Online Sports Betting Arbitrage
What is Sports Arbitrage or Scalping?
Arbitrage or Scalping put simply is the action of betting on both sides of a game at different sports books to guarantee a profit no matter the outcome of the game.
Arbitrage is not a new concept by any means. It has been done in the stock and other financial markets for years. It’s also been done in sports betting for some time however it wasn’t as easy or as profitable before internet sports books came on the scene.
Before the internet, bettors in Las Vegas would need to make mad dashes from sports book to sports book in hopes of catching a scalp before lines moved. Now bettors can shop multiple prices within a short period of time and capitalize on line variances that in the past would of took hours to collect.
So How Does it Work?
I like to explain scalping to people with the following example using Major League Baseball money lines.
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Sports book A has the Detroit Tigers listed at +120
Sports book B has the Texas Rangers listed at -110
Skip to content. All Courses; Academic Writing; Cart; Log In / Out / Register. The goal of arbitrage betting is to find inefficiencies in the sports betting market in order to guarantee a profit. Sportsbooks often set odds so that they have even (or close to even) money wagered on both. This a sports betting arbitrage, an opportunity to guarantee yourself a profit no matter the result (e.g + to your bankroll!) What are the risks associated with arbitrage betting? Arbitrage betting can be very. Sports Arbitrage (surebet) is a mathematically calculated arbitrage situation which allows placing bets on all the opposing outcomes of the competition with different bookmakers. You earn in spite of the outcome! Therefore, sports betting.
As you can see from this example the difference in these lines is $10.
So, if Nancy was to bet Detroit at sports book A for $100 she would win $220 if the Tigers won (her $100 stake + $120 in profit).
To complete the scalp Nancy would also need to bet Texas at sports book B for $-110 and if the Rangers won she would win $210 (her $110 stake and $100 in profit).
Now, as you can see from the above example that no matter which team wins the game Nancy will make $10.
How Much Can You Make Scalping?
There a number of factors to consider when calculating potential profit from scalping. First of which is your bankroll and betting limits. The more money you can devote to scalping and the higher limits your sports book will take play a key role in how much return you can expect.
Next is the availability of the variances. Sometimes you can sit at your computer all day and watch the scalps just roll in. Other times, you may only see a couple of scalps per day. Because you are at the mercy of the oddsmakers line movements you really can never predict how many scalps will be available to you.
Lastly, the amount of the variances will play a big role in your bottom line. On average, most scalps range from a few cents up to around twenty cents. Occasionally you will be able to find one higher but they are the exception, not the rule and generally are only available for a matter of minutes. The key to managing these variances is to be able to have the patience to pass on the variances of only a couple cents and wait for the ones that are around ten cents or more.
What Do You Need to Get Started in Arbitrage?
You can start scalping with just a computer, some money and a handful of funded sports book accounts. However to make it worth doing you will need a couple of essentials.
Arbitrage Calculator
Because you are dealing in real money you want to do everything possible to minimize mistakes that could cost you dearly. That’s where the Arbitrage Calculator comes in. Essentially an Arbitrage Calculator is either a spreadsheet or web based program that calculates your scalp for you to eliminate the guess work and the mistakes.
You input the amount you wish to bet, the odds at sports book A and the odds and sports book B and the calculator will tell you how much to bet at each sports book. There are many sites online that offer these calculators for free and some will even calculate your expected return for you and keep track of your winnings. Click here to get TheSpread.com's Free Sports Arbitrage/Scalp Calculator.
Line Service
This is not completely essential to scalping however it will make your life a whole lot easier. Without a lines program, you will be resigned to manually visiting each sports book constantly to check the most current lines. This is incredibly time consuming and often times you will miss a scalp because of it.
With a line services you will be able to view the latest odds from dozens of sports books at once and in real-time. Many have scalp alerts built into the program which will give you an audible alert or a pop-up when a scalp is available.
Some of the more popular ones available today are Sports Insights and Line Tracker. Prices range from $300-$600/month.
Arbitrage Sports Betting Reddit
Arbitrage is an advanced sports betting strategy that comes from the financial world. This strategy involves multiple wagers on the same game in order to guarantee a profit. An opportunity to arbitrage for a game is more about making money than betting and rooting on a particular team.
To be clear, arbitrage is a sports betting strategy that guarantees a profit. This isn’t a get rich quick scheme and isn’t illegal. It takes effort to find an arbitrage opportunity. This kind of gambling isn’t for everyone, but all sports bettors could use this tool as part of their wagering plans.
This might sound too good to be true but it isn’t. The most difficult part about arbitrage is actually finding the opportunity.
