As many bettors understand, it's not easy to win in sports betting. But thanks to sportsbook promotions, there's a method for anyone to beat the sportsbooks.
When using bonus bets, profit boosts and all types of promotions, a simple process can harness the power of math and underdogs to ensure that bettors can hold the edge over sportsbooks for once.
Whether you're a sports bettor or someone who has never made an account, read on for a breakdown of methods that clever bettors use to make the most of sportsbook promotions.
A clarification should be made that this applies to individuals who do not want to take risks. That's something not typically synonymous with bettors, but these methods are for those who want to trade a touch of expected value in exchange for minimized risk.
How to Utilize Sportsbook Promotions
Sportsbooks have significant marketing budgets to attract and maintain customers, and fortunately for bettors, this has manifested itself in promotions since the overturning of PASPA cleared the way for legal sports betting in 2018.
New customers have been given bonus bets, "insurance bets," and all different types of labeled promotions that give the bettor a chance to lock in some cash in a quick and efficient process. While these promotions have decreased in recent years and months, they're still present across the country.
Additionally, while most fruitful for those creating new accounts, universal promotions such as bonus bets are consistently gifted to customers of sportsbooks.
So, let's start off with bonus bets.
Bonus Bets
Bonus bets are the most simple promotion for sports betting operators. You will be given a certain dollar amount of bonus bet that may have sporting or market restrictions, such as MLB.
In most cases, bonus bets do not return the original stake in addition to the winnings of a potential wager. For example, let's say you have $50 in your account and place a $50 bonus bet on a -110 spread to return $45.45. If the wager wins, you will then have $95.45. Essentially, you will just return the $45.45 that the bet won. If the bet lost, you would not return anything.
However, by utilizing multiple sportsbooks and a little math, that bonus bet can guarantee a profit.
Let's take a look at a random college basketball matchup in the Sweet 16.
If you have a $50 bonus bet at DraftKings, the best path to guaranteeing the most profit possible is to place the wager on the Alabama moneyline at +164. Whether you believe that's a good wager by any metric of evaluation is irrelevant to this method.
A winning $50 wager at +164 would create winnings of $82 (or a return of $132 if you risked your own money). However, you didn't risk anything in the first place because you're using a bonus bet.
Now, head over to the other sportsbook — in this case, FanDuel — and place a wager on the North Carolina moneyline at -184. For ease of understanding, let's say you place $50 of your real money on the UNC moneyline. If the bet wins, you would return $27.20, netting you a profit of at least $27.20 because you didn't risk your own money on Alabama in the first place.
If Alabama won the game, you would win $82 at DraftKings and lose $50 of your own money at FanDuel, netting $32 in profit.
It truly is that simple. There are methods to finding the best markets to use this tactic with and maximize your profits, but this is the basic principle in place.
Profit Boosts
Profit boosts are promotions that "boost" the winnings or odds of your wager. They are not as lucrative as bonus bets, but the same concept is at play.
Using the same Alabama vs North Carolina market, let's say that instead of a $50 bonus bet, you have a 50% profit boost on a $50 wager at DraftKings.
Again, you want to rely on the underdog to utilize the promotion. A 50% boost on Alabama +164 returns $123 in winnings rather than $82. If you were to place the profit boost on North Carolina, the boost would return $40.80 in winnings.
But a profit boost is most different from a bonus bet in the sense that it's your money being wagered. You're risking $50 of your money on Alabama in this instance. Nonetheless, a profit can still be guaranteed.
A $50 wager on the underdog Crimson Tide with a 50% profit boost at DraftKings would win $123. A $110 wager on North Carolina -184 at FanDuel (with no profit boost) returns winnings of $59.80.
If Alabama wins, you would return a profit of $13, and if North Carolina, wins you would make a profit of $9.80.
Those little winnings can certainly add up, and for more risk-averse individuals, this is a great way to take advantage of sports betting without actually taking on a major risk.
Most people don't win in the long term betting on sports, but this method can help you ensure some stable results while simultaneously betting on sports recreationally.
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