Our experts have learned from their mistakes, and the mistakes of others thanks to numerous years of experience in the sports betting world. To help you avoid making the same errors, here is a list of the top 20 sports betting mistakes for you to avoid.
1. Betting Without Research
Explanation: Many inexperienced sports bettors will browse through their sportsbook or top betting apps and make selections based only on their knowledge without doing any research. The issue with this is that you are limiting yourself. Your knowledge is far from perfect, and it contains biases that prevent you from making the most optimal decisions.
How to Avoid It: Don’t be lazy and put in the work if you want to give yourself the best chance to win. Statistics are there because our memories are not perfect, and they help us make more informed decisions. Take a deep dive and make sure you have all the information you need before placing a wager.
2. Ignoring Bankroll Management
Explanation: Setting a budget is one of the most important things when it comes to responsible sports betting. Sticking to a budget and having set units to place on each wager will help you avoid large losses and turn a profit in the long run if you have a good system put in place.
How to Avoid It: Set aside an amount of money that you are comfortable with potentially losing. For each wager bet 1-2% of this budget and let things play out slowly over time. If you stick to this process, you will be able to gamble for a long period of time and avoid losing everything quickly. If things don’t go your way, don’t be afraid to take a break, and only ever come back with money you can afford to lose.
3. Chasing Losses
Explanation: This is one of the worst mistakes that beginners will make. They lose a bet and have the temptation to immediately place a wager that can pay out fast and erase all their losses. The issue with this is these wagers are often impulsive decisions made with little research or thought process, and those bets are losing decisions in the long run.
How to Avoid It: Stick to your process and be okay with losing sometimes. Even expert sports gamblers lose a good amount of the time with the amount of randomness there is in sports. Losses are going to happen, but if you stay discipline and trust your process you are more likely to make a profit over the course of time.
4. Placing Too Many Bets
Explanation: Sports betting is designed for you to lose, meaning there are only so many favourable wagers to place each day. A common mistake that new bettors make is placing too many wagers, ensuring that no matter what they have a certain amount of action each day. This is a flawed process that is going to lose you money over time.
How to Avoid It: Being picky in the sports betting world is a good thing. Only place bets that you truly think will profit for you, don’t just place bets to make sure you are hitting a daily quota. If you don’t see any bets worth taking, don’t be afraid to take the day off.
5. Betting Under the Influence
Explanation: This is a common mistake that is made not just while sports betting, but while gambling in general. Casinos serve alcohol because it’s in their best interest and often leads to players making sub optimal decisions. Alcohol leads to more impulsive choices, which is something you desperately need to avoid if you are looking to profit while sports betting.
How to Avoid It: If you’re just looking to have a good time and don’t care about losing some money, then enjoy yourself by all means, but if you want to make a profit and take things seriously you should avoid drinking alcohol entirely while placing wagers. One impulsive decision could ruin a month of good work and really put you in a hole when it comes to drawing a profit.
6. Betting on Unfamiliar Sports
Explanation: New sports bettors for whatever reason will not only do little research, but place wagers on sports they are entirely unfamiliar with. Throughout this section we have preached that knowledge is power in the sports betting world, and making uninformed decisions is a losing process.
How to Avoid It: Stick to what you know to start and slowly start to branch out. You are going to have more success betting on sports that you know rather than guessing in unfamiliar territory. Put in the work beforehand and develop a strong knowledge of the sport before you branch out.
7. Relying on Gut Instinct
Explanation: A more old school way of thinking is avoiding statistics and just trusting your gut. While this process may work sometimes, humans are far from perfect and trusting your “gut” can only take you so far. If you don’t do the research, you are going to get burned eventually.
How to Avoid It: Lose the ego and use the resources that are available to you to make better decisions. Look at trends, important statistics, recent news, and odds changes, and use that information to narrow down the best wagers.
8. Ignoring the Vig (Juice)
Explanation: The vig is a percent of your winnings that a sportsbook takes on each wager for allowing you to use their service. This percentage is not directly subtracted from your winnings, it is cooked into the odds. The true odds of an event are slightly more favourable than the odds that a sportsbook offers, which allows betting companies to make a profit regardless of the outcome most of the time.
How to Avoid It: Remember that the vig is cooked in and you are not looking at the true odds of an event. Look for legal sportsbooks that take a smaller vig than others to increase your long-term profits.
9. Overvaluing Favourites
Explanation: One of the most common things we see from new sports bettors is only betting on favourites. This is an easy thing to do since after all, they are statistically more likely to win. What new bettors don’t see is that the odds are set up for you not to profit over time, so the price you are getting needs to heavily influence your decisions.
How to Avoid It: Bet based on odds not based on the side that is most likely to win. You can win more times than you lose and still not turn a profit if you are only betting on heavy favourites. Don’t be afraid to take underdogs if you think you are getting a good price based on how often you expect the wager to win.
10. Overvaluing Underdogs
Explanation: On the other side, some sports bettors place too much money on underdogs chasing a larger pay day. A larger profit can be enticing, but if you are going to bet underdogs you need to have a good balance with favourites as well to turn a profit.
