It’s no secret that sports and gambling go hand in hand. After all, betting on the games you’re watching makes the matches even more entertaining and only adds to the excitement. However, even though betting on sports is a fun way to spice things up, it’s also risky business, and chances are you will lose more often than you will win.

Despite that, beating the bookies is far from impossible, and that’s what we intend to help you with. If you are new to betting and wish to become a better punter, we’ve prepared several tips and tips that will minimize your losses and increase your chances of making a winning bet.

1. Research Is Your Best Friend

It goes without saying that you should bet on sports and games you’re familiar with, and the reason for that is simple—the more you know about the match you’re betting on, the higher your chances of predicting the outcome.

For example, if you’re betting on football, the first thing you should do is check out the team’s standings and stats. If a team is, let’s say, playing on a home pitch or fighting to qualify for the Champions League, it might be extra motivated to win the game.

At the same time, you should also check if a player is injured or if a coach has decided to rest some of the players against a slightly weaker team and get them ready for another match. Even if one team is significantly stronger than the other, it may draw or lose a game if one or more of its key players are injured or suspended.

Needless to say, many different reasons may affect a team’s performance. By doing some extra research and considering various aspects, you will be able to make a well-informed bet rather than just bet blindly and hope to get lucky.

2. Learn How to Read Odds

Knowing how betting odds work is essential for betting. If you’re a new punter, it’s one of the first things you should learn. In today’s time, bookmakers use decimal, fractional, and moneyline odds and you will encounter all three.

The reason you should know how odds work is that you’ll be able to recognize the value of each bet and determine whether you should place a bet on a specific team or a player.

For example, virtually all of us would risk $5 to win $10,000. However, would you bet $10,000 to win $5? Some might, but you most certainly shouldn’t.

There is a lot to learn about betting odds, and the easiest and fastest way to do that is to check PlayToday’s thorough guide to sports betting and learn about different types of odds, how they work, how to calculate them, and much more. Once you become an expert at reading odds, you’ll get the best value for your money, which is directly related to our next tip.

3. Find the Best Odds

One mistake many punters make is that they stick to the same bookmaker. Namely, as you may know, odds often vary from one bookmaker to another. So, why wouldn’t you always get the best odds?

Granted, while the difference may not seem significant, the amount you can potentially win from switching bookies adds up over time, especially if you bet big amounts or you bet often. In the end, you may be looking at an additional hundred quid or even more after a year of active betting.

Apart from odds, there are other reasons you should shop around and look for the best offers, such as welcome bonuses. Of course, while you can claim multiple welcome bonuses at different bookies, you should look for the most lucrative ones with the lowest wagering requirements to make the most out of it.

In addition to welcome offers, bookies often have ongoing promotions when they boost the odds for a specific match or an event. Make sure to take advantage of such promotions.

Lastly, instead of switching from one bookmaker to another, you can also explore betting exchanges. In fact, they are perhaps even better for new punters since they allow you to place a lay bet on a team or player, which technically means that you are betting on all other outcomes apart from the player or the team you are laying to win.

4. Try Different Betting Markets

Once you get familiar with how the world of betting works and become more experienced as a punter, you should try different markets and explore various bets.

Most new punters stick to simple bets, such as betting on the home or away team to win or for the teams to draw. While there’s nothing wrong with betting on a match winner, you can sometimes find much better value when betting on a different market.

Interestingly, despite what a lot of new punters think, you can find many other bets that are much more beginner-friendly than the match winner bet, such as the draw no bet and BTTS (both teams to score). However, you should use your best judgment when placing a bet.

For example, the correct score market often offers the most lucrative odds. Of course, there’s a reason for that, and predicting the correct score is one of the hardest bets to land. The same goes for accumulators that are multiple bets combined into one. Naturally, to win the accumulator bet, you will have to predict all the outcomes on your betting slip, making it significantly harder to win.

Now, don’t get us wrong. We’re not advising you to stay away from these types of bets. However, until you become more experienced, it’s a good idea to stick to easier bets and save your money rather than going for Hail Mary bets.

Once you get more comfortable with betting, you should explore different markets and bet on accumulators and handicap matches, both of which have a lot of potential to net you a hefty profit.

5. Pick up on a Betting Strategy or Two

You may think that betting strategies or systems are only for hardcore punters, but you couldn’t be further away from the truth. In fact, when used correctly, betting strategies are perhaps one of the best ways to improve your chances to win.

In today’s time, there are dozens of strategies you can use. Some of them are designed for specific sports and others for specific markets. At the same time, some are more efficient than others, so having just one strategy won’t do you much good. Depending on the type of sport you are betting on, you can use strategies like arbitrage betting and matched betting. Even though they’re not always applicable, they are effective 100% of the time.

However, you should be careful with arbitrage and matched betting. Even though they’re not technically illegal, bookies are not keen on losing money, so arbing or matched betting may get you gubbed. In other words, a bookie may limit or even close your account.

Another effective strategy you can try is dutching, where, instead of betting your entire amount on a single outcome, you spread it across multiple bets. Dutching is often used in horse racing, where there are six or eight runners per race. Basically, you will calculate how much you need to bet on a runner, depending on their odds.

The goal of dutching is to minimize your losses and net you profit if either of the runners you bet on wins the race. When it comes to calculating how much you need to bet on each outcome, it’s best to use an online dutching calculator.

Apart from the strategies we mentioned, there are a ton of others you can use. You can use anything from the simple ones like bankroll management to more advanced ones like sequential laying that is used when betting on accumulators.

Regardless of the strategy you pick, make sure to research and determine how effective it is and whether it suits your betting style and bankroll.

6. Follow a Professional Tipster

If you don’t want to spend so much time doing all the grunt work or you simply don’t have enough time for it, you can always let someone else do the heavy lifting. In other words, you can follow professional tipsters and take advantage of their knowledge and expertise.

Of course, an important thing to know is that, while anyone can be a self-proclaimed tipster, you should follow only legitimate and verified tipsters. For that reason, Betting Kingdom has a strict set of tipster rules to ensure the best results.

Naturally, not all the tips are free, and you should expect to pay a fee. Think of it as a small venture for a much bigger ROI.

The Takeaway

As you can see, there are plenty of things you can do to improve as a punter. But, most often, experience plays the biggest factor in how successful you are and whether you will make a profit.

However, by following these tips, you are guaranteed to improve more quickly and increase your chances of winning. Lastly, remember that gambling is a risky business, and you should always use your best judgment before placing a bet.