Anyone genuinely made money betting on sport

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If his average winning odds are 5.06 then his losing odds are likely even higher.
Quite easy to win what he did when only hitting 24% of his bets when prices are this
 
I know whos losing money - ****ing Gill McLoughlin goes to Tabcorp & now we cant get bets on, for the 2nd time this week. Miniscule pools across the board today so someone will be getting their ass kicked up & down a plush carpet hallway.
 
I think long run it is very difficult to make money sports betting. A lot harder these days as bookies slash their odds due to increased taxes etc.

A few years back I had some mild success betting on greyhounds with pointsbet. They weren't pricing up their same race multis properly. Some dogs are great chasers, but never win...I was betting outsiders to place and did ok for a few weeks until I was banned from that specific market.

Some of the AFL odds I have seen this year have been borderline disgraceful, especially on the exotics. Players priced up as $1.50 to take 8 marks when this bet has copped 2 times out of the last 20, for example.

Anyone making money in one season is almost certainly due to luck. The edge is soon gobbled up by the bookies and their data miners.
 

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A slightly different angle to add to this. I did it for a couple of years more than a decade ago. If you are any good
you will be banned pretty much everywhere with the corp. bookies. Betfair for me was great but you do run
into issues with liquidity on markets you may have the edge in.
I made enough for those years which may look like a success on paper however here is the rub....

It was shocking for my relationship/family life. It takes so much time and commitment to get an edge. Most of the guys i knew who also did it were single or in pretty non committed relationships.... ( I would imagine the fellas on here who win are in a similar situation )

I moved onto learning/doing basic two lot subdivisions in real estate. Less time, risk, stress and far more lucrative when you skill up. In saying all this i still have the 'virus' the difference is i would only have about 6 bets a year now.
 
A slightly different angle to add to this. I did it for a couple of years more than a decade ago. If you are any good
you will be banned pretty much everywhere with the corp. bookies. Betfair for me was great but you do run
into issues with liquidity on markets you may have the edge in.
I made enough for those years which may look like a success on paper however here is the rub....

It was shocking for my relationship/family life. It takes so much time and commitment to get an edge. Most of the guys i knew who also did it were single or in pretty non committed relationships.... ( I would imagine the fellas on here who win are in a similar situation )

I moved onto learning/doing basic two lot subdivisions in real estate. Less time, risk, stress and far more lucrative when you skill up. In saying all this i still have the 'virus' the difference is i would only have about 6 bets a year now.

That's a brilliant post and hits close to home.

Across the past 4 years I've won approximately 16x my starting stake, but I'd probably have made more money and spent less time on it if I'd taken a second job at McDonalds.
 
A slightly different angle to add to this. I did it for a couple of years more than a decade ago. If you are any good
you will be banned pretty much everywhere with the corp. bookies. Betfair for me was great but you do run
into issues with liquidity on markets you may have the edge in.
I made enough for those years which may look like a success on paper however here is the rub....

It was shocking for my relationship/family life. It takes so much time and commitment to get an edge. Most of the guys i knew who also did it were single or in pretty non committed relationships.... ( I would imagine the fellas on here who win are in a similar situation )

I moved onto learning/doing basic two lot subdivisions in real estate. Less time, risk, stress and far more lucrative when you skill up. In saying all this i still have the 'virus' the difference is i would only have about 6 bets a year now.
Probably true, when I was betting my most, I was watching sport most of my free time, at a certain point your partner kind of wants more and you can't just be parked in front of the couch watching sport all day and night on weekends.
 
Agree with the vibe of the last few posts. It can take a pretty big mental and physical toll on you even if you’re winning. I’ve been lucky enough to make ok money for a couple of decades without ever being a pro.

Like most started out a complete mug before putting more time and effort in. When I found my first genuine edges it was a bit of a thrill and found myself putting even more time in trying to find the next ones. I’d sweat bets even though I knew on average I’d be losing more than 40% of them. The hour a day at the gym got replaced by staring at the computer. Without realising it you become a bit of a hermit and for me the more time I invested the less value I got from the time.

