If you take or intend to take betting (and sports betting particularly) seriously, it is essential to know what you can reasonably expect to make. In other words, knowing your return on investment (ROI).
In theory, there is no end to the amount of money you can make while betting but it is important to know what you can expect to win with a solid strategy supposed to what you can when relying on blind luck. In this article, we will outline ways in which you can build upon your ROI.
🛑 Whilst the hope of winning money through gambling is understandable, you must minimize your losses at all times. Only gamble with money you can absolutely afford to lose and never gamble with borrowed money.
Sports Betting ROI Explained
Return On Investment (ROI) is a financial term used to explain the amount of money you return based on the amount of money you wagered in. In gambling and sports betting, the ROI measures the actual profits in comparison to the money gambled. When a gambler tells you what they have won while betting on the horses, the amount they are telling you might be misleading.
For example, if they placed a bet of $100 at odds of 1.3, and the horse won, they would see a return of $130 but, it would be more honest to say they have made $30 as supposed to including the stake as well. This would represent a 30% ROI which would be nearly impossible to keep up in the long run.
What Is a Reasonable Sports Betting ROI?
A 5% ROI is considered a good return and here’s why. Achieving success with betting requires hard work and although 5% might leave you feeling underwhelmed, it is important to note that this number can accumulate and compound nicely over time. With this ROI, sports gambling becomes a feasible form of investment.
It’s all too common for betters to achieve success and start thinking about their new lavish lifestyle only for their discipline to completely evaporate after a few losses. Manage your bankroll adequately and using gambling banking basic protocols will help you narrow these swings that all punters experience.
Controlling expectations when betting will be crucial for your long-term success. Don’t be suckered in by miracle bets because if you want to win realistic and sustainable money. One of the key ingredients needed is discipline.
Impact Of a Good ROI As a Long-Term Investment
The best betters are not focused on the here and now. Professional bettors are focusing on long-term earnings by betting to win instead of betting to risk. If you were to think like this, the amount of money you are making might underwhelm you, and you would be more likely to break the discipline you are trying to build. For many businesses around the world, any return on investment is the initial aim, and once breaking even has been achieved, they then have a foundation to be built upon. Betting is no different and it’s impossible to achieve success without thinking about what you could make in the long run.
A 5-10% ROI is considered a good return and I’ll explain why. If you were to see a return of 20%, the amount of money you would make will be astronomical as your small bankroll will build up in no time at all. You also need to bet using a small percentage of your bankroll using bankroll management otherwise you will eventually go broke. In summary, it’s all about making small improvements to your betting strategies and practices and your ROI should improve steadily over time.
Let’s imagine you start with a bankroll of $5,000. If you have a 5% ROI for the first month you would have made a $250 profit. This doesn’t appear to be great but the next month you will start with a bankroll of $5250 meaning that the profit you will make the following month will increase slightly. If you are able to repeat such a process in a year or two you will be making substantially more money. Even if you are ROI was less modest at 2% it would only take a few years with this size bankroll to make your time and effort worth it. This is the power of compounding!
Basic Sports Betting Strategy For Better ROI
Instead of looking to radically change your ROI, you should be looking to build upon it, learning from your mistakes along the way. After a few months of steady betting, you should be able to eliminate what doesn’t work for you and expand on what is making you have success. Below are some tips you should follow to improve your ROI.
ℹ️ Make sure you read through our comprehensive guide about betting strategies and systems.
Stick To a Team or Player
It’s great to have knowledge of the entire market or multiple sports but it is nearly impossible to become a master in every field. Sticking to a team or player in a specific sport means that you can really hone in on a consistent strategy and learn from your mistakes on the way.
If you were to follow a tennis player for example you will learn in immense detail about what opponents he struggles against as well as cold stats that will help you develop a betting strategy. This way you will be able to mix the use of statistical data with the instinct that you would have gained from watching a player for so long.
On a similar note, you could decide to specialize in a particular market. e.g., over or under market. This way you can bet on odds of the same value and know exactly the percentage you will need to hit in order to be successful. For example, if I am correct 65% of the time I will have an ROI of 5%.
Manage Your Bankroll
Bankroll management will dictate how much money you will be allowed to stake on specific bets. Usually, a strategy will evolve around betting a higher percentage of your bankroll on selections with low odds and less of a percentage of your bankroll for higher odds.
Bankroll management is designed to stop you from losing all of your funds and protect you from the volatility that will inevitably come when betting. Often betters will see a certain selection with odds they believe represent huge value and they are too tempted by this and instead of risking the 2% of their bankroll that their strategy recommends they risk much more. Discipline is very hard to achieve and it can only really be achieved when you allow yourself no exceptions to the rule. The more money you make the more your bankroll will increase over time so remember this if you ever feel the desire to chase profits.
Use Sport Statistics Databases
Using statistical databases is crucial for those who want to develop an effective betting strategy. In fact, this is one of the only things we recommend you invest in, (although there is still plenty of quality information out there for free). Using instinct alone will eventually betray you because there is no substitute for betting with cold stats to hand.
For example, if you knew Manchester City hadn’t drawn 0-0 for three years would you reconsider the bet you are placing. Surely, this would make the odds of 40/1 look way less attractive now.
We don’t recommend that you totally abandon your instinct and knowledge of the game as there will be plenty of scenarios where the stats don’t tell you the full story but before placing any bet you should consider if the data is backing your bet up.
Avoid Drinking
Okay, this one might seem a little condescending but we are basically trying to get you to focus on your discipline. If you don’t bet like a professional this will without a doubt creep into what you are trying to implement. If you are drinking, casually laid on your sofa, and not paying full attention to the odds of your selections your ROI is not going to be as high as it potentially could be.
To maintain good focus we suggest that you allocate a time of your day to betting. This way you can put your heart and soul into it. Also, this might sound difficult to do but you should dedicate a huge percentage of your time to study. The difference between having an ROI of 4% and 5% sounds like nothing but it can account for loads over time, especially if you have a sizeable bankroll. Don’t throw this money away by not giving the best of yourself.
Having read this mini-guide about sports betting ROI we hope that you now have managed your expectations. If you are in profit with your betting then you should be really proud of yourself and if you are achieving a 4.5% ROI, you should be focusing on achieving a 5% ROI by making constant tweaks to your system and bankroll management. Do not think you are wasting your money on gambling if you are getting small yields. Betting is hard but with good discipline and a desire to learn anything is possible.
This article was published on May 17, 2021, and last updated on October 21, 2022.
