Sport plays a big part in all of our lives. You don’t have to be on the pitch, racecourse or inside the ring or octagon to have ‘skin in the game’. Big events like the World Cup (and the currently playing out Euros) and fights like Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk both add to our social calendar, and allow us to vicariously live out of sporting dreams. Aside from that, these events also bring us together and capture the nature, and competitive aspects of who we are. Of course some of us like to take that further than others by having a flutter.
With so many variations of bet open to us, there’s huge scope for really getting into an event or match. From, in football, the number of corners , total goals scored, HT/FT odds, to boxing with its round betting and so on, there’s so many angles to opt for when making a prediction for a sporting event. As you’d expect there are amateur and professional punters, some bet for a living and even get their bookmaker accounts closed due to their betting successes. That’s why the likes of PS3838 (available exclusively through bet brokers) are popular with those looking to ‘lump on’ without concerns about the implications of doing so.
Sports betting is littered with examples of people either displaying expert judgement and winning big, getting lucky, or being the the bad side of things. That’s the nature of the game. There are many ways in which big wins come about too. One you’ll often read about is accumulators (also known as accas or multiple bets) . These involve stacking together more than one bet with winnings from one going onto the next selection. In 2011 for instance one lucky punter placed £2.50 on a nine match accumulator bet largely consisting of underdog choices. They all came in, winning a total of £272,000. Not bad for a days work!
Some punters instead prefer to opt for outsiders that they feels are significantly undervalued by betting markets. Who can forget Leicesters dream run in the premier league in 2015/16 when they managed to win the league at odds of 5000-1? One punter who bet £100 on them a few games into the season (while still at odds of 2000-1) certainly still remembers. He pocketed a cool £200,000 as result.
Of course these are pretty extreme examples and many bet on shorter odds selections that they’ve followed and analysed, resulting in a more measured and informed approach to betting. There’s the ‘more money than sense’ camp too that, especially a lot of sports pros themselves fall into. Take NBA Legend Michael Jordan for instance, he played for up to $100,000 a hole against his golf buddies. Being gungho to that level will never end well (the ‘Drake Curse’ is another good and somewhat amusing example). For most though, clever analysis of sport comes from the desire to make millions rather than already having it and aimlessly blowing it for fun. As with anything in life, a cool head and strategic approach beats most others, so that’s the way to go!