Best sports for arbitrage betting in 2023

Arbitrage betting is the least risky smart betting strategy for a guaranteed profit.

I practiced it for many years on almost every relevant sport before switching to value betting.

To be honest I prefer value betting over arbitrage betting because it can offer more profits in the long run with the downside of being riskier.

If you prefer arbitrage betting over the other smart betting techniques for its low risk, you could ask the following question:

What are the best sports for arbitrage betting?

The best sports for arbitrage betting are those with many betting opportunities without the very high risk of getting your accounts banned by bookies. The best sports for smart bettors are football, tennis, hockey, and basketball.

But there are more with great potential. Keep reading for a detailed analysis of the best sports for arbitrage betting.

1. Arbitrage betting on Football

Football is the most played sport and the most followed globally.

It is estimated that football has 4 billion followers worldwide.

The number of leagues and teams is almost innumerable, and financially football has a big impact on the economy too.

Football is the most followed sport by the bookmakers, with a big variety of leagues and betting market coverage.

I have used many football odds comparison sites and sure bets finders for smart betting techniques.

Based on my experience football is offering the most consistent profits in the long term.

Bettors have the possibility to place their tips on almost every possible event in the match.

The amount of money that flows into bets on football makes it the most important sport for bettors and bookmakers too.

Football has a long history, and it is offering a good base for creating odds provider services.

These services are using almost the same data for defining the real probability of football events.

Fortunately for arbitrage bettors, some of them are not so fast and accurate in defining these odds.

This situation is creating good opportunities and income sources with smart football betting strategies.

Football arbitrage betting: why is it the best sport for it?

Odds providers can define the sharpest odds on football.

The more accurate and sharp odds can a bookmaker provide, the higher the stake limit can be in those markets.

If bookmakers are confident in their odds, they will offer way higher stake limits for your bets and they will limit your account later.

If you are betting on markets and leagues that have high limits, your account can last longer with a better chance of placing bigger stakes.

This rule only applies to big leagues with more attention on them.

Bookmakers are offering a lot of markets on football matches.

Slower markets like the winner of the match can offer good arbitrage opportunities.

On faster markets like over/under goals or corners, you have more chances to find differences between bookmakers.

Football is the most followed sport by arbitrage bettors and by normal bettors too.

But for these markets, you need advanced sure bet finders like BetBurger or at least fast/affordable ones like ArbMate.

This is helping your smart betting activity harder to be spotted.

The more people are betting on the same sport, the less attention your account will get.

Advantages of football arbitrage betting

• Tens of thousands of football events take place each year, which makes football arbitrage betting an excellent and sustainable income source almost every month.
• Football arbitrage betting is the least suspicious compared to using other sports because of its big fan base of it. Millions of bettors use this sport and each market on it for betting. Your bets might stay under the radar easier.
• Many different markets offer excellent football arbitrage opportunities. Focusing on smaller markets can generate larger profits because of bigger bookie mistakes as well.
• Even free arbitrage bet finders football sure bets.
• High maximum stakes even on second league events.

Downsides of arbitrage betting on football

• Most predictable sport, so even in-play events don’t generate the number of sure bets/events as tennis for example

The more markets bookmakers are offering, the more vulnerable they can be against smart bettors because of offering wrong odds.

The fact that football has such a big number of followers, is making it the most common sport to bet on as a normal bettor.

So, betting on football as an arbitrage bettor won’t be a strange betting behavior like for example betting on Ping-Pong.

Want to find more arbs faster than the other bettors?

Based on my personal experience and the general opinion in this industry, I can say that ArbMate is one of the best arb betting services for football. 

Their subscription prices are affordable for every arbitrage bettor because of the unique subscription plan they have built.

You need to subscribe only to the bookmakers you will need for your activity.

On the other hand, they are the second fastest scanner on the market.

The first one is costing around 6-8 times more for a month, while the difference is hard to notice.

If you have some experience in arbitrage betting, their tools will bring you 30% more profits in football.

2. Tennis artbitrage betting

After being active in tennis arbitrage betting for over 3 years, I think now is the time to share my experience and some insights to help some of you in starting this sure betting thing successfully.

Tennis is my all-time favorite for arbitrage betting.

