What is Arbitrage Betting and How do I Make Money from it?

December 4, 2021

The official definition of the term arbitrage is “the simultaneous purchase and sale of the same asset in different markets in order to profit from tiny differences in the asset’s listed price”. In sports terms this means betting both sides of a bet at different sportsbooks whose odds differ enough to where you are guaranteed profit.

Example:

NBA Over Atlanta 211 (+115) at Sportsbook A

NBA Under Atlanta (+100) at Sportsbook B

You can see by the above NBA example that the money line at one sportsbook is even money and the other one is plus money on the opposite side of the bet. If you bet both sides of this wager you are guaranteed +15 odds for your efforts.

In baseball you can find a lot of arb opportunities on games straight up. This is because baseball is mainly bet on the moneyline and odds vary wildly at different shops depending on the action they receive. Also, its easier to conceal that you are an arb bettor when betting baseball. Which brings us to our next topic:

Getting Limited as an Arb Player

The major drawback to being an arb bettor is that if you are any good and are making money the sportsbooks will get wise to you. They will limit you or kick you out altogether. Even though you are technically helping to balance their action and increase their hold, they see you as the enemy. A few tips to NOT getting spotted as an arb player:

  1. Bet the occasional wild parlay for small money
  2. Round down or up your bet amounts (don’t wager $164.56 because that number screams arb)
  3. Use a Betting Exchange – These are not widely accessible to U.S. players at the moment but people in other parts of the world enjoy using betting exchanges. Opportunities will grow for U.S. players over time.

How to Get Good Arb Info

There are sites dedicated to spotting arb opportunities. They will usually charge you a service fee to send you alerts and let you browse their information. An example of these sites are Oddsjam.com and another is Oddsmonkey

Conclusion

Arb Betting is another way to try to make money at sports betting. It requires attention to detail, quick movements and concealing yourself as an arb bettor.