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How to Make Profitable Sports Bets


06 January 2026

Sports betting is something that many people around the world enjoy. It provides an extra level of enjoyment for fans of sport, as they stand the chance of winning a payout on their favoured teams and players. Of course, there is a certain level of skill and strategy that needs bringing into play to be profitable in sports betting. In this guide, we will give you some details on how to be profitable when placing sports bets online.

It is important to note, first, that different bettors like different systems of engaging in sports betting. Plus, something that may work for you as a soccer sports bettor may not be applicable for you if you’re a tennis betting fan, for example. Even so, we have put together some insights into tactics you can utilise to heighten your chances of generating profit from your wagers.

Utilise a Selection of Sportsbooks

It is always ideal to have accounts at two or three online sportsbooks. Imagine yourself shopping for clothes. You don’t go to a single shop and pick up the first thing you find. You shop around for the best product and price, right? Well, the same is true of sports betting. Odds can vary from site to site by even the smallest of margins. So, you should always spend time looking around at the sportsbooks you hold an account at to find the top odds on the markets you’re wanting to bet on.

Place a Focus on Overcoming the Smaller Markets

It may be quite a common misconception that most sports bettors focus on wagering on overall winner. This could be tournament winner or match winner. While this is a popular market, the knowledgeable sports bettor will also place a lot of focus on overcoming the smaller markets available.

You can often find rarer markets with excellent odds to benefit from if you can put proper research into them first. If you’re going to engage in online cricket betting or rugby betting, you will find that there are plenty of these markets available, for example.

Establish a Proper Bankroll and Adhere to It

You’ll find this guidance to be a recurring theme throughout the BettingSites24 website, but we cannot stress enough how important it is to create a betting bankroll. And not just any bankroll, but a proper one, too. This should be an amount of money that you set aside per week or month to use on sports bets.

Once you have determined this figure, you should figure out a unit size as well. This keeps all your wagers consistent. It is recommended to start with a size of between 1% and 2% of your bankroll per bet. Adhering to this amount on a consistent basis allows for variance to come into play and you not to lose everything swiftly.

Keep Control and Stay Calm

Many online sports bettors, especially newcomers, tend to fall into the pit of deciding to bet on anything and everything occurring. Just because an event is taking place doesn’t mean you have to bet on it. Professional bettors wanting to maximise their profit don’t engage in betting on everything. Instead, they look for long-term income from betting, and will thus only place wagers when there is value present.

Keep a Record and Stay on Top of This

Upon joining an online sportsbook and then proceeding with a deposit through a supported payment method, you should begin a ledger of all your activity. This is easy to do on a spreadsheet if you don’t want to write it down by hand. Track everything – and we mean everything.

Note down the sport you’re betting on, the team or player you’re wagering on, the odds provided, the stake you place, the potential payout, whether you won or lost etc. Keep a note of what your opening balance was and the closing balance after the wager settles. Following an extended timeframe, you can look back over this record and see which bets provided the most profit to you. This gives you the capability of repeating such wagers in the future.

Brian Thompson
Brian Thompson
Author
86 Articles

With over 18 years of experience in the gambling industry, Brian is the go-to guy for anyone who wants to successfully navigate the world of sports betting. Growing up listening to stories from his father, a legendary croupier at the San Vincent casino, Brando turned this passion into a successful career.

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