Sports betting has a fairly long history (with first reports dating back to betting on horse racing in the 18th century), but with betting now more accessible than ever throughonline sportsbooks and handy mobile apps, the pastime has gained unprecedented popularity in the modern age.Betting on sports is attracting plenty of new punters who arelooking to try their hand at one of the best ways to elevate your sports experience.
There’s no doubt about it, sports betting is thrilling. Clinging to the edge of your seat as the horses hammer down the racetrack, or your favourite team pounds a shot toward the goal, and wondering if all those stakes you have on your bet will finally come home certainly adds a level of excitement and engagement to sports that can’t really be found anywhere else. However, for beginners to the world of sports betting, it’s important to know the key tenets to keep yourself safe and make the experience even more enjoyable!
This article runs through five of the best tips and tricks for newcomers to sports betting to guide them on their betting journey.
#1 Understand the Basics of Sports Betting
As with any hobby, getting started without the basics willonly lead to fumbling in the dark. It’s essential that any newcomer to the world of sports betting gets to grips with all the key terms, and with those down, that mystical jargon on your favourite football betting site in Ireland will—like magic—all become clear.
Odds
At the heart of any betting experience, there are odds. In short, these represent the likelihood of a particular outcomeoccurring and dictate how much you’ll earn if your bet comes in. Odds come in a couple of forms, including
• Decimal Odds—most common in Europe, these display the likelihood as a number, e.g. 2.50.
• Fractional Odds—unlike decimal odds, these represent likelihood as a fraction. For example, 2.50 would be represented in fractional odds as 3/2. This form is most popular in the UK and Ireland.
• Moneyline Odds—the U.S. tends to represent their odds as positive or negative numbers, e.g. +200 or -150. A minus (-) represents a favourite, and a plus (+) the underdog.
Types of Bets
The next key element is the different kinds of bets available. These are important to familiarise yourself with as, unlike odds, most aren’t quite as intuitive to guess by name.
• Moneyline Bet—the most common type of bet. Thisinvolves betting on a simple single–element result of a game. For example, choosing the winner of a horse race.
• Point Spread—this is a method of evening the playing field where you’re betting on a result, but by assigning a “spread” or handicap to one team. So, a -2 spread for a favourite football team means they must win by seven points or more to be valid.
• Over/Under—this is betting on whether the total points/goals/runs, etc. scored in a game will come over or under a given amount.
• Prop Bet—this is betting on a result that’s not related to the winner of the game, but instead, to an occurrence within it, such as the first scorer or if there’ll be a card.
• Accumulator (Acca)—accumulators are a combination of multiple bets that are high risk, high reward. They pay at increased odds, but every line of the bet must come in for you to win.
#2 Set a Budget and Stick To It
It’s easy to get carried away when you’re having fun, but one of the biggest errors new bettors make is bad money management. The key to having fun betting is to never bet more than you can comfortably afford to lose. While there’s always a chance that a bet might come in, if you’re betting for fun, you should treat every bet as a lost one when it comes to bankroll management.
When you’re starting out, pre-set a monthly or weekly betting limit so that you can have fun without that niggle in the back of your mind that losing might spell disaster.
Of course, this only works if you stay disciplined. It’s important not to bet off emotions alone, and not to chase up losses with a bigger bet (a harmful habit that can be costly). As long as you stick to your sensible rules, you’re sure to have a fun time and be able to maintain a sustainable betting habit.
#3 Research and Analyse Before Placing Bets
Any semi-successful sports bettor knows the importance of research before placing a bet. Without doing your due diligence before putting money on the line, it’s easy to place terrible value bets and these avoidable losses quickly add up and take the fun out of the game.
However, it’s easy to avoid some of the simplest mistakes with a little bit of research and analysis before you lay your bet—a process that can quickly become part of the enjoyment. Some simple ones to tick off are predicted weather conditions, injury reports, and the expected team line-ups. This is a simple way to avoid betting on a player to score the first goal when they’ve just been put out for injury!
For more in-depth analysis, investigate current forms and,in team sports, the results of previous head-to-heads. A star horse could be running badly this season or a specific match-up might result in surprising results for an underdog team.
Make sure you stick to trusted, reliable resources for accurate information and check out some well–knowntipsters for detailed yet comprehensive analysis.
#4 Start Small—Focus on Single Bets
One of the best rules for newcomers is not to get ahead of yourself. When you’re still learning, it’s important to start small—avoid parlays and complex bets and focus on the smaller moving parts, a well-researched single line bet is far more satisfying when it pays off than fumbling your way through a doomed accumulator. Stick to smaller value bets so you can try your hand at different tactics while keeping your bankroll healthy.
#5 Track Your Bets and Learn From Each Outcome
Many people already track a lot of things in their life—their sleep, fitness journeys, daily runs—so it’s only sensible to turn to this with a new hobby. While you might think you’re remembering everything, getting specifics down on paper can turn up surprising results. Dig through your previous wins and losses and excavate all the gritty details of what went wrong and how you made things go right.
Spreadsheets are a favourite of our pros to track their progress, and they’re great for managing bankroll, too, as well as keeping tabs on winners, losers, and much more!
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