When it comes to online sportsbooks, you’ve heard it before, but unless you are doing it regularly you haven’t heard it enough – having accounts at multiple sports books is crucial in order to maximize your profits. It’s easy to open online accounts at books and spread your bankroll between them, so there is really no excuse for not doing it. It can occasionally be a bit more complicated than having just one bet, but the benefits of doing so significantly outweigh and downsides. Here’s a look at six good reasons to hold multiple accounts at online sportsbooks:
Impact of different prices in moneyline – There can be a big difference in odds available on different books. Those potential differences are even bigger in less popular betting sports because the market doesn’t correct the differences as quickly. Once you have decided what team you are going to bet on then shopping around for the best best price in the moneyline can make a big difference. It wouldn’t be uncommon, for example, to see the same team in a game available at -105 at one Internet sportsbook, and at -120 at another. If you bet the game at -105 then you need to win just over 51 percent of your bets to break even, and a better winning rate than that will lead to a profit. At -120 you need to win well over 54 percent of your online sports bets to break even. It would be easy to make a long term profit at -105 while losing money at -120. You have to do the same amount of work to pick a winner in both cases, so why wouldn’t you make it easy to find the best possible price?
Impact of different points spreads – It is similarly common for different books to offer different point spreads on games. On less popular betting sports like mid-major college football or basketball the difference could be a few points between books. In the same way that a difference in moneylines can significantly impact the bottom line, a difference in spreads can make a long term difference in winning percentage and profit. One good example is when a spread is around a key number like 3 or 7. It doesn’t seem like much of a difference for one book to offer a football game at -2.5 and another to offer it at -3.5. What’s one point, right? Well it can be a lot. The most common outcome for a game is for one team to win by a field goal. If you bet the favorite at -2.5 then a field goal win would be a winning bet, while at -3.5 it would be a loss. You only have to be on the wrong side of those situations a couple of times a year to turn a winning season into a loser. Shopping around can turn a bad sports bet int a decent one, and a good bet into one packed with value.
Timing of posting odds or adjusting odds – Different online books post their odds at different times of the day. In baseball, for example, some sports books post the lines for the next night’s games while the current games are just getting going, while others won’t post the odds until the morning of the games. There are a lot of reasons why being able to bet earlier can be a benefit. Maybe it fits better into your schedule. Or maybe you expect the public to heavily bet the team you like, so by betting early you can get the best price possible.
Different strengths for different books – There is no such thing as a perfect sportsbook. Different books have different strengths. Some consistently offer good prices for underdogs, while others offer better prices on favorites. Some offer a wider range of creative props than others. Some post odds on more sports, or more obscure games within popular sports. Some books are good at football and not so good at baseball, or vice versa. By holding multiple accounts you are able to take advantage of the Internet-based book that does the best job of what you are looking to do.
Middling possibilities – Betting the middle in a game can mean a few different things, and they are all attractive. Here’s a good example. Let’s say at one book you can bet the favorite in a football game at -2.5. At another book you can bet the underdog at +3.5. If you were to bet the same amount on both games then you’d have a pretty attractive situation. If the game ended with any outcome other than the favorite winning by a field goal then you would win one bet and lose the other. That means that your loss would just be the juice on the losing bet. If you had bet $100 on each game then you would win $100 and lose $100, for a total loss of $10. If the favorite wins by a field goal, though, then you win both bets. Your profit would be $200 and you were only risking $10. That’s a payoff of 20/1, and that’s way higher than the risk of making the bet. Over the long term that would be a very nicely profitable bet. It’s rare to be able to find opportunities like that if you use just one online book, but if you have multiple accounts at various sports books you’ll be able find situations where it is possible and lock it in right away.
Bonuses – Many online sportsbooks offer bonuses to entice you to join them – typically something like matching your initial deposit or offering favorable odds for a period of time. Bonuses like that, as long as you don’t let them influence you to do things you wouldn’t normally do like bet on sports you don’t have an edge in, are just free money. By having accounts at several books you can take advantage of several bonuses. With the right online sportsbook, that could potentially be a nice boost to your bottom line.
