FAQ

No, these are different types of arbitrage situations. A surebet strategy means that a bettor places bets with different bookmakers on opposite outcomes of the same event and makes a profit.

For example, bets on a hypothetical football match Zenit – CSKAon the total goals.

• Bookmaker №1 offers odds of 1,91 on Over 2,5
• Bookmaker №2 offers odds of 2,25 on Under 2,5

Regardless of the score at which the match ends, the player will make a profit of 3,3% of the bankroll.

A bookmaker middle is a strategy that allows for a win on both bets simultaneously. Each middle has its own width.

For example, bets on a hypothetical basketball match Los Angeles Lakers – Phoenix Suns

• Bookmaker №1 offers odds of 1,96 on Over 159,5
• Bookmaker №2 offers odds of 1,96 on Under 161,5

The width of the middle is 2 points, meaning that with a total of 160 or 161, the player who placed bets on this middle will win both bets. In any other case,  the player will win one of the bets and have an overall “loss” of 2% of the bankroll.

Despite the sometimes exciting events that unfold in the races for possession of the World Cup, biathlon still cannot yet surpass such sports as football, hockey, and basketball in popularity. Bets on biathlon are available at far from every even major and well-known bookmaker. And without a variety of choices, there can be no surebets.

Thus, answering your question – surebets on biathlon do exist, but they are isolated. It is impossible to earn money from them under these conditions.

According to statistics, the most popular sport in Europe is football. The greatest number of bets is accepted specifically on this sport. Top games may have more than 200 open markets. It is precisely the broad representation across different bookmakers that makes arbitrage betting possible in sports.

As for live surebets, they more often arise in sports in which both teams score many points. First and foremost, this is basketball. To a lesser extent, it is tennis and volleyball.

Football, hockey, and basketball are best suited for arbitrage betting or surebets. The market coverage for some football events sometimes exceeds 200 markets, which means that the probability of assessing them differently is much higher than, for example, in water polo. It is precisely the bookmakers’ different assessment of the possibility that one event or another will occur, reflected in different odds, that creates the condition for an arbitrage situation.

Our advice: when placing surebets, base your choice not on your favorite sports or team, but on factors such as the size of the profit and the turnover speed of your bets (ROI).

Sports arbitrage is a system of placing bets at different bookmakers on opposite outcomes of the same match (event), as a result of which the player makes a profit regardless of the match outcome.

Thus, bookmaker surebets and middle bets are types of sports arbitrage betting.

Most often, the middle betting strategy is used in basketball matches. Let us look at an example.  Bookmaker №1 offers odds of 1,96 on U 159,5. Bookmaker №2 offers odds of 1,8 on O 156,5. If the match ends with a total of 157,158,159, the player wins both bets. In any other case, they will win one bet, which is also not bad at all.

A bet on middles (tunnels, pants, windows) is one of the strategies that consists of placing a bet on two sides (opposite outcomes), but with a margin. The advantages of betting on middles are good winnings when hitting the middle.

An overpriced bet (value bet, value betting, valuebet) is a betting strategy based on events that the bookmaker has undervalued. Since the bookmaker has undervalued them, the bookmaker has set odds higher than their probability warrants. By betting on overpriced odds, a player gains an edge over the bookmaker in the long run, even after taking losses into account.

How can you find overpriced odds?

1. Independently. This is especially relevant for players who have a good understanding of what they are betting on, keep their finger on the pulse, and know what is happening with their favorite team almost better than the coach. After carefully analyzing the lines and odds offered by bookmakers, such a professional can find an inflated odd. After all, bookmaker analysts also sometimes make mistakes and fall prey to stereotypes.
2. With the help of services that scan for bets with an edge. Their advantage is that they process data from a large number of bookmakers. First, the average odd is displayed as the arithmetic mean of all the offered odds, and then this value is compared with each odd from the bookmaker. The value that is your average is the sought-after overpriced bet.
3. Look carefully at surebets. One of the arbitrage legs of a surebet is definitely a value bet. It is precisely the presence of overpricing that causes a surebet to arise.

As we have already answered above, if a player hits the middle, they receive winnings on both bets, that is, a very noticeable “plus.” If they do not hit it, the winnings will be on only one of the bets.

A positive middle means that the player will have a profit in any case, even if the winnings come from only one bet. In practice, there are very few such middles, and they are narrow, so sometimes it makes no sense to pursue their positive nature specifically.

