies but do so in a manner that doesn’t make too big a dent in our profits.
Here are some of the most effective tactics…
Place the bets the bookies love.
Ten team accumulators, scorecasts, the next scorer bet Ray Winstone tips up at half-time of the big match – you know the sort of thing.
Any bettor placing bets like these regularly is likely to stay in the bookmaker’s good books and it needn’t cost you a fortune either. A lot of bets you’ll be able to lay off for next to no loss and when you can’t lay it off, such as that monster acca, keep stakes to a minimum. Who knows, you might even hit one of them and make a small fortune!
Monitor your accounts.
If you use lots of different accounts (as you should) in order to take advantage of the best odds you’re bound to do better in certain accounts than others, after all even the very best bettors back plenty of losers.
The key here then is to monitor your weekly profit or loss with each bookmaker. If you happen to be down with one then try and use them a bit more often where possible and if you’re doing particularly well with another, either give them a rest for a bit or, even better, place a couple of bets you expect to lose and lay them off elsewhere.
Take a trip to the casino (virtually).
As we all know, there’s no bigger mug punter than a casino punter. It’s not just unlikely that you’ll make a long term profit from roulette or the slot machines, it’s a mathematical impossibility.
That’s why the bookmakers love them and why you likely get far more emails pushing their latest casino offer than any sports incentives.
It can pay then to indulge your bookmaker now and again (particularly if you’ve been winning with them a lot recently).
So don’t be shy. Blow some money on your lucky roulette numbers or have a few spins on the latest slot machine. Don’t get carried away obviously and don’t let it eat into your profits too much but what’s £20 lost in the Ladbrokes casino if you’ve taken them for £500 earlier in the week?
The great thing about this particular tactic is the bookmakers will look upon pretty much any casino punter favourably (for the mathematical reasons already mentioned) so just playing can be enough, regardless of whether you win or lose – and somebody has to land those mega jackpots!
Ultimately successful betting is all about the long game. Keeping betting accounts open and free of restrictions for as long as possible is only going to increase the amount of money that you can make.
So when you do hit upon that winning formula, don’t rest on your laurels and certainly don’t attempt to rub the bookie’s nose in it. Just like a card counter who’s been banned from every casino in the land, being capable of profiting isn’t a lot of use if nobody will take your bets.
Hi Michael, I agree, I keep accounts with many bookmakers for 2 main reasons, promotional offers which can be laid off and accumulators which may come in one day with a huge payout for little outlay or be cashed out early. Betfair is the only one I would use for serious betting though, it’s a no brainer. The odds are far superior and since I have been with them my bank balance is much healthier.
Take the comment I put on your site asking for National ideas. I gave my 10 shortlist of the best value odds on Betfair (with Many Clouds top). If you had laid out about ÂŁ33 covering these you would have won ÂŁ150 whichever won.
Backing each way is a bookies benefit even if they paid the first 7, it’s far better to back 2 to win. A football tip, back the teams fighting relegation at this time at very good odds, look at Saturdays results.
Thank you for the message Steve. Congratulations on hitting Many Clouds. I agree with you, I very seldom bet on a single runner to win a race. Thanks for the footie heads-up, I know very little about football tbh.
Hi Michael wouldn’t normally write but you are so right. On Skybets Super Saturday 6 I did my scorecast 6 then staked ÂŁ5 on the acca, not correct score but right result. Paid out nearly ÂŁ2k for a speculative bet. Account now restricted. Am now in process of opening accounts in my wifes’ name, with her permission of course. Keep up the good work and thanks. Mark
Thanks Mark, congratulations on the win 🙂 SkyBet restrict accounts ridiculously fast.
I have never had an account closed in 40 years of having them, but I have had stakes and odds cut back ,stakes on lucky 15 for goodness sake ,I like these bets I have won jackpots,lucky15 and that now defunct lucky seven bet 8 goes won ÂŁ18,000 had bigger wins on jackpots with a max of 36 lines not 5,000 like some, on the nat I backed 4 horses with by far the most on many clouds ,all on betfair twice on the sports book and twice on the exchange ,making ÂŁ1,500 profit on the race , after irish nat easter Monday and last years Scottish nat failed in the welsh nat , last years grand nat 1st 2nd 6th from 4 goes why haven’t I got more money richard