Legendary Motown singer Smokey Robinson once advised music lovers that ‘they better shop around’. While there’s no evidence that Robinson was a sports betting enthusiast, nowhere is the importance of ‘shopping around’ more critical to success. It could very well be argued that the most common mistake that sports bettors make is the failure to adequately ‘shop’ for the best pointspreads or wagering odds available.

Beyond the excitement of betting on sporting events, whether it’s a championship boxing match, English Premier League soccer or NFL football, success or failure is determined by cold, hard mathematical certainty. For a pointspread player laying the traditional 11/10 odds, breakeven is 52.4%. The moneyline player’s breakeven percentage varies with the average price of his wager but is no less certain.

Devotees of other forms of gambling are well aware how small factors can accrue to eventually give the player an advantage over ‘the house’. Blackjack players learn to count cards and employ basic strategy. Video poker players look for machines with favorable payout tables. For some reason, however, many sports bettors don’t have the same awareness of the importance of giving themselves the best chance of winning.

Simply by betting at a sportsbook that offers ‘reduced juice’ and laying -105 instead of -110 on a pointspread bet, a player reduces his breakeven percentage by a full percentage point. This may not seem significant in the short term, but over the course of a season or longer it can mean the difference between finishing ‘in the black’ as opposed to winding up ‘in the red’.

Shopping for the best pointspread or odds on an individual wagering proposition can provide an even more significant boost to the player’s bottom line. This is what the professionals do—they tirelessly search to make sure they are getting the best number possible when they lay a bet. Over the course of the year, they’ll see losers become winners because they got down at the best price available.

With the growth of Internet based, offshore wagering there’s simply no excuse for not having a variety of ‘outs’. No matter what sport a player wishes to bet on—from the UFC and mixed martial arts to European soccer or hockey—there are dozens of well run, financially solid and highly respected books waiting to take his action.

There’s also a variety of tools and websites that allow a bettor to quickly compare prices of individual games at a variety of books. Tools such as live lines feeds and odds comparison services were once within reach of only well heeled professional gamblers and wagering syndicates, but are now only a mouse click away for any sports betting enthusiast.

If you were buying a car or a television set, you’d be foolish to pay more than necessary when a minimal bit of effort would afford you the best price available. With the growth of the offshore sportsbook marketplace and the advent of odds comparison tools and websites, the same dynamic now exists for every sports bettor recreational or professional.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 6:02 pm and is filed under articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.