According to Darren Small, Director of Integrity at Sportradar, “The current estimations, which include both the illegal markets and the legal markets, suggest the sports match-betting industry is worth anywhere between $700bn and $1tn (£435bn to £625bn) a year.”
Unsurprisingly, 70% of that trade came from football. Due to football betting’s popularity and potential financial gains, fans and gamblers alike research on football team conditions, trends, and even football accumulator tips.
While betting options are limited in Asia, the opposite is true for European countries as it presents options beyond the traditional choices of a win, lose, or draw. Bettors can bet on a wide range of options from betting on the first and last goalscorer to time-specific options such as if there are will be a goal, corner, or penalty in the first five minutes of the game.
How much can people win on football betting?
When betting on football, players only gain a profit of 40% for an odds of 1.4. On the other hand, a 6.0 odds mean that you could gain 500% profit if your bet was £10. In football betting, it’s often a dilemma whether one should risk the higher odds with a low probability or bet on the lower odds with high probability.
Naturally, bettors would always root for the stronger team, however, that means they will not be able to make higher profits over time. In addition, if a strong team loses the odds, that profit will instantly be lost.
What are the factors that affect how much you win?
To be quite honest, there’s no definite answer to how much one can make from sports betting. However, the total estimated profit and loss are influenced by these three variables.
- Positive or Negative Edge
Edge means placing bets that have a higher probability of happening than the odds you receive. A positive edge (plus EV) in your betting strategy means the higher the bet, the more one can earn. On the other hand, a negative edge (minus EV) means the more you bet, the more you are bound to lose. - Turnover
This is the total number of bets and it estimates the expected win or lose rate in any given period. Multiplying the turnover and the edge results in the Expected Value (EV). - Stake Size
This average affects the swings in the results for the period. The gap from the stake size average is called the variance.
As an example, let’s say you have a £100 turnover and a betting strategy with a +5% edge. By multiplying the edge and the turnover, you will get an expected value of £5.
Is sports betting an investment?
Yes, but it’s a long unpredictable investment journey, especially if you want to earn big profits. What you will earn now doesn’t matter compared to what you will make in the long run. If you consider the three factors previously mentioned as well as measuring your performance on an ROI basis, that will give a more positive outlook in your sports betting investment.
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