Pros and Cons Of Sports Betting: Is betting Good or Bad?
Sports betting and gambling are different. But both of them are very controversial topics. Most people think that betting is bad, but besides potential dangers, it can offer some good opportunities too.
I will present the dangers, cons, and disadvantages of sports betting and will try to show the good and bad parts of it.
The dangers, cons, and disadvantages of sports betting
1. Getting too emotional
Too much emotion can ruin even a good betting strategy. Losing too much can make you nervous.
Wanting to recover the losses in a short time can easily ruin your bankroll. Placing bets in a bad state of mind can lead you to human errors.
Being angry is a big disadvantage in sports betting. You will use a bad staking system and wrong bets too.
2. Following a bad strategy
You can find a lot of tips and tricks on the internet about “successful betting systems”. Most of them were created to attract readers or get your money.
Following one of these can cause you massive losses.
Strategies based on mathematics and probability calculation are the easiest and sure ways to make money with betting.
The following strategies are tested and proved to be profitable:
3. Becoming addicted to winning
Gambling addiction is a serious problem these days. Losing too much can motivate you to recover the money.
As I already mentioned it can have serious consequences. But a winning streak can cause addiction too.
If you are lucky enough or you know a good strategy, winning a big amount can happen sometimes.
The feeling it is causing sometimes can be addictive and dangerous.
4. Using a bad staking method
Even the best betting strategy can be ruined by a bad money management system.
Sticking to the wrong staking plan has a big chance of keeping your ROI (return on investment) down.
Even simple flat staking (placing the same amount on every bet) can be better than placing bets with inconsistent stakes.
5. Spending too much time betting
As I already mentioned, if you are betting for too long, it can affect your health and social life too.
Even for professional bettors, limiting your working hours to 9-10 hours a day might be a good idea.
6. Following bad tipsters
Some tipsters are very talented. They can make you good profits in the long run. But unfortunately finding them is not easy.
Not all of them are offering sustainable quality tips. In the following article, you can read my opinion about tipsters.
When are sports betting and gambling bad?
The real negative side of these activities comes when you can’t control your feelings and acts.
Most activities similar to gambling can have good side effects, like happiness and avoid being bored. But this is true until a certain level.
I think if you are a recreational sports bettor to a certain level, it is okay. Nobody should blame you for it.
But where is the limit?
Pros and cons of sports betting
Cons of sports betting:
- Hurting your financial future
- Spending too much time betting
- Bad emotional state
1. Losing everything on gambling
I think the financial part is one of the most obvious. Almost all of us know people who struggle financially because of gambling and betting addiction.
The adrenaline rush you can feel while betting can make you dependent.
After a certain level, the only thing that can cause this happiness and intensified emotional state is increasing the stakes and the risks.
Bettors who don’t know any profitable strategy, like the ones based on mathematics, will lose in the long run.
It’s the sad truth. If you are playing after the rules of the bookies, you will lose all of your money. The odds are including their profit margin.
No matter how good your winning streaks are, if you are using their basic odds, the profit margin will destroy your capital.
Bettors who are constantly wagering will notice that from time to time they need to deposit money again. The lucky ones can stop their activity if the loss is getting significant.
But for some of them, the greed and the fear of not recovering the losses kick in. In this situation a lot of them start to deposit more and more until the moment they lose everything.
Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to borrow money from friends and family to proceed with betting.
2. Spending too much time betting
For some people, this problem might not seem so serious. But I need to mention it. No matter if the bettor is successful or not, sports betting can make you spend too much time on it.
If you are a professional gambler with real experience, spending 8-10 hours a day can be normal. Doing this for a living can function as a job, so that amount of time is acceptable.
But what about bettors who are losing and still staying in front of the computer or phone just for betting? Well, it is a certain level, where you have to decide if it is healthy or not.
No matter if you are a professional or not, avoiding friends and family for sports betting is not good. I was in this situation for a long time.
