Tips on How to Become a Professional Gambler Qualifications. Discipline: If you have to make a bet for the sake of making a bet you are in trouble. Focus: If you are distracted with other activities, people, family or problems you will not be able to give gambling the attention it requires. The website is specialising in free betting tips and predictions, bet tips, match previews, team news, odds, stats andbonus and free bet information across a wide range of sports and competitions. We’ve been shortlisted twice for an EGR Operator Award and more recognition is sure to come for providing readers with a first-class service.

1. Become A Professional Sports Gambler
2. Professional Sports Gambler Tips

To most sports gamblers, a professional bettor seems to have a perfect life. They wager on sports for a living, make their own hours, and earn serious profits.

That said, professional sports gambling may seem like a glorious career. However, it actually involves a long and slow climb to the top.

This guide discusses the realistic points of the path towards becoming a success when betting on sports. It also covers the small edges and long hours that gamblers must put it into turning pro.

Professional Sports Bettors Deal With Small Edges

When the general population envisions an expert sports bettor, they think of somebody who makes thousands of dollars with every wager.

They probably also picture a gambler who just can’t seem to lose night after night. The reality, though, is much different than this.

Instead, they have a small edge that they exploit through large bets.

Many sports gamblers consider themselves successful if they win 50% of their wagers at -110 odds. Of course, gamblers can win more far more bets against the sportsbooks if they back heavy favorites (e.g. -300 or better).

But -110 is a nice measuring stick for how successful you are in terms of win-loss percentage. Even if you win 50% of the time at these odds, though, you still won’t be making profits.

After all, you need to take the juice into account. A bookmaker takes 10% from the losing side in a -110 wager, meaning a 50% win rate won’t get it done.

Some handicappers claim they correctly guess over 60% of their sports betting picks. However, no handicapper or professional sustains such a win rate in the long run.

At best, one can only expect to be successful on 55% of their bets long term. This win rate certainly isn’t the 80% mark that many would envision for a pro.

You Can’t Expect to Win Big With a Small Bankroll

You won’t get very far if you have a 53% to 55% win rate and are only placing $10 bets. You can’t even earn a dollar profit from each wager at this rate.

You need to exploit your long-term edge with big bets in order to make serious profits.

Here’s an example on how much you might win as a lower-level pro:

• You place $2,000,000 worth of bets throughout the year.
• You win 54% of your wagers at -110 odds.
• 2,000,000 x 0.54 = $1,080,000 in winnings
• 2,000,000 x 0.46 = $920,000 in base losses
• 920,000 x 0.1 (juice) = $92,000 in juice paid
• 920,000 + 92,000 = $1,012,000 in total losses
• 1,080,000 – 1,012,000 = $68,000 profit on the year.

Unless you strictly bet point spreads, most profitable opportunities that you find aren’t going to be at exactly -110 odds. But I keep referring to these odds because they make for the simplest examples.

Become A Professional Sports Gambler

You also need to capitalize with large wagers as well. You can only place these big bets if you have the bankroll to do so.

You Must Build Your Skills & Bankroll

Sports gambling definitely isn’t something that you jump right into and immediately conquer. Instead, it requires you to put long hours into the matter.

You’re most likely not going to win right away. Therefore, you want to study general sports betting strategy while slowly increasing your bankroll at the same time.

You also need to work on your handicapping skills.

This way, you won’t lose too much money if your betting skills aren’t yet up to par.

All the while, you should also be slowly adding to your bankroll. This process involves saving money and using it to build your gambling funds.

You probably don’t have $50,000 or $100,000 just sitting around for gambling purposes. But you can build up to this amount through a combination of steady investments and improving your skills.

Eventually, You Need to Increase Your Bet Sizes

I highly advise that you don’t jump into sports gambling and start placing $1,000 wagers right away. Eventually, though, you want to up your bet sizes to make more money.

With a large enough bankroll, you may even theoretically earn thousands of dollars per wager.

Of course, you want that bankroll to back up those huge bets.

Otherwise, the volatility could ruin your betting career.

Therefore, you should put serious consideration into your bankroll size. Here’s an example:

• You want to place $500 bets.
• You also want a bankroll with at least 100 units to survive the volatility.
• You’ll risk 1-3 units on each match, depending upon how confident you are.
• 500 x 100 = 50,000
• You should start with at least $50,000 (100 units at $500 apiece).

Can You Grind From a Low Roller Into a Pro Bettor?

If you’re like most amateur online bettors, you’ll probably start with a $50 or $100 deposit. These amounts give you just enough money to make several bets on the games you watch.

However, you may also have aspirations of turning your small bankroll into a fortune someday.

The odds are definitely against you depositing $100 and eventually becoming a top pro. Then again, though, everybody has to start somewhere.

