Making money online without winning at sports betting

You’ve probably already seen that advert with Marcel Desailly praising BetClic, the site where you can bet on Ligue 1 and many other sports, even abroad… 

The concept

The concept is simple. 

You choose a sporting event (a tennis match, a football match, a cycling race,…) and you bet on a result: 

Rafael Nadal’s 3-set victory over Richard Gasquet in the final of the Monte-Carlo tournament

Manchester United and Chelsea draw on the 24th day of the English Premier League

Chris Froome’s victory in the 2018 Tour de France. 

The odds

Not all results have the same value, this is called the odds. For example, a Nadal win would not be a big surprise, his odds would be 1.2, which means he has a 1.2 chance of winning. On the other hand, a Gasquet win is much more unexpected, his odds will be 4. This means that the bookmakers believe that there is a 1 in 4 chance that Gasquet will win. 

The odds vary until the event in question begins. If there are rumours that Rafa Nadal is suffering from back pain, his odds could go up and Gasquet’s could go down to 3. This makes the bookmakers more optimistic about Gasquet’s chances of winning the match. 

The bets

Okay, you get the idea, it’s all about betting on an outcome, and this bet is characterised by an odds which represents the probability of that outcome occurring. 

But, by the way, what are we betting? 

Money, of course. This is called a stake. You can bet as little as 1 euro. We say that you bet a sum of money on a result, for example 10 dollars on a draw between OM and Lorient or 5 dollars on France’s first place in the World Cup qualifying group. 

If you win, you will get your stake back multiplied by the odds. 

Winnings

Once the match is over, the winnings are paid out to the various betting winners. 

Let’s say you bet $10 on OM winning against Lorient. The odds are 1.4 for OM, 2.6 for Lorient and 2.3 for a draw. 

If OM wins, you will get 14 dollars, i.e. 10 dollars * 1.4. Your winnings are therefore 4 dollars (14 dollars won minus 10 dollars bet)

If Lorient wins or the two clubs draw, you leave with empty pockets, and your piggy bank has been relieved of 10 dollars (the 10 dollars you bet). 

What are the best odds to win at sports betting?

The best odds are the odds of the bet that will win. There are no good or bad odds, you should try to predict the outcome of the match accurately. 

For example, betting 10 dollars on Lorient’s victory with odds of 2.6 may seem a wise choice: you would win 26 dollars in case of victory, which makes a profit of 16 dollars. The problem is that the chances of Lorient winning are low, and so are the chances of you winning $26. 

On the other hand, you could bet $10 on OM and win $14 if they win. The profit is small ($4) but the chances of winning are much greater. 

You should know that it is very difficult to predict a sports result. Nothing is written in advance, as proven by Marion Bartoli’s rather unexpected victory at Wimbledon 2013, which started with odds of 809 to 1.