A negative middle means that if the player misses the middle and wins only one bet, they will incur a small loss. Those who want to increase the middle do this, thereby increasing the probability of winning on both bets and offsetting possible losses.

No. In the classical sense, it is not. Arbitrage betting is a situation in which a player is guaranteed, with 100% probability, to come out of an arbitrage bet at least without a loss and, in most cases, with a good win.

Polish middles, on the other hand, allow for one, albeit unlikely, outcome to arise, which may reduce the player's bankroll. This is described in detail in the article about Polish middles.

So why do we discuss them on the website? It is very simple — Polish middles use the same principles as ordinary middles, where several oppositely directed events intersect, giving the player the opportunity to earn 5-10 times more (on average; there can be imbalances) than to lose.

The method, although not absolute from the standpoint of reliability, is potentially quite profitable. And if you know how to find Polish middles (and we do), you can earn quite well from them.

Earnings from Polish middles, just as from ordinary middles, come from the event outcome «landing» in both (and sometimes more than two) oppositely directed outcomes.

Example of a simple middle: there are two bets: Over 0,5, odds 2,05, and Under 1,5, odds 2,50.

If exactly one goal is scored in the match in question, this outcome will fall under both outcomes, which means that the player who placed a bet on them will, as it were, receive their winnings twice.  This is what landing in a middle means.

In the case of Polish middles, the calculation method is somewhat more complicated (it is described in detail on the page describing Polish middles).

Live surebets are surebets that appear during a match or event. Compared with prematch surebets, their distinguishing feature is the short “life” of a surebet – from several minutes to literally several minutes. This is precisely why they have their advantages and disadvantages compared with ordinary surebets.

So, the advantages of live surebets include:

• Fast turnover of funds invested in bets. Surebets are relevant only during the match (event); the maximum duration of a football match, including the halftime break and added time, is about 2 hours.

 As a rule, live bets are settled quickly, so the funds are released to continue placing bets.

• For effective work with live surebets, the required bankroll may be smaller than for ordinary surebets. This is due to the first point – fast turnover.
• The risk of an account being blocked or facing other types of bookmaker sanctions is significantly lower than with prematch surebets.  It is much more difficult for bookmakers to catch surebetters when they place bets during a match.

The disadvantages of live surebets include:

• Rapid changes in odds. You may simply fail to place all legs of the surebet in time.

How can you protect yourself when betting on live surebets?

1. If you have little experience specifically with live betting, we recommend starting with small amounts.
2. Bet on two-outcome surebets. When everything changes on the fly, the probability of placing both bets in time without making a mistake is higher than with 3-outcome surebets.
3. For live bets, use sports where the score does not change quickly. For example, this could be football or hockey.
4. If you bet on totals, place Over first, even though its odds increase over time. This protects you from the teams scoring a goal while you are placing Under. It would be useful to have a live broadcast in front of you – some bookmakers offer this option to their users.
5. Do not bet at the end of the match; betting should stop about 5-7 minutes before the end. Many bookmakers stop accepting bets during this period – you must be sure that you will cover all legs of the selected surebet.

The answer to this question should be divided into 2 parts: how to protect yourself from your own mistakes and how to protect yourself from bookmaker countermeasures.

To minimize your own mistakes, you should:

1. Open accounts only with reputable bookmakers.
2. Before starting to work with any bookmaker, carefully read the terms for accepting, settling and refunding bets. Particular attention should be paid to the part of the rules concerning extra time. Surebets should be placed between bookmakers with identical terms.
3. Start working with surebets using small amounts to gain experience.
4. Do not rush, and before placing the legs of surebets, independently verify that the bets and odds on bookmaker websites are current (if you are working with one of the surebet scanners).
5. Do not bet in the final minutes of a match. At this time, many bookmakers stop accepting bets, and you may not have time to place all the legs of the surebet.

To avoid being added to the “surebetters’ blacklists” compiled by bookmakers, we recommend:

1. Do not place unrounded bets.  It is good to bet 30$, and bad to bet 32,42$.
2. Do not place repeated bets on the same event. Even if you really want to and the percentages are very attractive.
3. Do not place your entire bankroll on one bet. Ordinary bettors do not do this.
4. Do not place surebets with profitability above 10%. Most likely, this concerns an error (accidental or deliberate, intended to catch surebetters) in the odds line. In this case, the bet will be cancelled—settled at odds of 1,00.