How to Avoid It: Don’t set your mind on only betting underdogs. Analyze the odds on both sides and take the side that you believe is more favourable. Taking only underdogs or only favourites isn’t the correct answer, the key is profiting off market inefficiencies on both sides of the equation.
11. Betting on Every Game
Explanation: A common assumption that new bettors make is they need to bet every single day or even on every single game of their preferred sport. This will lead to placing unfavourable wagers and make it extremely difficult for you to make a profit.
How to Avoid It: Be extremely selective and only place wagers that you believe will make you money. Set limits for yourself but don’t have a quota you need to reach. Taking the day off is a discipline decision that will most likely save you money if you are on the fence.
12. Ignoring Line Shopping
Explanation: Line shopping is looking at multiple different sportsbooks and going with the more profitable betting line for your desired wager. Most sports bettors will just stick to one betting site, but having multiple options will increase your profits.
How to Avoid It: Sign up for multiple sportsbooks and compare lines before placing a wager. It doesn’t cost you any money to sign up for another sportsbook, but it will make you more money in the long run by always selecting the most favourable betting line.
13. Betting on Parlays
Explanation: Parlays are one of the most popular wagers in sports betting, often placed by new inexperienced sports bettors. It’s okay to place one occasionally at low stakes, but if you are consistently placing parlays it’s going to be very difficult to make a profit. Parlaying multiple wagers together gives you much better odds, but each wager needs to be correct to make any profit at all. Winning one sports bet is hard enough, but adding multiple into the equation makes things really difficult.
How to Avoid It: Try to avoid parlays for the most part, but if you are going to place one, don’t add more than two legs. Winning one bet is hard enough, but winning three is not something you are going to be able to do consistently enough to justify the odds. Winning two wagers and losing one to make zero profit is also one of the worst feelings in sports betting.
14. Betting for Entertainment
Explanation: We believe betting should be a source of entertainment for you, but if you are just betting on the teams and players that you like, you can’t expect to be a winning player.
How to Avoid It: Betting can be entertaining no matter what you wager on, but you need to put in the research if you want to profit. Don’t make impulsive decisions just looking for a short-term thrill. Stick to your budget and only make educated decisions.
15. Not Keeping Records
Explanation: The majority of sports bettors just place wagers and make rough estimates of how much they have won or lost over time. This makes it difficult to stay within your budget and truly evaluate your performance.
How to Avoid It: Keep a spreadsheet to track every bet you have placed. This should include the amount you wagered, the odds of the wager, the type of wager, and your total profit. This will help you tweak your betting strategy by showing you what has worked better for you over a large sample size. It will also help you stay within your budget and take that stress off your mind.
16. Betting on Emotions
Explanation: All sports bettors are human, meaning they have biases in sports that can affect their decision-making process if they let it. This is why statistics have become such an important thing when it comes to evaluating sports performance. If you take away your love or distain for a player/team, remove recency bias, and just look at the raw data, you will give yourself a much better chance at making profitable wager.
How to Avoid It: Bet with your head and not your heart. Avoid betting on teams just because you personally want them to win for whatever reason. Always trust the numbers over the eye test if you want to give yourself the best chance at winning. A team may have burned you recently, but you can’t let anger prevent you from betting on them again in the future.
17. Ignoring Injuries and Suspensions
Explanation: Keeping up to date with recent team news is one of the most overlooked aspects of sports betting. A key player being out of the lineup can significantly shift betting odds, and make lines look more favourable than they truly are if you are unaware.
How to Avoid It: Make sure you do your research and know if any key players are likely to be absent before placing a wager. If you catch some recent news that will change the odds before betting lines are adjusted, take advantage of this and place a wager at favourable odds.
18. Not Understanding Bet Types
Explanation: If you don’t understand all the betting markets available to you, then you are limiting yourself in terms of profit. Some things may look confusing and slightly intimidating at first, but if you put in the effort to learn, you will open up so many more opportunities for yourself.
How to Avoid It: Read up on betting guides to help you fully understand all the options that are available to you. Being able to give yourself a slight edge by placing more specific wagers can help increase your profits over time.
19. Overlooking Value Bets
Explanation: Value betting is one of the best ways to profit on sports betting sites. It’s easy to overlook value bets since they are often underdogs that are going to lose a good amount of the time. Taking favourites is the easy thing to do, but betting underdogs is something that takes courage and needs to be done if you want to be a long-term profitable player.
How to Avoid It: Don’t be afraid to lose a bet. Value betting isn’t always going to work out, but the thought process is that these wagers are net positive decisions. A good value will make you money in the long run, so don’t be discouraged by recent losses and stick to your process.
20. Treating Betting as a Job
Explanation: Unless you are a professional gambler, sports betting should be an enjoyable hobby and never feel like a second job. Profiting while making sports picks is difficult, so only gamble with money that you are comfortable with losing.
How to Avoid It: If sports betting starts to feel tedious and more like a second job than a hobby, then don’t be afraid to step away. The goal here is to make a profit but also enjoy yourself while doing it. Betting shouldn’t be a long-term source of reliable income for amateur gamblers. If you find yourself treating it this way, and can’t convince yourself to step away, then visit the Responsible Gambling Council [1] to find the resources you need to assist you.
