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

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 guarantee you a profit regardless of the outcome.

Example:

NBA Over Atlanta 211 (+115) at Sportsbook A

NBA Under Atlanta 211 (+100) at Sportsbook B

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

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 out 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. This will help throw off programs looking for arbs and may even help fool the naked eye of a sportsbook employee.
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. And exchanges don’t care why you are betting.

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 to let you browse their premium information. An example of these sites are Oddsjam.com and another is Oddsmonkey

Conclusion

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