It took me years until I realized that I’m working too much (as a sports bettor for a living).
If you are too obsessed with this activity, spending 10-14 hours betting could seem normal.
But is it acceptable to be unable to think about anything else other than betting?
I think that is the right moment to start changing the way you think about your job.
3. Emotional effects of sports betting
If you have placed at least one bet, you should already know what I’m thinking about. Avoiding every emotion while waiting for results is almost impossible for most of us.
I’ve been betting for a lot of years. Earning money in this industry made me learn how to control my emotions. But after a certain level or stake size, there is no way to remain calm.
Becoming nervous and impatient after a loss is almost inevitable if the risks and stakes were too high. In this state of mind, some people are hard to tolerate.
This bad state of mind can influence your sleep or can even cause headaches.
Pros of sports betting
1. Feeling happy when successful
In certain situations, sports betting can cause happiness and even financial freedom. I hope we all can agree that both of these are acceptable as a good side effect.
2. Financial freedom with the right strategies
You probably already heard about professional bettors who can make a living from sports betting. Happy news for you: It is fairly easy to make money from sports betting.
The only thing you should learn is the basics and techniques of mathematical betting strategies.
3. Possible loopholes in sports betting
It might sound hard, but don’t be afraid. You don’t have to be a math mastermind.
With techniques like matched betting, arbitrage betting, or value betting you can take advantage of loopholes at bookmakers.
They are offering bonuses and also bad odds and overpriced markets. Both of these are creating good betting opportunities for smart bettors who are looking for dropping odds strategies.
In this article, I won’t present them, because I already have a bunch of free information on this site.
These strategies can make sports betting good for anyone.
The advantage of betting strategies is the guaranteed profit and the caused sense of success.
Is sports betting good or bad?
This question itself makes you assume, that sports betting can have bad sides and effects on your life.
I think we all know people who were/are addicted to sports betting or gambling.
Some of them can visit betting shops on a daily basis and place an accumulator bet with a stake of 0.5 euros.
Is this type of sports betting bad?
If that person can earn 1000-1500 euros a month, is it bad to enjoy betting and spend 15-20 euros a month?
Based on my opinion, it depends on multiple factors. If you ask me, it’s a way better decision than spending it on alcohol or tobacco.
The problem with sports betting and gambling activities is way more complicated. Below you can find some ideas about both sides of sports betting.
Why sports betting is bad?
To understand why sports betting is bad we have to check its advantages and downsides of it as well. The addiction caused by betting and gambling is the main reason why many people and governments think this activity is bad.
Sports betting is fun, it can boost your adrenaline level. This industry is very entertaining and causes even addiction for many people.
The risk you take and the possible win can highly increase the level of excitement.
If you pay attention to a group of friends or colleagues you will notice, why is it so popular.
Even those who have no clue about sports tend to place even decent amounts of stakes.
Why is that?
The psychological part of betting is very strong. The excitement you can feel when watching your teams is powerful.
Following sports events by itself could be fun if your favourite team is playing. But even then, you can be more entertained if the risk is higher.
The chance of winning or losing a decent amount of money is causing your dopamine level to skyrocket.
The feeling it causes is one of the main reasons many people get addicted to gambling and sports betting.
Possible addiction is one of the main reasons why this industry is growing so fast. The obsession with winning big is higher than the fear of losing everything.
This is why so many companies can earn so much profit.
Reasons why sports betting is bad:
1. It can cause addiction
Unfortunately, many people can’t handle the addiction caused by sports betting or gambling.
Even though it can have remarkable impacts on financial or personal life, people tend to ignore them when betting.
The excitement they feel overwrites every general rule. Losing big amounts rather than not stopping is abnormal.
No matter what kind of effects it can have on your life, being addicted to something is like chains around your neck.
You are not free and many of your activities are influenced.
2. The house always wins
The system itself is built up in a way where winning customers are unwelcome. Sports betting has more to do with skills and knowledge than simple luck.
