Arbitrage Betting – how does it work?

Arb Types

All arbitrage situations can be divided into two types - prematch and live. Prematch arbs usually appear due to odds difference on the same competitions that would start over a certain time. Live arbs are formed from the competitions in real time.

Example of arbitrage betting situations

Our arb service scan the odds, and by applying mathematical formulas to calculate arbitrage situations, report what and how much you need to bet on in order to get a safe profit

Let’s suppose, there are 2 basketball teams - Leicester Warriors and Westminster Warriors that will play in a few days. Our service, using a specially developed scanning technology, performs the following steps:

• It scans all the odds on the upcoming match Leicester Warriors vs Westminster Warriors with over 100 bookmakers.
• It defines the best odds among all possible, and applying simple math, calculates sports arbitrage situations.
• It picks out the most beneficial sure bets and reports where and how much you need to bet for getting guaranteed profit.

Let’s imagine that after scanning the bookies for Leicester Warriors vs Westminster Warriors, our software selected the following odds for further calculation:

Then, we define the inversion (L) for the results:

Therefore, B1 gets 5.6% of the revenue regardless of the outcome, and B2 – 5.1%. Our aim is to identify the odds with different bookies in the way the inversion of the opposing results to be less than 1. That is the only way sports arbitrage situations may appear.

1. Inversion (L) for B1 and B2. Imagine that we bet on the win of Westminster Warriors with B1 and on Leicester Warriors with B2. In conclusion, we get

The inversion for the opposing wagers is less than 1. It means that these two bookmakers with corresponding odds are suitable for arbs betting. So our calculations continue.

2. How much and what we should bet. On condition that we have $1000 for our bets, the wagers for B1 (V1) and for B2 (V2) are the following:

Therefore, we have to bet $268.30 on the win of Westminster Warriors with B1 and $731.70 on the win of Leicester Warriors with B2 to get a safe income.

3. Now we calculate the amount of profit (P) from the wagers placed with the bookmakers in both cases. In case Westminster Warriors wins:

In case Leicester Warriors wins:

As we can see from the calculations, having $1000 in total, we are guaranteed to get $1046.33 in spite of the outcome of the match. In this case, net profit is $46.33 or 4.42% of the total sum we bet.

In such a way, you earned your first real money betting arbitrage! Just imagine how much you can earn on arbitrage situations if betting up to 10 times a day during a month!

Sports arbitrage betting calculator benefits

Upon checking a couple of arb calculation examples you may figure out that this process is fairly time consuming. So to save up your time, we’ve built a user-friendly calculator.

Now you can estimate the necessary stake or round off the amount in the preferable currency with the built-in function.

The tool also includes the list of all odds available for the selected outcomes with other bookmakers. You can obviously make use of the function when the odds you have previously selected got changed and you utterly need to find a suitable replacement.

Bookmakers’ attitude towards arbers

Sports arbitrage betting is absolutely legal, though many bookmakers are not loyal to professional gamblers. It’s mostly because gamblers bypass the margin and thereby deprive the bookmakers of safe return.

That’s the main reason why bookies are hunting them down and imposing sanctions. The most common sanctions include account limitation - that’s basically when your maximum possible stake is limited to $10/€10 or less.

Although, among the huge number of those online bookies that limit your account one can find a few that are more than positive about the whole idea of arbing (for example, Pinnacle). Check out the article in the Newbies section for more info on how to choose a bookmaker for work.

Identifying an arber

Professional gamblers are usually identified by their specific way of playing. That’s one of the reasons why one should alternate between sports bet arbitrage and regular betting.

There are a couple more tips that won’t actually give you 100% protection, though will definitely extend the life of your account.

Tips for Newbies

• 1. The first thing that may draw bookmaker’s attention to your account is the amount of your wager. It is desirable to avoid large and maximum wagers on surebets as it may cause suspicion and lead to limitation of your account.
• 2. If after calculations you have to bet a fractional amount, let’s say $98.37, it’s better to round it up to $100. This way you won’t draw too much attention to your account but may lose a minor part of your income.
• 3. In case your bet is confirmed or rejected, do not send a request again. Duplicate bets are one of the surest ways of exposing yourself to the bookies, since a regular gambler is limited to only one bet per event.
• 4. Quite often many arbers begin to bet on the most profitable sports arbitrage situations. Remember, the more wagers on the same arb, the more reasons for the bookie to check it up. Try to find unique surebets only. This can be done applying filter settings in your account.
• 5. Don’t bet on Prematch with more than 10% yield. Most likely, the bookmaker will return your bet, referring to a typo or an error on the line. You would be lucky if you manage to cover the bet with some other bookmaker or your second bet wins. Otherwise, you may lose all the money you bet.
• 6. Any request to withdraw funds is the reason to check your account. Try not to make requests for withdrawal too often or immediately after deposit as this may lead to a thorough check-up. The bookmaker may reject the payout to ascertain the circumstances, suspecting even minor violations.
• 7. Try to avoid betting arbitrage of unpopular championships and outcomes. You can easily be recognized because of occasional bets on such events.

BetBurger Surebet Service

Consistent return with each bet - that’s what you’re about to reach with our service.

We’re analyzing the betting lines of over 200 bookmakers for 35+ sports in prematch and live. This enables us to offer our customers only up-to-date information with virtually no latency, bringing only relevant arbs to the table.

You have a great opportunity to give it a try right now absolutely free of charge with some functional limitations, or pick the most suitable plan to start your membership and go pro in arbing!