So you’ve decided you want to get into betting. More specifically, you’ve decided you want to get into sports betting. You like sports, some more than others, but you like them enough to spend your time off watching. You’ve listened to your local sports radio guys pick their bets every week and thought “I could do better than this.” Of course you can - these guys are fun and entertaining, but they pay more attention to the local MLB club’s minor league transactions than cluster injuries to an NFL team’s interior offensive line - so of course they take national favorite with the big-name running back, even if they dont have anyone to block for them. Then it's a weekly mea culpa Monday mornings with a different version of how they didn’t know the injuries were such a big deal, and they’re unlucky. But luck had nothing to do with it! It’s skill and you’ve got it.
Why sports betting?
You think to yourself – “I’d love to bet these guys.” You want to bridge your love of sports with your competitiveness. You’ve got some spare cash and have decided that fantasy sports just isn’t filling that void it once did. You seem to have a devastating injury every year to your 1 running back and come week 8, you’re out of it. Your friend from college is dogging you constantly – and “I just don’t care about it” doesn’t seem to shut him up. And after all, you do care! We all do - that’s why we play. But it’s admittedly hard to get juiced up about a week-7 game when half of your team is on a bye and you’re playing that aforementioned friend who’s got everyone active and he’s got better players on his bench than you have in your starting lineup. Kickoff of the afternoon games comes and you get the “SUCK IT!” text. It’s the worst. But you love to watch the games.
So how to salvage this?
Betting on sports seems like the perfect place to start: something new every week, multiple sports to bet on, all the different ways to bet. You’re watching the games anyway – why not add some action to it? Life is better with money on the line!
So where do you start?
Long past are the days of having a bookie. And thank goodness. Can you imagine, in the age of Elon Musk firing cars into space, that you would still have to meet up with a shady “friend” at some bar, giving picks and overcoming the smell of cigars and stale beer to hand him envelopes of cash everytime your bet loses on a late 53-yarder?
It’s a new age. Sports gambling is exploding into the stratosphere and the internet is the rocket fuel. But like all things in the internet age, there’s almost too much information. Of the information you can find, it’s hard to tell the difference between truth, fiction, opinion and marketing. If you’re not a seasoned veteran, it can be overwhelming.
You’ve done some casual “research” i.e. Googling “how to gamble on sports.” (It’s ok, we’ve all been there). You find the info basically falling into one of three buckets:
1. Unintelligible with the crazy marketing
“The spread is how much you think a team will win or lose by. Sign up now for $10 bonus!* If you pick a team to cover the spread, that means that they will meet or beat it. If you think you can beat the spread, sign up for our $100* bonus. If you don’t win against the spread, don’t worry – did we mention our $10,000 bonus sign up offer!? BONUS!!!!”
*We’ll deep dive on this in a later article.
2. Overly technical and unhelpful
“According to our internal algorithm, you’ll see a consistent variance above expectations for this pitcher when he’s at home and coming off of 5 days rest in the month of June, but due to the parabolic nature of the season, we give a confidence interval of 55%, with a high downside risk due to the near-term performance of the opposing team’s opening line up with (yada yada yada)”
We get it. You know how to use a spreadsheet.
3. Overly simple and unhelpful –
“Sports gambling is about picking who you think is going to win. If you bet on a team to win, and they win, you get money. If you lose, you lose money. Sometimes there’s a tie and everyone gets their money back. Have a problem? Call 1-900 GAMBLER.”
Thanks….
PSA – if you are a long-time gambler and you find yourself googling “How to gamble on sports” – please call that number…)
You’ve even resorted to places like Yahoo answers, which can be great for finding creative ways to turn innocuous subjects into political debates. Maybe you’ve even tried to ask Jeeves a few times (RIP). But you’re just not finding what you’re looking for. You’re not an idiot – you know the teams and the sports. You just want to know some of the ins and outs of the game of sports betting, which can probably be boiled down to:
What are the basics?
What are some strategies?
Where I can go to dip my toes in the water?
Well since you’re here, you’ve already solved the last one. When it comes to basics and strategies, you’re going to find that we have a ton of articles and resources to help you find the edge.
So that’s why you’re here* – to learn, to increase your love of sports and make some money while doing it!
*Admittedly, there’s a non-zero chance you accidentally cut off a google search for “Better Edged Razors” because you think that although you are spending $40 for an eight pack of 6-bladed razors with a contoured, turning handle, you still seem to cut yourself shaving and have decided it’s not a you problem, it’s that the product isn’t good enough. Even knowing that your grandpa used a straight razor three times a week and that if you just didn’t try to use the same blade for 4 months at time, you’d be fine. But you’re here now, so why not save the money on those NASA-engineered blades and put it towards something more fun that can MAKE you money. And maybe some shaving cream…
Why BettorEdge?
You’re at BettorEdge because you're looking for an alternative to your current betting options - and that is what we are here to provide! There are a ton of betting sites out there – but they’re all trying to sell you something – either advice, bets or just shaving off a fee from your bet.
We’re not here to take your money, we’re here to help you make money - hopefully off of Spicoli at the radio station, your friend from college or your buddy who really just seems to root more against your teams than for his own teams.
We’re not math geniuses or Vegas insiders. We’re not selling your information to some foreign entity or government. We’re regular guys who love sports, have found a love for sports betting and have decided there’s a better way to do it – keeping money in the pockets of the bettors and creating a community of sports lovers to come and put their money where their mouth is! And all for FREE. We will have some premium features to help you make even more informed decisions coming soon, but more on that later!
We’re glad you’re here and are excited to show you the basics, give you some pointers on strategies, provide high-impact data for you to use and most importantly - to give you a one-stop shop to engage with the sports you love.
Disclaimer: The author, Ryan Staley, is an independent sports and betting blogger and is not employed by BettorEdge. The opinions expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of BettorEdge and should not be considered investment or betting advice from BettorEdge.