It is very similar to stock trading. It is not enough to hoard money on famous teams or stocks. You have to identify valuable options, teams, and outcomes and place bets on them.
The sad truth is that as in stock trading, in sports betting too, many people don’t know real money-making strategies.
Most people are placing bets on outcomes based on intuition, some unreliable tipsters, or superficial knowledge about sports.
98% of bettors tend to follow this kind of betting behaviour. Well, I have sad news for them.
The bookmakers and casinos are offering odds and slots that are already including their profit margins.
Your payout if you win is less than your chance of winning. If the team would have 50% to win (decimal odds of 2), your payout will be significantly less.
It will be around the odds of 1.83-1.90.
No matter who wins, if the bookmaker can correctly define odds, you will lose money in the long run.
Fortunately, smart bettors who focus on dropping odds, they make a lot of mistakes. Betting strategies based on mathematics are the easiest way to make money from sports betting.
The most basic strategy is bonus hunting. It uses bookmaker bonuses like loopholes.
If you don’t know anything about matched betting, you can read my review about OddsMonkey. In this article, you will find the information you will need.
You can take advantage of those offers by placing a bet at the bookie and covering the other outcome at another bookie. Thousands of bettors already made a fortune with this strategy.
Other winning strategies based on finding overpriced outcomes are:
A lot of bettors already made a fortune with these two techniques. In the following article, you can find my review of RebelBetting.
They are scanning bookmakers and displaying overpriced markets. Both of these strategies are supported by their sure bet and value betting services.
If you are living in the US or Canada, reading my review about OddsJam might be a good idea. They are focusing on bookmakers available in these countries.
3. Sports betting with money that you don’t own
For a lot of people sports betting is causing financial issues. In many situations losing every cash is not the ending point.
You probably heard about people who can’t stop gambling even when they have no money. Borrowing more from friends and family is a common act.
Unfortunately, some people will sell their homes or ask the bank for loans. These cases are one of the main reasons most people think that sports betting is bad.
The main reason why sports betting is bad is that many people are too greedy. Most of them want to win thousands without risking almost anything.
Placing a bet with a stake of 1 euro on odds of 500-700 with 8-10 selections is simple greed and stupidity.
I don’t want to make you mad, but thinking that you can end up in profits with this strategy is naivety.
Most gamblers only want to win big, and they don’t believe in small profits that can build up in the long term.
Winning 10-20 euros a day is bad for them. Following a strategy that can’t make you rich in a single day is not enough for them.
This is the main reason they will be at a loss at the end of the month.
4. Winning players are not welcomed
I think the worst thing about sports betting is the bookmakers themselves. Bettors who can win in the long run are unwelcomed.
If you win enough money with betting systems, you will face fast stake limitations and sometimes even get your account banned.
This behaviour of bookmakers is a good reason why many people think sports betting is bad.
It’s not easy to think about it as a good opportunity if their main motivation is to see you lose all of your money.
Can sports betting be good?
Based on my opinion and long years of experience, sports betting can be good. Knowing the right strategy is the main reason I’m saying this.
Gambling addiction has ruined many lives, but for a small part of people, it made a change in theirs.
The only real difference between them is the information they use while betting.
Following simple statistics or tipsters is not enough for long-term success.
But learning the strategies I already mentioned above is the key to making guaranteed profits from sports betting.
FAQ
For a lot of people, sports betting can cause serious addiction. If they are not following a proper strategy, betting can have bad results on their financial and personal future.
Sports betting can be dangerous if you can’t control yourself. Running into a losing streak is not a reason to start panicking. In betting it is very common to lose and to win massive amounts in a short time. It has other dangers too that can affect your life.
Ruining your financial future and personal life is not the only disadvantage of bad sports betting techniques.
Pros: bettors who know mathematical betting strategies and staking plans can earn a decent income even without serious knowledge about players and teams.
Cons: Sports bettors need to be very careful to know the difference between gambling addiction and being a recreational or smart bettor.