The reason why most sports bettors feel this way comes down to two aspects:

• They fail to put the work into strategy and handicapping.
• They exercise poor bankroll management.

Sure, everybody who sets out on the road towards professional gambling blames bad luck or external factors for their failures. In reality, though, the average bettor is lazy and impatient.

They don’t want to put an hour into handicapping a single bet. They want to put five minutes into handicapping 12 wagers and pray that they’ll win most of the bets.

Furthermore, the typical sports gambler doesn’t wish to grind their way up towards larger wagers. They want to quickly increase their bet sizes and take shots at the big time.

Long story short, it’s possible to go from a small initial deposit to becoming a professional gambler. But you also need discipline, patience, and steady investments into your bankroll.

Most gamblers aren’t willing to make these sacrifices. That said, it can sometimes feel impossible grinding up towards pro status.

Tips for Starting on the Path to Becoming a Pro

As discussed throughout this post, you’re not going to become a professional bettor overnight. But you can at least get started on the right path by following the tips below.

Save Up for a Starting Bankroll

A $100 bankroll isn’t going to help you become a professional gambler. Even a $1,000 bankroll won’t do the trick.

You need a sizable bankroll so that you can make large bets and survive potential losing streaks. The amount needed all varies based on how much you want to get out of sports betting.

Of course, you don’t have to put your betting activities on hold just because you don’t have a small fortune.

Instead, you can learn the ropes by making small bets while slowly adding to your bankroll on the side. If you save up enough money, you’ll eventually be able to become a serious pro.

Break Your Bankroll Down Into Units

Most professionals don’t look at their bets in terms of dollars. Instead, they break their bankrolls down into units.

If you normally wager $100 per bet, then your unit size will be $100.

Of course, you’ll likely bet more than $100 when you feel extremely confident about an outcome. Therefore, you might risk 2-3 units in these situations.

In any a case, here’s an example on how to break your bankroll down into units:

• You have a bankroll worth $75,000.
• You want 100 units.
• 75,000 / 100 = 750
• Each unit size will be worth $750.

Narrow Your Focus

You might be tempted to bet on multiple markets. After all, wagering on a variety of sports is more entertaining than just one or two.

But the goal here is mastery. You stand a much better chance of making profits someday if you truly know a market.

Going further, you should also pay attention to a specific division rather than constantly trying to scout an entire league. If you know one division extremely well, then you’ll be an expert on matches involving that division.

Never Stop Studying

Sports betting is fun because you may never truly master it. You could dedicate a lifetime to this pursuit and still get fooled by the bookies sometimes.

That said, you have lots of room to grow with betting. If you truly dream of becoming a professional, you should constantly be studying general strategies and handicapping tips.

As long as you never stop researching advice, you’ll improve over time. Improve enough, and you could very well make a nice living off of sports gambling.

Conclusion

Sports gambling may seem like a quick path to riches for skilled bettors. But in reality, it’s a long journey that involves lots of planning and patience.

You can’t go from zero to 60 and expect to win big right away. Instead, you should grind your way up the ladder while slowly adding money to your bankroll.

With this approach, you can improve your handicapping efforts while also building your gambling funds. You should also steadily increase your bet sizes—especially as you develop an advantage.

Professional gambler – two words that typically conjure up images of a sexy lifestyle, wads of cash and few working hours. The reality however, is much different. We tracked down UK based professional gambler Alex King (featured in the Racing Post) to get his take on what it takes to be successful, what shape the industry is in at present, and where it is headed.

SBO:Hi Alex. How long have you been betting professionally?

AK:About 7 years.

SBO:Which sports do you mainly focus on?

AK:I focus on 2 sports; boxing and racing. Predominantly horse racing and a little bit of boxing. I think it is a fatal mistake to try and bet on too many things. You should be an expert in one field rather than try and split your focus on too many things. I would say two sports at the absolute max. The only reason I bet on boxing and racing is because boxing is relatively easy to keep a focus on. Splitting your forces is a big mistake and work/life balance is important.

SBO:What does your daily routine look like?

AK:I try and get up early and I will focus on 2 meetings a day tops. Traditional pro-gamblers aim to find a value price, try and get 300 pounds on a horse, get told they can have 3 pence on, miss the price then drive themselves insane because they have missed the price. I look how horses trade from their Betfair SP compared to how they trade in running. In layman’s terms I’m looking to back a horse at say 3.00 on Betfair, in the expectation the horse will hit 2.00 and then either have a free bet, or take a guaranteed profit on the race. I’m treating horses like individual share prices now and what I am trying to do is to just predict how the market is going to go once the race goes in play. This saves me having to chase non-existent prices and call bookmakers who are unwilling to lay a bet because they are no longer confident that there pricing horse racing up correctly.

SBO:Where do you bet? Course/exchange shop/home etc.?