I still bet and enjoy testing new ideas when time allows but it fits in around the rest of my life now. I don’t sweat any bets and often won’t even watch the events I’ve bet on.

This might sound silly but if I was to start again I’d bet much more aggressively when I first started to find positive EV angles, even at the risk of losing my starting bank. Make as much from the game as you can while your lifestyle allows it.
 
Yes but extremely tough nowadays.

Bookie limits and far sharper lines with fewer markets.

Also better analytics and sources mean odds adjust very quickly.

I don't post much here anymore but it's always fun looking back at the past:

Sidenote: I am down on general AFL betting this year
 
There's some good posts here that resonate with me.

As others have identified, making money by trading can consume you.

I've spoken to many others along my journey and they all have similar stories to tell. Most of them who are good enough to make consistent money all seem to have found an end point. I don't know if this is a coincidence, but a lot of (semi) professional punters seem to last ten years. One person I spoke to recently told me he gave up the game six years ago after making consistently good money for ten years but it reached a point where he chose to give up for a variety of reasons.

In terms of lifestyle and finding a balance, it can definitely take a toll on you. The beauty about technology is you can bet while being out with your family. That wasn't possible 20 years ago so those who have entered this game over the past 12-15 years would have different experiences to those who could only make money sitting in front of a computer and being isolated from their family.

I commenced my journey in April 2012. Prior to then, I was a mug and I wouldn't be able to tell you exactly how much I'd lost. It would definitely be over $10k and like most mugs I experienced the highs and lows, but there were a lot more lows. I lucked out on Grand Final Day 2009 when I won over $10k by taking a plethora of 1st Goal Scorers and Last Goal Scorers. I spent over $500 taking players individually and combining them in a multi. My winning best that resulted in wins were Max Rooke 1st Goal, Max Rooke Final goal and a cheeky $5 multi on Rooke 1st and Last Goal. The thrill of that win was exhilarating. It would be another 2.5 years before I came across an arbitrage opportunity and the rest is history.

Since learning the art of arbitrage betting, middling, +EV betting and trading, I’ve turned a side-hustle into a productive and enjoyable semi profession that would allow for a comfortable lifestyle without having to rely on a fulltime tax paying job.

Over the years I've been able to develop my skills and acquire additional resources to reach greater heights. As any person in this industry knows, your accounts quickly get limited as soon as you begin a pattern of taking +EV odds. To keep your head above water, you need to identify other avenues to maintain an edge and this is something I've always been good at.

Many of the skills and edges I have are secrets I don't wish to share because doing so would be detrimental.

I have a supportive wife and we share two amazing kids. I make sure I always have time for them. My wife is happy working only part time and she knows she can only do that because of the money I make.

I'm fortunate that I have a fulltime job where there can often be plenty of downtime. I am also fortunate enough that I get a lot more annual leave than most fulltime workers. It works for me and I wouldn't change a thing.

Everyone is different in terms of their approach, but I like to go hard for 48 weeks and spend the remaining four weeks having a break. My breaks can occur at any time but I won't log into a single account while I'm in refresh mode. This is great for the mental side of things.
 
I hate the term '+EV betting' as every idiot/mug thinks their bet has 'value' otherwise they wouldn't put it on. But +EV is such a vague term that many people use to appear smart IMO. It's like people claiming a stock is being 'manipulated' because it went down. It's just a term people heard, thought it was clever so they started using it and it's morphed into its own near meme

The amount of times I've heard mates say 'xyz paid shit so had to add 3 other legs to get someone value'. I've given up explaining things

Echo the thoughts of recent posts, I made 5-10k a year on MMA for ages, but the juice just isn't worth the squeeze at some point. Earning more at work meaning the wins are less impactful, limits/bans, etc. Barely even bet the last 4-6 months
 
What kind of punter would choose their wife/family/mental health over punting?! Weak. A true degen knows these things are secondary and should be let go if they're standing in your way of losing money gambling.
 

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Anyone genuinely made money betting on sport

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