Reality check: Debunking the top five sports betting myths

In the United States alone, the American Gaming Association reports that over 39 million people now wager on traditional sports.

That number does not factor in the millions who lay down money on video game competitions and simulated contests.

With more people than ever flocking to this entertainment form, here are five misconceptions about it that all novices should know.

Betting systems ensure success

Wagering patterns, negative and positive progression ones, usually get most associated with casino games with close to 50/50 odds.

Nevertheless, many bettors also like utilizing famed schemes like the Martingale, the Labouchere, the Fibonacci, and the Paroli systems.

Most of these involve increasing or decreasing wagers depending on past results.

For instance, let us take the Martingale as the simplest of these patterns. It entails gamblers doubling up their bet following a loss.

That should keep happening until they eventually win, recoup their losses, and reset to the base wager.

The danger in this lies in the unpredictable nature of gambling, as there is no guarantee that someone will not encounter a massive losing streak that will dig that person into a financial pit from which exiting will be super difficult.

Hence, it is better to focus on things like the Kelly Criterion, a formula that aims to figure out the optimal stake size in a bet series, than leaning on betting systems.

Arbitrage guarantees profits

Arbitrage is seeking an edge by locating price differences.

It is similar to match betting, but that entails using free bets and betting exchanges or making lay wagers on events for which a gambler has already placed a back (bookmaker) one.

In theory, both approaches work. Nonetheless, in practice, that is not often the case since sportsbooks have limited their promo offers, and they monitor user activity for any suspicious behavior that may indicate the implementation of these practices.

They also usually have them outlined as forbidden activities in their general terms and conditions.

Moreover, in 2015, accusations appeared online that many Brits that have opened a betting account UK profile may have gotten infected with an operator spyware named IE Snare, used by sportsbook companies to monitor user activity and spot match-betting/arbitrage.

All bookmakers have similar odds

Connecting to the point above, it is not accurate that all bookmakers have comparable odds.

Yes, it is true that virtually all sports betting sites incorporate similar means to come up with their lines/coefficients, putting to use software and expert analysis.

Yet, they do not update them as quickly to reflect up-to-date goings on. When a bookmaker is slow to do so, it gets said that he has soft odds, and gamblers who react quickly can jump on these to get in some prime value wagers.

That is why odds shopping is one of the best betting tips one can give to newbie bettors.

Parlays are for suckers

Most hard-core veteran sports gamblers will advise newcomers to this sphere to stay away from parlays.

That advice comes because the more bets get pooled on the same wager, the more risk a gambler assumes and the lower his chance of getting a winning slip becomes.

Be that as it may, a parlay consisting of two bets supplies an Okay risk-to-reward value. But everything over three markets should get avoided.

You are never due for a win

Here, we have a mindset popularly called the Gambler’s Fallacy. It is an erroneous belief that, somehow, historical outcomes dictate future ones.

Thus, if someone is on a losing streak, many people think that there is a lurking win just around the corner.

The idea of this thought process originated from a coin flip scenario, that if a person is to flip a coin and it keeps landing on heads, the odds of it landing on the tail side improve with each flip.

It is vital to remember gambling operators accept stakes on games and events that feature results that no one can accurately predict.

So, ten losses in a row does not mean that the likelihood of a win improves on the eleventh bet.