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what is arbitrage betting

Ultimate Guide For A Successful Arbitrage Betting

Learn how to guarantee a profit regardless of the outcome of a sporting event using proper arbitrage betting in sports betting.

"Arbitrage betting involves using your bets on both potential wins and losses and, this way, making an overall profit regardless of the actual result."

Imagine placing bets on your favorite tennis or horse racing event with guaranteed profit regardless of the outcome. This is precisely what Arbitration is in sports betting. By exploiting price discrepancies between bookmakers, savvy bettors can place bets across multiple platforms to ensure a win, no matter who wins the game. 

While arbitrage is a profitable advanced sports betting strategy, bookmakers consider it a risk to their business and implement strict measures to prevent bettors from arbing. 

In this short yet comprehensive guide, I will teach beginners what arbitrage betting is, how it works, and offer tips to avoid being caught. 

What Is Arbitrage Betting?

Arbitrage betting or “Arbing,” “Arbs,” or “Sure Bets,” is a gambling strategy mainly used in sports betting. Bettors, i.e., arbers, place multiple simultaneous bets on all possible outcomes of an event to guarantee a profit. 

The difference between odds is the “arb.” Arbers exploit the differences in odds, arbs, available for a sports event, and profit by betting on opposing outcomes with separate bookmakers. In other words:

Types of Arbing

Arbing is way beyond gambling. It relies heavily on math and analytics skills. For this reason, arbitrageurs use various arbitrage calculators, sophisticated tools, and specialized communities to increase their odds calculations' accuracy, efficiency, and speed. Thanks to AI and the prevalence of bots, many arbers today use bots to scan numerous betting platforms for favorable odds and place simultaneous small wagers. Why small? To avoid being caught by the bookmakers!

In addition to the standard arbing, the following two arbitrage strategies are also used by bettors to maximize profit:

  1. Bonus hunting arbing is when bettors take advantage of welcome bonuses and free bets across various sportsbooks to place their opposing bets. 
  2. Cross-market arbing involves mixing two or more markets to take advantage of differences in bookmaker pricing. 

NOTE: While bonus hunting is profitable, it is becoming more difficult as bookmakers set strict bonus terms and conditions to prevent bettors from arbing. 

How To Recognize Arbitrage Opportunities

Arbing opportunities can be created within a single sportsbook or from a difference in odds for the same sporting event across multiple bookmakers. Such bets are ideal for win/lose scenarios where the outcome is a win or a no-win. 

When sportsbooks imprecisely and inefficiently calculate probabilities, arbitrage opportunities are created. 

The miscalculations can occur when the sportsbook:

  1. Fails to adjust odds for live events in real-time. In sports like basketball and tennis, where every second matters and odds change quickly, bookmakers do not have enough time to react and change the odds properly
  2. Sets the odds way too high. The betting market is crazy competitive, and sportsbooks work hard to keep the existing bettors while appealing to new users. This leads to higher odds as platforms compete over market share. 

How Does Arbitrage Betting Work? + Examples

First, you need multiple accounts across various betting platforms to identify odds and place bets. While arbitrage betting is quite popular and common in horse racing due to the frequent changes in betting prices. However, tennis matches and soccer games are also ideal for finding great profit arbitrage potential. 

Let me explain two arbing scenarios in a tennis and soccer match to help you understand the concept better. 

Example 1: Arbing In Tennis

It is a final match between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the French Open. Zopodabet’s sportsbook has Nadal as the favorite with 3.00, while another bookmaker assigned 4.00 odds to Federer to win the match. In this case:

  • You bet $100 on Nadal and $66.67 on Federer, totaling $166.67.
  • If Nadal wins, you cash $300 plus your initial $100 wager and get a net profit of $133.33 ($300 - $166.67 = $133.33).
  • If Federer wins, you cash $266.68 plus your initial wager and get a net profit of $100. 

For successful arbing and a guaranteed profit, you MUST continuously monitor the odds offered by one or more bookmakers and assess potential earnings using manual or automated methods.

Example 2: Arbing In Soccer

Suppose Arsenal is facing Man United, and an imaginary sportsbook, due to human or technical error, sets the following odds for the matchup:

Let’s say you bet $195:

$45 on Arsenal win

$50 on Man United win

$100 on draw

If Arsenal wins, you will get a $7.5 profit (4.5 x 45 = 225 - 200 = 2.5). 

On the other hand, if Man United manages to win, you will get a $5 profit, while a draw leads to a $5 profit. Regardless of the outcome, recognizing an arbitrage opportunity guarantees a profit. 

Is Arbitrage in Sports Betting Legal?

While arbing is entirely legal in countries and regions where sports betting and gambling is legal, focusing solely on exploiting bookmaker promotions and seeking the best odds can lead to limitations if sportsbooks recognize your arbitrage practices. 

As mentioned above, arbing is a risk for sportsbooks as it can dramatically cut their profit from bets. So, they take precautionary measures, like preventing one user from having multiple accounts or placing many bets on the same event. They also use tools to recognize sophisticated betting methods, consistently generating positive expected value. 

How Bookmakers Caught Arbers? 

Some actions and patterns are clear signs of arbing, and bookmakers can easily pick up on that:

  • Having multiple accounts on the same platform or across sister-sites, 
  • Frequent withdrawals,
  • Placing a large amount of wagers, nearing the max limit,
  • Frequently betting on unusual outcomes,
  • Maintaining a steady balance or other suspicious account activities, 
  • Consistently placing identical bets. 

How Do Sportsbooks Respond To Arbers?

The short answer is that it depends on their general policy. Still, a general response to a suspicious arber account would be the following:

Account suspension or permanent closure

  • Setting wagering limits
  • Bet cancellation 
  • Withdrawal ban

Tips To Avoid Being Caught Arbing

To avoid being caught by the bookmakers, you should spend a considerable amount of time and effort to master arbitrage skills. You should also:

Round your bets. Try to round your bets and bet, for example, $500 instead of $478.22.

Stick to familiar markets and avoid betting large sums on obscure markets. 

Try to keep your bet sizing consistent. For instance, it raises suspicion if you usually bet $100 and suddenly start betting amounts like $100,000.

Use beard accounts cautiously to avoid revealing your identity to multiple sportsbooks, especially those with the same parent company.

Last Few Words

While arbitrage betting is one of the profitable sports betting strategies, it isn’t a quick path to wealth for most people, unlike general assumptions. Arbitrage betting requires a solid math foundation, analytical skills, and extensive time to recognize arbitrage opportunities. In addition, you must have a relatively stable bankroll to secure significant returns. 

So, if you decide to become a full-time arber, start with the basics (maybe you need to review your Math 101 notes!), avoid red flags of arbing, create an account at the best betting platform for arbitrage, and start locking in profits today!

FAQs

Are arbitrage betting and hedge betting the same thing?

No. While they both are used to guarantee a profit, hedging a bet involves placing an identical bet to the opposing outcome of your initial wager. Read more about hedge betting in sports betting. 

Is arbitrage betting profitable?

Yes. If done correctly, arbing and placing sure bets can be pretty profitable. 

How can I find arbitrage opportunities?

While you can manually do the calculations and comparisons, I suggest using automated tools, arbitrage bots, and arbitrage calculators to save time and energy. 

What are the best betting platforms for arbitrage betting?

Platforms with competitive odds, fast payouts, a user-friendly interface, and a fair play history are the best choices. 

Red Tiger
Hacksaw Gaming
iMoon
Netent
Evolution
Pragmatic play

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