Go Arb Yourself!
How to makes some quick scratch by easily identifying an arbitrage opportunity.
As many of you know, sports gambling arbitrage can be a risk-free proposition to make a some scratch. Will you be able to stop working and do this for a living? Probably not. But, sure bets are a fun way to beat the bookies at their own game. As a reminder, arbing or sure bets are when the odds for a particular event are different enough at two different bookies that you can place a wager on each side of the bet and make a small profit regardless of the outcome. Two of the better companies at identify arbing opportunities are
Rebel Betting (Free 15 day trial)
Bet Burger (Free sure bets up to 1% ROI)
In the below post, we walk through how you can identify your own arbs quickly and somewhat under the radar. If you’d rather watch a video on how it’s done check it out below:
Most bookies offer promotions. These promotions vary. They could boost your parlay odds, offer parlay insurance, odds boosts and single game percentage increases. To arb yourself, you will occasionally see single game odds boosts. Draftkings is great at offering these boosts. Lately, with college basketball heating up, we’ve seen a lot of “Clash on the Courts” boosts. These boosts offer 50% increase in odds. For example, on Feb 6, 2024, Ole Miss is playing at U. Of South Carolina (“SC”). The moneyline at Draftkings is
Ole Miss +136
SC -162
So, if you apply the 50% boost token to SC, it changes their moneyline odds from -162 to -112. Since the odds are -160, Draftkings gives you 50% of 100 or 50. So, -162 + 50 = -112.
Draftkings like all bookies will limit the amount you can bet on promotions. This type of bet usually has a $10, $25, $50 or $100 bet limit. $25 is the most common limit. Now, the bet is
$25 on SC at -112 odds. So, 25 makes $22.32
How do we know there is an arb opportunity? Since the boosted odds on SC are -112 and at draftkings the odds for Ole Miss is +136. We can place an immediate bet on Ole Miss and make money.
WARNING! With a boost don’t place an immediate bet on the other side at the same bookie. That’s a BIG NO NO!
So, we go look at other bookies. I checked FanDuel’s odds and a stroke of good luck, the odds for Ole Miss are +142 which is even better than draftkings.
Now, for some trial and error. We need to figure out the amount to bet to make a sure bet. If we place a $25 bet that makes $35.50 on Ole Miss, then if SC wins, we will lose money ($25 loss on Ole Miss less a $22.32 gain on SC equals a $2.68 loss.
If we place a $15 bet that makes $21.30 on Ole Miss, then if Ole Miss wins, we will lose money ($25 loss on SC less $21.30 win on Ole Miss equals a $3.70 loss.
So, somewhere between $15 to $25 on Ole Miss will help us find the sweet spot. In this scenario, if we place a $19.55 bet that makes $27.76. Then, we have a perfect arbitrage position.
If SC wins, we win $22.32 on SC and lose $19.55 on Ole Miss which makes us a net $2.77 profit.
If Ole Miss wins, we win $27.76 on Ole miss and lose $25 on SC which makes us a net $2.76.
While the win amount isn’t huge dollars, sometimes it is good to just take the win. This is especially true on a game that you have no idea of the outcome. So, you might as well make a couple of bucks of the promotion to help fund other bets.
As always, arbing, sure bets and gambling is for fun. Please play responsibly and never chase your bets. As a follow up to this article, BetSlayer is showing how to arb yourself with a “goal in the first ten” or GIFT.
I hope you enjoy these tips on maximizing your return at the bookies. Remember gambling is supposed to be fun. Always play responsibly. Never get in over your head or bet money you aren’t willing to lose.
Let me know if you have any questions in the comments.
Keep coming back to BetSlayer as we will have more videos.