Complete Guide
in Arbitrage Sports Betting

Welcome to the complete guide in arbitrage sports betting. In this post you will learn everything that you need to know in order to start making profit from successful arbitrage betting. We will cover the concept, step by step, will show you the tools you can use and give solutions to most frequent questions that arise from beginners.

Complete Guide in Arbitrage Sports Betting in video format

How it Works?

I will start off by explaining how arbitrage betting works. When bookmaker offers to bet on an event the possible outcomes have odds.

For this example lets imagine bookie A which offers to bet on the match winner for NFL match between Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers. Odds for Dallas to win are 2.06 and they favor Pittsburgh with odds of 1.91. If you would optimally cover both outcomes the payout would be 99.11%, meaning that you will get back 99.11% of the money you bet. That’s 0.89% less than you had before you made the bet.

Now lets imagine that bookie B offers the same NFL match, however their odds are different: They favor Dallas with 1.89 odds to win and odds of 2.1 for Pittsburgh to win. Bookie B offers 99.47% payout for this match.

2-way Arbitrage bet example

Bookmakers do not agree with each other on odds and even on who is the favorite in the match. Their disagreement actually gives us an arbitrage opportunity. If we would bet on the highest odds available for both outcomes, in this case on Bookie A for Dallas and Bookie B for Pittsburgh, we would have a payout of 104%. Meaning, that any bet amount you cover on both of these outcomes will give you 4% profit.

2-way Arbitrage bet profit

So if we place 600$ bet, 300$ on each side, we will get 624$ outcome no mater which team wins the game. It may not seem much, but that is guaranteed 24$ profit. Do this 10 times and you will have extra 240$ without doing much work.

2-way Arbitrage bet NET profit

Arbitrage betting also works for events with 3 outcomes like soccer, where match can end in draw. The same principal applies, just now you will need to make bets from 3 different bookies.

In the next example Bookies A, B and C are offering odds for soccer match between Manchester City and Liverpool. Just like before we choose the highest odds from each bookie on each outcome. In this case we pick Manchester City to win from Bookie A with odds of 2.2. Draw on 4 from Bookie B and odds of 3.75 for Liverpool to win from bookie C. This combination gives us a payout of 103% which makes a 3% arbitrage.

3-way Arbitrage bet

You can use arbitrage calculator such as the one available on our website or within the Rebelbetting app to determine how to distribute our 600$ bet between the outcomes. No matter how the game goes, you already have won 18$ before the match even has started.

Middle Bets

There is another sub type of arbitrage bet that is called middle bet. It works as a normal arbitrage bet, but the added bonus here is that middle bet gives you a possibility that all outcomes you cover can win bringing you a massive profit.

Let’s say that there is an Ice Hockey match and Bookie A is offering odds of 2.15 that there will be over 4.5 goals in the match. Bookie B on the other hand are offering odds of 1.95 that there will be under 5.5 goals in the game. This is a 2.2% arb. As in any other arbitrage bet we will calculate and split our 600$ on each side. Match can end with any amount of goals and we have secured our 13$ profit.

Middle bet example

What makes this bet special, is when the result falls in-between the middle of both bets. In this case if the game ends exactly with 5 goals scored, we win first bet, since there are more than 4.5 goals score and we also win the 2nd bet since there are under 5.5 goals scored.

Middle bet profit

Which makes our payout to be 1225$, thus that brings us to a staggering 625$ net profit!

Middle bets are a bit rare, however it is very popular to place bets even on slightly negative arbitrage middle bet, if it has the potential to bring win for both outcomes.

These odds differences between bookies mainly come because each of them have different internal risk on these outcomes which forces them to adjust odds, as well as simply they have different opinions on the probability of something happening. Usually the most arbs are around 3% — 10%. Generally sportsbooks also look over the competition and try to avoid being in arbitrage with someone else. That is why these opportunities may occur multiple times for the same event but in most cases they tend to be corrected in around 5 minutes while others may be available for the whole day.

How to find arbs?

Luckily for us arbers there are arbitrage bet tracking apps like Rebelbetting. It tracks these opportunities all the time from every bookie around the internet. It also has a built in arbitrage bet calculator that you can use so you will know exactly how much you need to place on each outcome to secure your win.

RebelBetting - the worlds most popular sports arbitrage software

You can also filter arbs by selecting a specific bookie where you have an account in. I would advise you to have an account in Pinnacle. They allow you to place large bet amounts, they have arbitrage bets very often due to being market setters for their competitors and they never punish players for using arbitrage betting. They even advertise themselves as arber friendly platform. Also, you must have an account in William Hill as they often have arbitrage opportunities on large events, as well as they have great bonus and promotional offers.

You can also filter arbs by sport, odds and even specific betting market. Rebelbetting updates arbitrage opportunities in real time and their free version show arbs up to 0.6%, while the Pro Version unlocks all of the arbs available, including separate section for middle bets up to 10%.

Additional tools to have

When you will first open Rebelbetting you will find huge selection of arbs. You will see that nice 7% arb you want to bet, however it may not be accessible from your country. What you then need to do is download a VPN. Since most bookies in the world are located and licensed in Malta and UK, all you need to do is switch your location to one of those countries depending on the bookmaker. I suggest you to use ExpressVPN, since it has servers both – in the UK and more importantly in Malta, since 95% of bookmakers are actually licensed by Malta Gaming Authority.

Another thing that I often hear from people is that they do not want to put out their credit card information when betting. The funny thing is you don’t have to. You may simply use E-Wallets such as Skrill. Skrill gives you the opportunity to send funds to your E-wallet which you can then use to place bets on these betting sites. It is simple to use, easy to register, transfers are super fast, and you also avoid the fact that your credit card information may not match the country you may be betting from.

Finalizing

The last thing I wanted to cover in this post is that besides Pinnacle other bookies may not be so welcoming to your arbitrage betting. They will allow it for some time but as time goes on they might limit your account. Meaning, that you will be able to bet only small bets which will not bring a lot of profit. There are plenty of bookies to choose from so don’t be discouraged, simply use different bookmaker.

And also remember if you ever want to get your funds out of bookmaker without any verification, you can simply use arbitrage betting as a way to transfer your funds to the bookie you want, without having to make an actual money transfer. What you need to do is simply make an arbitrage bet between the account you want to get your funds out, to the account you want your funds to go. Make sure to have the favorite of the bet to be placed at the account you wish to have your funds at.

Now that you have all the knowledge and tools, arbitrage betting could definitely become your second income as it works in long term and provides constant profit. If you are interested in more content related to what you have read here, check out our blog.