Betting tipsters give followers or subscribers substantial picks for upcoming sports games or horse races. However, fraudsters are also pretending to be experts when making profitable wagers.
Are betting tipsters legitimate, and how can you spot them among various online platforms? This article will answer those questions.
Sports Betting Tipsters 101
Betting tipsters are information hawkers on wagers for sporting events such as NBA finals or NFL Super Bowls. They also offer expert picks on eSports and horse racing meetings. Some tipsters have a reputation that goes years back, while others are more in the picks business to skim money from easy victims.
Because their picks are valuable to bettors looking to make money on sports and racing events, tipsters monetize their expertise through various methods. A subscription model is the most common payment method where followers receive a set of picks for specific games or races while paying a monthly or annual plan. Other tipsters earn money through alternative means such as donations from followers or affiliate links to legitimate UK or US betting sites.
The Legitimacy of a Betting Tipster
UK and US sports tipsters have been around for decades as handicappers responsible for deciding which participants are at an advantage for upcoming events. Handicappers utilize a scoring compensation computation or other methods to assess each participant’s potential to win.
Tipsters, especially those who have been in the business for a long time, have their methods of evaluating a game according to various factors. These methods have helped them predict who among the participants will win and other outcomes such as the spread or totals of a match. Professional sports bettors are also subscribers to tipsters since wagers are considered an investment among them.
Unfortunately, this results in unrealistic expectations from tipsters regarding the accuracy of their predictions. Some bettors believe every pick from a long-running tipster has a 90% chance of winning. This misconception is far from real since tipsters are like weather forecasters when predicting the week’s rain. While their methods make it possible to make accurate predictions or picks, they are not guarantees that an outcome will come true.
With the right expectation, bettors can fully utilize a tipster’s recommendation and find valued bets. Instead of betting to risk, legitimate picks allow betting to win or increase the odds of winning a reasonable payout. This method involves making conservative bets using tipster picks across a month or season. As long as the picks come from a dependable formula that considers all variations and data of a match, bettors can expect a solid horse racing or sports betting ROI.
Note that a positive ROI is possible if you get picks from a “legitimate” tipster. Scammers have been pretending to be experts using fake data and false claims. Fortunately, you can avoid these criminals by looking for the signs of a scammer.
Finding a Legitimate Tipster
Numerous tipsters provide professional predictions on upcoming events. Below are the factors that will help you find them.
Positive Feedback
A good measure of a tipster’s legitimacy is the feedback of their subscribers or bettors who follow them. Naturally, you will get plenty of positive reviews from bettors who experienced numerous winning outcomes from specific tipsters. On the other hand, those who fell victim to scammers are also willing to warn other people about their picks.
Social media is your friend when looking for feedback on legitimate tipsters, specifically on accounts or betting tipsters’ pages. A large and active community that does not just post generic lines is a sign of an experienced tipster. In addition, tipsters will often interact with their community by discussing current basketball, American football, soccer, baseball, tennis, hockey, and other sporting events.
Yield and Number of Bets
Trusted bettors are those with a positive yield, which indicates that they are making money on their predictions and are supporting their careers. Yield is the profit vs. loss ratio of a tipster and bettor. What is a realistic yield rate, though? This rate is around 4% to 11%. Keep this number in mind later on.
Another data to consider is the number of bets a tipster made to achieve that yield. Long-running tipsters can make more than 1000 wagers within half a year.
Betting tipsters who advertise that they can achieve a 25% yield are frauds. These people are likely reporting 10 out of the 30 wagers they made in a month, reflecting an astoundingly high yield. This data indicates that fraud tipsters rely on luck to win their bets or falsify their information to attract naïve bettors.
Always look for tipsters who make more than 200 wagers a month and yield at most negligible. % The number of bets and gains here indicates that the tipster achieved a reasonable long-term profit from their stakes through legitimate predictions.
Signs of a Rogue Tipster
Spotting a tipster offering fake picks is not that hard if you consider the following signs below.
Does Not Track Bets
Professional betting tipsters always keep track of every bet they make. This type of discipline helps them ensure the accuracy of their predictions for future games and is a form of advertisement for new followers. If they are meticulous in logging all of their wagers, those tipsters treat their job respectfully and will likely offer accurate predictions.
On the other hand, never trust a tipster who does not keep a record of their bets. This slacking attitude shows their poor approach to predicting upcoming games or races. Another reason they are not tracking all of their bets is the omission of their losses.
Note that a failure to track every bet is not a sign of a fraudster. However, it can signify an upstart or someone looking to make quick cash with the prediction market.
Short Warranty
Every sports bettor consistently wants to win every wager they plan to. However, everyone is skeptical of buying picks from someone claiming they can give you a massive boost in your bankroll or ten times the turnover of your bank balance.
What if they claim their picks are guaranteed to win, or you get your money back within seven days? This type of promise is where plenty of naïve bettors took notice because this is a double guarantee that you will make money and not lose your stake. Unfortunately, seven days is too short to determine a tipster’s capabilities or the reliability of their prediction.
Please note that some renowned betting tipsters provide a warranty for their service where unhappy bettors can get their money back. However, these tipsters usually offer 30 days to try their service. Thirty days is a good measuring stick for a tipster’s performance instead of 7 days since it allows them to account for the wager’s variance.
Betting tipsters provide a legitimate service in helping people find valued wagers for their favorite sports or racers. However, it is essential to spot fraudsters providing false predictions to obtain picks that will improve your ROI.
This article was published on October 7, 2022, and last updated on October 6, 2022.