Based on some statistics tennis is the fourth most followed sport, with approximately 1 billion followers worldwide.

At bookmakers, you will find this sport as the second or third most important on their list.

The fact that so many people are following tennis, makes it obvious that a lot of people are betting on it too.

The true odds and real probability of outcomes in tennis are harder to predict.

This is making tennis a good sport for arbitrage bettors. A lot of wrong odds are appearing before the event with a good chance of exploiting them.

I think for live arbitrage betting tennis is one of the best sports, because for multiple reasons:

Advantages of tennis arbitrage betting

• Tennis is a very fast sport, with an unpredictable outcome of the next point, and game-winners can happen at any time. The bookmakers can’t adjust their odds fast enough every time, which is creating a lot of arbitrage opportunities.
• You have a wide variety of markets with a lot of chances for wrong odds. A lot of the markets are so specific, that even a little change in the match can create sure bet opportunities
• A lot of the markets are finished in a short time, allowing arbitrage bettors to finish their bets quickly. The faster a market is finished, the faster your bet will be evaluated and you can use the money for a new bet.
• You have very many possibilities for placing arbitrage bets. On a single tennis event, you can place 10+ bets, and some of them can be finished in 1 hour. This way you can turn over way more money on a 60-minute-long tennis match than on a 90 minutes long football match.
• A lot of bettors are placing bets on tennis events, so arbitrage bettors will get less attention
• Stake limits are fairly high
• Not every arbitrage betting scanner is covering tennis.
• If you read my review about BetBurger, you can have some advantage against other bettors and bookies too (they are less likely to limit you on tennis – my personal experience). 

Downsides of tennis arbitrage betting:

• Significantly fewer events in tennis than in other sports such as football
• Arbitrage betting in pre-match tennis is the same as hard as betting on football, but if you are betting live, tennis needs way more focus and experience. You need to know how tennis is played, and in which moments are appropriate to place bets without risking too much on odds movement.
• Tennis rules between bookmakers can be different. A lot of bookmakers have different rules about the retirement of a player. Some of them are voiding every bet, some of them only for certain markets. Before you start learning about how you can find arbitrage bets on tennis, it is wise to check these rules to avoid the chance of losing money this way.

Tennis arbitrage betting strategy

The simplest way of tennis arbitrage betting is by firing up a free sure bet finder, selecting the betting sites you have access to, and in their sports filters selecting tennis only.

The easiest way to start learning about tennis sure betting is by sticking to pre-match arbs only. This way you can avoid the fast-changing odds.

Beginner arbitrage bettors might struggle because even at pre-match the odds might drop really fast.

Many people started sure betting not only on football but on tennis as well.

This increasing trend will cause faster moving odds. Some arbitrage bet finders can display the up-time of each betting opportunity.

In many cases, tennis sure bets that are up for a long time can be available for a longer period because bookies are not noticing the mistake, or not enough users placed bets on these overpriced odds.

Professional tennis arbitrage betting tips

Being a pro in tennis sure betting becomes profitable and fun when you are able to find and place tennis arbitrages on in-play events.

I was sure betting on pre-match events only for a shorter period, I think only 4-5 months.

After getting some experience I started focusing on live events.

Opting in for an in-play arbitrage finder is a game changer.

Bookies are making insane mistakes and because of the fast-changing odds and player play performances, they can’t keep up every time.

It’s not uncommon to spot tennis sure bets with the profitability of over 8%.

I must warn you that in-play tennis arbitrage betting requires a decent amount of time already spent with in-play sure betting.

The odds are moving very fast which can be in your favor, but a tiny mistake will cost you a lot.

Try placing tennis arbitrage bets when there is a bigger break after every odd number of games, this way you can avoid running into dropping odds due to a new point.

Check retirement rules while tennis arbitrage betting

One of my biggest mistakes was that I ignored the fact that many bookies have different rules about moments when a player retires/gives up the match.

For tennis arbitrage bettors this can mean the reason for a massive loss.

Some betting sites will return your stakes, while others will evaluate your bets.

Before tennis sure betting make sure that both bookies you use have the same rules for these cases.

3. Hockey arbitrage betting

Arbitrage betting on hockey is very similar to football betting.

