When you hear of “arbitrage” betting, it can sound a bit hard to believe. People get excited because they are certain that they can lock in a profit by “arbing.” The truth is that they are actually right. Arbitrage betting is when you make a bet on both sides of a two-way market at different prices that guarantees a profit.
Here’s an example from and NHL total:
The Calgary Flames vs. Edmonton Oilers game has a total set for O/U 6.5 goals. At DraftKings, the Over 6.5 is currently at -103, and at BetMGM the Under is at +110.
Over: 6.5 (-105)
Under: 6.5 (+110)
Arbitrage Betting Explained
Using arbitrage betting you could lock up a profit in this spot by betting a bit more on the over and less on the under, but so that the payout was guaranteed no matter the game’s outcome. If you have $100 to wager, and you $51.58 on the over 6.5 at -103 and $48.14 on the under 6.5 at +110, you would profit $1.67 no matter the outcome. Whatever you lost on one side would be made up by the winnings of the other.
Guaranteed Betting Profits… So, What’s the Catch?
There’s really no “catch” in the sense that arbing will truly guarantee a profit. But notice in the example above how much that profit was. You would need to wager $1000 to get it to $16.67, and 5-figures to get into the hundreds. You need a pretty large bankroll to make that worth your time.
Another issue is that arbing takes time. You need to hunt around for the right odds to spot the places where you can lock it in. There’s an opportunity cost to that because you could be putting your time to better use on +EV props in our NBA Bet Pro tool, or other high ROI bets. Alas, OddsShopper has solved the time dilemma with our new Arbitrage Betting Tool that finds these spots for you. Take a look at the tool every so often to find out where you can guarantee a betting win.
The last thing to remember is that you’ll need to have access to a lot of different sportsbooks to make arbitrage betting possible. Often, you can only make the numbers work between one or two outlets, so be on the lookout and keep taking up those new user bonus offers to get your money on more shops for arbing chances.
One final arbitrage tactic is to pursue one of the sides in derivative markets or alternative lines. The entire industry may be on the same Vig for a bet, but you can look into derivative point spreads and totals to see if you can lock in a profit using two different books. Derivative markets are sometimes not as sharp as the main sides or over/unders, and the pricing can vary widely across the industry.
With that in mind, it’s time to check out the OddsShopper arbitrage tool and start making money with a guaranteed profit.
