Are you ready to make it big? No need to play against house odds in a casino. With a proper sports bet like the one by Mattress Mack, you could earn a cool $75 million.
Now in 2024, Ohio sports betting is finally legal. If your new year’s resolution is to make more money, then this provides a fun way to do so. The days are gone of visiting shady, disreputable organizations to place your bets.
But not so fast. Betting has never been a set science, and even experts have seen big wagers go up in smoke. Keep reading as we discuss how to maximize your Ohio sports betting winnings.
Understand Your Wagers With Ohio Sports Betting
If you’ve never bet before, then you’re in for a world of fun. The layman might assume that it’s a matter of betting on winners and losers, but there’s far more to it. Here are just a few of the types of sports bets you can make:
- Moneyline: a bet that one team will win
- Point spread: betting on the overall victory margin of a team (i.e., winning by so many points)
- Total (Over/Under): betting on a threshold, and each team to go over or under it
- Parlay: single game parlay and half point is betting on a series of games with the assumption of multiple consecutive wins
- Teaser: multiple bets where in each game, your team wins by a certain amount
- Prop: specific bets on player performance
- Middle: bets on both teams based on them being over or under a threshold
- Futures: specific bets on things that will happen in future games, such as an MVP scoring a specific amount of goals
- Live: bets that change during the course of the game and are placed during the game
All of these bets offer varying levels of risk and reward. It would require several books to explain them all in-depth, so there’s no space here to give them a detailed treatise.
Start simple. Go with moneyline bets, then expand outward to more complicated bets, such as prop bets. Get a feel for how betting works and what strategies you need to find success.
Do Some Line Shopping
Line shopping is when you shop around for a sportsbook that you like. Every sportsbook offers different odds, and some may pay out more than others. It’s imperative that you look around for a sportsbook that promises a better payout than its neighbor.
However, keep in mind that sportsbooks are highly competitive. Just like your local grocery store, they keep track of competitor pricing. If one sportsbook has better odds than another, chances are there’s a reason for it.
Read all the details on every sports bet that you make. If it seems too good to be true–or at least better odds than the competition–it might be because you’re risking more.
Start making bets with a platform that you can trust and one that makes it easy. Find out more about an Ohio betting agency that makes it easy for you to bet.
Understand When You Are Making Money
Betting isn’t all that effective if you only make a couple of dollars per payout. But at the same time, you don’t want to risk the entire bet amount when you put down a weak bet to start with.
The break-even rate is an important principle in the world of Ohio sports betting. This is the percentage likelihood that you will break even, i.e., neither make nor lose money.
Your break-even percentage is 50%. That means that you might win one bet for $100, but lose another bet for $100. These two amounts cancel out, putting you at net zero, but without losing any money.
In other words, you need to rise above 50% to start making real money. If you fall below 50%, you’re putting in more money than you’re getting back, even if some of these bets are wins. Break-even works over time and refers to your average win/lose percentage.
Get Help from Seasoned Experts
If you’ve never bet before, don’t neglect those that have come and gone before. As we’ve said, betting is not an established science where certain inputs guarantee outcomes. It’s fluid and ever-changing, especially in the modern era with algorithms that provide increasing insight into odds.
However, some principles remain the same over time. Betting involves developing a careful strategy over the course of a season, often employing different bets at different times.
Speak to people who do this for a living or who have made a name for themselves. That said, don’t fall victim to survivorship bias. This is when someone gets lucky but attributes their success to their own abilities and know-how.
Do your research, both on betting as a sport and your team. There are entire library shelves full of books that will show you the ropes for basic betting.
Be Patient
Contrary to what is portrayed in popular media, betting is rarely–if ever–a way to get rich quickly. That’s all luck, and you should never rely solely on luck when betting. But if you stick it out, you will see incremental returns that could be big in the long run.
Many bet types require waiting across several games or several seasons. Payouts might be lower for a specific season, then higher for another. It’s a mistake to assume that a sudden windfall will maintain itself after multiple games or multiple seasons.
But, there is some serious money to be made here. Even if you never make a big break, practice will help you to make consistent passive income. With those tools in hand, you can develop a strategy to make the big bucks in the long run.
Become a Sports Bettor Today
Ohio sports betting is finally legal, so in 2024 and beyond, you don’t have to risk it with shady, underground sportsbooks. Get acquainted with all the different types of bets, understand what your break-even rate is, and learn from skilled bettors. Then build a strategy over time and watch the money pour in.
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