AK:I’m betting from home all the time now. I can concentrate and I don’t lose research time through travelling. I keep in contact with others pro’s over skype and email during the day. It’s a little solitary, which is why it is so important to have good social connections outside of this game.

SBO:As we know, most punters fail to turn a profit, what would you say your edge has been to win consistently for so long?

AK:First of all I wouldn’t recommend professional punting to too many people, unless you have a real flair and/or a huge desire to do it. As a very famous pro-punter told me once: ‘Gambling is the only business in the world where the better you get, the harder it is.’ It’s so true. Most punters fail to make a profit because of a number of factors. A lot of people are experts on racing, but ask them if they think a horse has a 50% chance or 30% chance of winning – they simply couldn’t tell you accurately. You have to be able to evaluate a price better than the people setting the odds. You must also have a solid staking plan in place. If you can’t get those two factors right, then you are in big trouble. You also need to be able to keep a cool head and not start gambling beyond your limits. If you really want to be a pro punter you have to be ready to put some serious, serious work into it. Success takes time. I have worked in the business for such a long time and have such a good grounding in it which has helped me more than anything. I also talk on a daily basis with pro-punters and that has helped to keep me in front. But I would honestly tell people to think very, very hard before embarking on this. If I had children and my son/daughter said they wanted to do this as a profession, I would do everything in my power to dissuade them.

SBO:Do you think the betting exchanges have had a positive or negative effect on being able to turn a profit?

AK:It’s been a double edged sword. Firstly the idea of betting exchanges is a great one. Bookmakers hate them because they have made the market more competitive. Horse racing markets on Betfair are trading to 100.5% to 102%, which in terms of overround is a lot lower than fixed odds bookmakers. Bookmakers hypocritically bemoan the exchanges – I say hypocritically because you can’t have accounts with the exchanges and still moan about them – because exchanges have smashed the bookmakers’ monopoly somewhat. Exchanges have also given the punter the chance to be the layer, which is a service that only spread betting afforded you in the past. My criticism of Betfair, is that they have been allowed to monopolise the exchange market. This is completely against the interest of the consumer. There are several fixed odds bookmakers, if anyone of them decided they were going to impose a “premium charge” then you simply go to another one. Exchanges are good, we punters just need more of them.

SBO:In ten years’ time, what does the horse racing betting landscape look like for professional punters?

AK:I think it’s bleak to be honest for several reasons. Firstly the generation that are into horse racing are a dying breed. Bookmakers are taking less and less money on the sport because the younger generation want to bet on football, golf and other sports. Racing is just not bringing in the big money for the bookmakers now. It’ so hard to get bets on now, what will it be like in the future? If the government, correctly, takes the decision to heavily regulate the accursed fixed odds betting terminals – better still ban them, then the bookmakers will be forced to close shops. This will make it harder for the pro-punter as getting on in the shops is really the only way to get on nowadays. This is why I am taking my modus operandi away from the traditional methods.

SBO:What job would you liken being a professional punter to?

AK:I would say it is the poor man’s stock exchange. It can definitely be likened to financial trading.

Professional Sports Gambler Tips

SBO:What would you change about the game?

AK:Have you got 10 years?! Very simply I would nationalise the entire betting industry in this country. You can argue against the nationalisation of the railways or energy suppliers, but I see no valid reason why the betting industry could not be nationalised and run effectively, with the profits going back into the public purse and not in the hands of private shareholders. The whole business has become a zero sum game for the punter. If the punter wins his accounts are closed down, if he loses he can do whatever he wants. So the bookmakers are running a service whereby they can only win. This would not happen if UK gambling was run along the same lines as the Tote system in France. Why should private shareholders, many of whom are using offshore tax havens, get rich from the sport when the profits could be going directly back to the public? This would also make sure that pro-punters could get their bets on without being restricted. I would also ban FOBTs (fixed odds betting terminals)

SBO:Would you ever consider going on the other side and becoming a bookmaker?

AK:Yes. But I would want to be a really old school bookmaker. Not one who is sitting there laying 2.75 when I can back a horse back at 3.00 on the exchanges. If I was going to be a bookie I would like to be one of those who were made from different cloth. Like Stephen Little, Bill Chandler, William Hill or a Freddie Williams. Bookmakers who were willing to stick a price up and live or die by their judgement. That appeals to me, but realistically I can’t see myself with going that way.

SBO:How would you advise punters to improve their punting skills, specifically with horse racing?

AK:I believe in the validity of the saying: “There is none so wise as the experienced.” I believe you should try and learn from people who have trodden this path. It may well be that in the future I will run some seminars and I have also written a book which is currently being considered for publishing which will be called: Betting on horses in-running. This isn’t a self-serving plug on my behalf, but from my own experiences I learned first-hand from people who trod the path that I want to go down. If at all possible try and do the same. Talk to pro-punters and try to learn from them whether that be me, or someone else in the same business.