Shopping for the Best Price

One overlooked but highly important aspect of successful sports betting online is shopping around for the best price at a given online sportsbook. To undertake this enterprise, the punter need not visit different sportsbooks every day, week, or betting opportunity: Go ahead and keep your top online sports betting site bookmarked, but attempt to find another two or three online sportsbooks which tend to post inflated lines on favored teams.

In order to be ready to shop around a bit, a decent idea is to open an account with an electronic online payment method such as Neteller. Many sportsbooks allow an instant transfer of funds from Neteller, Moneybookers and the like – plus you won’t need to worry about giving over your credit card information and personal data on the internet again. To jump on a great deal at the last minute, an e-wallet is the way to make that bet quickly, before it changes again.

As you’ve probably inferred, watching movements of the lines and odds is a particularly important aspect of shopping around. The “overnight lines,” i.e. the first-posted offerings which typically go up right after the previous slate of games is over, can be quite advantageous to those who really know their stuff. These “loose” lines occasionally produce a strange (and profitable) opportunity for the sharp-eyed before other punters tighten up the numbers. Overnight lines typically have the best payout on a given result, with the only disadvantage that betting limits are lower when these lines are released.

During the week (or day), keep an eye on the lines of prospective bets and/or those you’ve wagered on. When and if the lines become more variable, you may consider hedging somewhat. If the line is moving against you, check another online sportsbook review for a slower-moving line; if the line is moving to your advantage, wait for the market to stabilize to get the best possible odds (and therefore price).

Finally, you’ll definitely want to watch those lines in the one hour before the given sports event begins. Last-minute injury reports and even weather changes can make a big difference in an offer, and so-called “syndicate betting” involving five- or six-figure wagers tends to happen as close to game time as possible. If you can catch an online sportsbook napping on new information, you can gain yourself valuable points and/or favorable odds.