What is arbitrage?
In the financial world, arbitrage is considered “the simultaneous purchase and sale of an asset to profit from an imbalance in the price. It is a trade that profits by exploiting the price differences of identical or similar financial instruments on different markets or in different forms.”
Arbitrage is similar for sports bettors. This betting strategy involves placing a wager on all possible outcomes of an individual game or event so that that there’s a guaranteed profit regardless of the winner. The name might sound complicated but the idea of arbitrage is actually quite simple.
How to arbitrage in sports betting
The goal of arbitrage betting is to find inefficiencies in the sports betting market in order to guarantee a profit. Sportsbooks often set odds so that they have even (or close to even) money wagered on both sides. There are times when sportsbooks have different odds from one another and this results in an opportunity to arbitrage a game.
Arbitrage betting is done by placing multiple wagers on different outcomes of a single sports event. One of the wagers will win while the other wager will lose. If done correctly, the result will be a small win for the bettor regardless of which side wins.
Arbitrage math and results
An example should help explain how to arbitrage a game.
New York Yankees vs. Houston Astros
- Sportsbook 1 odds: Yankees +110
- Sportsbook 2 odds: Astros +110
In this example, a bettor will wager $100 on each team. The total amount of wagers for this game will be $200. Regardless of which team wins the game, the bettor will be paid $110 for a winning wager plus the original $100 for a total of $210.
Altogether there was $200 wagered on this baseball game. There is a guaranteed return of $210 no matter who wins the game. The total profit of this investment was $10. This is a guaranteed 5% return; that’s solid for a short-term investment.
The return will remain the same if a bettor can risk more than $200. Grinding out small wins over time can help a bettor grow their bankroll. In the example above, the rate of return will be 5% no matter how much money is wagered.
If the bettor can find a larger moneyline spread, they will profit greater. For example, if there is a moneyline available for +120 on both sides of the game above, the profit for the bettor will be $20 for the same $200 wager. That’s a 10% return on the investment. Again, not too shabby for having money in play for three to five hours of a baseball game.
An arbitrage opportunity can be useful for any sized bankroll. A larger bettor might be able to risk $2,000 on the same game. The 5% return, in this case, would give the bettor a profit of $100 while the 10% return would return $200.
Having a large bankroll helps grow profits quicker but isn’t necessary. Anyone can use arbitrage to supplement their sports betting bankroll.
Lastly, the odds don’t have to be the same for both wagers. The example above is just keeping the math simple.
Line shopping
Online Sports Betting Arbitrage Rules
Line shopping is important for all sports bettors but especially when looking for an arbitrage opportunity. Finding the best odds for a game will take place at multiple sportsbooks. Unfortunately arbitraging a game isn’t a get rich quick scheme. Finding the right odds takes time and effort. Having said that, this extra work also helps a bettor become profitable.
Even if this isn’t a particularly fun strategy, the underlying approach can be helpful for all sports bettors. Line shopping is one way to be a more profitable sports bettor – and it isn’t difficult in most states that have multiple legal sportsbooks.
The process of line shopping isn’t difficult but it does take a time switching between apps and websites to compare the information. Visiting different sportsbooks to find the best lines and odds will help a bettor in multiple ways.
An arbitrage opportunity will always be profitable. Finding the best moneyline for an event will obviously pay more money. Finding the best point spread for a game increases the chance that a team will cover and the bettor will win the wager.
There’s always an upside to placing bets with the best odds available.
Arbitrage isn’t for everyone
Sports betting arbitrage is an advanced strategy and it’s not for everyone. All sports bettors want to win but they have different motivations. Recreational sports bettors often seek to have some action on the game they’re watching or the team they’re rooting for.
Free Arbitrage Betting Software
Sure all bettors want to win but sometimes the goal is to have fun watching the game and to win money based on predicting the outcome correctly.
Professional sports bettors are strictly gambling to make a profit. These bettors appreciate being able to find arbitrage opportunities. Pro sports bettors are always looking for ways to make money when wagering on sports and are typically the type of bettor most open to arbitrage.
There’s a large number of sports bettors that fall in between these two extremes. These bettors will put in the work to find the best information and odds for games they’d like to wager. Many will do the extra work to find an arbitrage situation because generating a profit is the most fun part of gambling. However, arbitrage betting takes time and even an advanced recreational bettor may not have time to always seek out opportunities.
There are pros and cons to all kinds of sports wagers. Arbitrage is a great opportunity to generate small guaranteed profits on a game. This is another great tool available to sports bettors.