For the purposes of this article I am making the assumption that most people practice sports arbitrage betting to supplement their income on a part time basis. You should be able to make between 5% and 10% on your capital every month, this does not include any extra money you can make by using any free bets or bonuses. Before you start betting however it is prudent to spend some time practicing to make sure you know what you are doing and that you are confident on procedure. If you have $5000 to invest then don’t be too concerned about making all of that $5000 work for you straight away.
So practice with small amounts first. See how long it takes you from receiving your alert or finding your opportunity, to placing your bet. Time yourself. Make notes on any problems that took more time than expected.
How much to invest?
Obviously the more you invest the higher your potential profit, although this is not without limits. We have already mentioned about the risks associated with betting the maximums and that it should be avoided. In an ideal world we would have money deposited with every bookmaker we plan to use but this is really only practical for professionals using a large bankroll. For the rest of us with smaller amounts to invest it is vital that we use our money efficiently. Here is how to do it:
Deposit methods
The key to success in sports arbitrage betting is turnover. Ideally we want to bet on every opportunity but in most cases bankroll makes this impossible, another important factor is time. If you make a withdrawal using a bank transfer or debit / credit card then the usual transaction time is 3 to 5 working days.
For obvious reasons we want to keep the time we are out of the market to a minimum. Time lost waiting for cash to hit our accounts again is dead time, so what we want to do is use the most time and cost efficient method funding appropriate for each bookmaker.
Neteller and Moneybookers
Neteller and Moneybookers are electronic payment systems for use on the web. They offer two main advantages:
Confidentiality of banking and card details. You only have to register your details with them and not EVERY bookmaker you sign up to.
Transactions between bookmaker and punter are usually instant (or at least within 24 hours).
It is the latter that provides the largest advantage for sports arbitrage. No longer do we have to wait days to be able to use our money again, potentially we can use the same money once, maybe twice a day (depending on the processing speed for the bookmaker you are using).
So with this knowledge in mind we can build a preference hierarchy of the bookmakers we would like to use:
Bookmakers that use Neteller and / or Moneybookers and charge no fee for deposits or withdrawals at any time.
Bookmakers that use Neteller and / or Moneybookers and do charge a fee for deposits or withdrawals.
Bookmakers that take cards and bank transfers only.
To decide whether paying a fee is viable, you will have to decide:
Whether it is worth paying a fee and getting your money back a lot quicker so you can use it again, or
Whether the fee makes it too expensive in comparison to bank transfer or debit / credit card. Even with the advantage of not having to wait 3 to 5 days for the money.
The profit potential of the arbitrage bet. If the size of the arb is the same or similar size to the fee then it is probably not worth it. If the level of profit from the arb is 2 or 3 times the size of the fee, it may well be worth paying the fee. Of course you also have the added bonus of not having to wait for your money to arrive back in your bank account.
One word of caution. Try and avoid withdrawing all of your funds from an account at once, as a rule of thumb try and maintain at least the amount of your original deposit in your account at all times. Taking all of your money out after a win attracts unwanted attention and reduces the life of your account.
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