A lot of markets are very similar. The speed of events is faster, with more action and more scores, so a lot of wrong odds can appear.

Read my article about ice hockey betting tips and learn about new strategies too!

In my experience, the maximum stake in hockey matches is lower than in football or tennis.

This sport has some advantages over the other ones.

The dynamic of this sport is faster than at football, which can offer surebet opportunities more often.

But compared to tennis you have more time to place your bets without a very high chance of odds movement (in live betting).

The difference in bookmaker rules can make you have hard time if you are not well informed.

Before betting on hockey, you should check the terms and conditions to avoid any rule differences between bookies.

Hockey has a big number of followers, but the number of matches is not as high as at football.

The other downside of arbitrage betting on hockey is that not every bookmaker has a wide variety of markets and also, they are not covering every league.

4. Basketball arbitrage betting

Basketball is my other favorite for smart betting.

The sport itself is very fast, and very dynamic which is making it very entertaining to watch.

This sport is one of those, which is worth the time to learn and watch.

A lot of bettors made a fortune by learning every piece of information about basketball players and teams.

But in our case, arbitrage betting does not require deep knowledge about basketball to make decent money on it. In pre-match arbitrage betting, you can find a decent amount of wrong odds, even in higher leagues.

But if you have enough experience and you know this sport well, arbitrage betting on the basketball can be one of your best income sources.

The odds are moving very fast, a three-pointer scored can have a big impact on the odds.

The fast movement of odds is making bookmakers vulnerable against smart bettors.

After using Betburger for several years, I can say that their services are helping me to spot good betting opportunities. 

Click here to read my Betburger review.

A lot of bookmakers can’t change the odds fast enough, or sometimes they are not getting very accurate information from the providers.

These mistakes are very common in basketball matches, and to be honest, I think you can find the most surebet opportunities in this sport.

The fact that you can find so many wrong odds is not making basketball the best sport for arbitrage betting.

In order to be successful, you need a lot of experience, and you need to be very fast in placing every outcome of your bets.

I think that basketball is a better income source for value bettors because they don’t need to make calculations and can act very fast.

Basketball is a very popular sport in most countries, which is making it popular in the betting world too.

As an arbitrage or value bettor, you will meet decent stake limits in most of the big leagues.

Advantages of basketball arbitrage betting

• One of the best sports for in-play sure betting because of the fast-moving odds (if you know where to find these basketball arbitrages)
• Famous sport in many countries which is the reason why bookies take even high stakes
• Many smaller markets cause excellent sure betting opportunities
• The bets are finished and evaluated fast which can increase the volume of your sure bets on basketball

Downsides of arbitrage betting on basketball

• Requires a serious amount of experience to avoid major mistakes and big losses
• Not every sure bet finder covers basketball arbitrage bets

Other interesting sports for arbitrage betting are Baseball and Volleyball

To be honest I do not have much experience with these sports.

I preferred live arbitrage betting and value betting because the accounts are lasting way longer if my bets are not before the start.

I live in Europe, which is making it harder to bet on Baseball because the matches are taking place at night.

You can find a lot of baseball matches with a fairly high maximum stake.

In pre-match, a lot of bookmakers are not offering too much market, which is making it harder to find good sure bet opportunities.

However, in live betting, you can find a lot of wrong odds with good maximum stakes.

Volleyball, on other hand, is a fast sport that is generating good arbitrage opportunities.

This sport is not so commonly used by bettors.

Generally speaking, a sport with less attention can offer you good possibilities, but I would be careful with betting big stakes on volleyball.

Want to find the best bookmakers for arbitrage betting? Read this article!

Conclusion about the best sports for arbitrage betting

I think football is the best sport for arbitrage bettors with not enough experience.

You have a lot of time for calculating your stakes and placing your bets.

The rules for bets are the same at every bookmaker, and the maximum stakes are fairly high.

For smart bettors with more experience, tennis and basketball can be the best sports for their arbitrage betting activity.

The odds are moving very fast, this way creating a lot of opportunities for smart bettors.

The risk of making mistakes is higher, but you can place a lot more bets.

Similar posts that might interest you:

• Best bookmakers for arbitrage betting
• Best odds for arbitrage betting
• Best markets for arbitrage betting

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