For any normal person, betting is associated with risk. A constant game of risk versus reward and the hopes of turning a profit at the end. Many veterans and professional bettors do consistently win and make money through value betting, a lot of effort in research and understanding the market extremely well, but this isn’t the norm. 

Most people who bet as a hobby do so for the enjoyment and not with the intention of making money every time they bet. Majority of bettors understand potential risks involved and rely on their research and betting skills to still turn their bets into profit. 

The idea of betting without risk has formulated many strategies and algorithms over the years, most of which have failed at their goal. Riskless betting does exist in the form of bonuses with a lot of good online sportsbooks, but the use is limited. 

Real Riskless Betting

There is only one strategy which has proven to be real riskless betting, Arbitrage betting. Arbitrage betting is taking advantage of differentiating odds supplied by different bookmakers. Either by looking at odds sway or by sportsbooks having different predictions of the outcomes, this is the only nature of bets that can guarantee a profit if done correctly.

Legalities 

While arbitrage betting is a legitimate strategy and perfectly legal, it does go against the rules placed by sportsbooks. If you are suspected of or caught arbitrage betting, sportsbooks will likely close your account and deny you the ability to open a new account. 

It can be difficult for sportsbooks to find arbitrage betting, as your bets will need to take place over several platforms and the winnings you make, while consistent, are generally a small percentage of the bet.

How To Arbitrage 

Arbitrage betting at its core requires two definite skills. Research to find all the odds that are available in a relatively short amount of time and great mathematical skills to have a good comprehension of the odds on offer no matter the format they are displayed in. 

Decimal odds are often the easiest to work with. A simple formula is if the sum of the inverse of the decimal odds are greater than 1, the bet is an arbitrage opportunity. This may seem complicated, but there are many arbitrage calculators available online for free. 

Knowing the basic layout of an arbitrage will be important, or you may spend all of your time cross-referencing different odds with an arbitrage calculator in search of an arbitrage opportunity.

Should You Use Arbitrage Betting

It may be tempting to jump right in and try arbitrage betting, as it is the only real risk-free betting strategy. Before you jump into arbitrage betting, there are a few caveats you need to consider.

  • Profit – The profit margins in arbitrage betting are small. So small that the average win in arbitrage is only 1.2% of the wagered amount. To make any considerable wins, you would need to wager exceedingly large amounts of money.
  • Risk – Arbitrage is risk-free in the sense that you are unable to lose money from a losing bet, but there are other risks involved. Having a very small profit margin, arbitrage betting requires a large amount of money to be staked for any profits to be considered worth it. If one of the sportsbooks involved changed or cancelled your bet under suspicion of arbitrate, the risk of losing a fair amount of money is high.
  • Effort – Most professional bettors don’t make use of arbitrage betting as the profits, while guaranteed, are low for the amount of effort you have to put in. The consensus is that a bettor can be more successful by using that effort to study the teams and make educated value bets. Or they can simply play with no effort at all at Crypto Thrills Casino instead.

Arbitrage betting is a very interesting avenue of betting, but not always worth the associated risk of having your account potentially suspended.