When I was in high school, there was a guy who did square roots in the cafeteria during lunch break. Meanwhile, I sat in Algebra wondering what the hell I was ever going to use any of this crap for. There’s always some smart ass that announces this feeling to the class and the invariable answer is: If you don’t want to be flipping burgers for life you need to know the math. It’s true to a certain extent, but the reality is that you hire the guy who did the square roots to crunch your numbers because he’s the expert.
“For simplicity, compare sports betting to a stock market. You invest some money in a position, and at some future time you get a payoff (which may be zero). Prices of the positions (or odds on bets) change as new information becomes available. When demand is high and lots of people want a certain stock or side of a bet, prices rise. (In sports betting, the price is reflected by the odds, which pay less as a bet becomes more likely to win.) When everyone’s selling, or betting the other side, the price falls. ”
– Mat Frazier, Thinkingbettor.com
If you’re a sharp bettor you’re going to find an expert before you jump into the world of online sports betting. Everyone knows that sports betting has a long history of scandals but even without outright cheating there is still a maze to navigate. One of the things that casual bettors never understand is that a sports book is just as complex as a financial market. Spread Betting and Share Trading are terribly similar but if a stock market analyst said anything as foolish as some sports “experts” they’d be laughed off Wall Street. To further complicate things with online sports betting, there is a slew of new factors to consider. The juicy bonus isn’t always the one that looks the best. Bookmakers want to keep your dollars coming in so they throw tons of loyalty programs into the pot but they aren’t all equally lucrative. This is where the beginning bettor wants to go to a site like Sports Betting Dime to find someone who can unravel all the glitz and tell you what really happening when your dollar is laid down. Don’t blow your juicy bonus just because you slept in math class and can’t tell which ones are the real deal.
Sport Book bonuses are not something that the beginner at online gambling is going to be sophisticated about. Even if you’re used to bellying up to a bar and handing over cash to a guy who looks like he belongs on the Sopranos online gambling presents a host of new things to consider: Are you able to talk to someone real? These web sites create new wagering options to keep things interesting, but are they something you should buy into? Is it easy to get started and play using a credit card? Most importantly there is the payout; Speed, variety of delivery methods and fees can all kill the heady rush of a big win. Signup bonuses, reload bonuses, gamblers insurance, all new things you didn’t have to worry about in that old fashioned bar.
Take just the rollover requirements, for example. Each sports book has their own unique set of rollover requirements. Simply put it’s the amount you need to bet before your bonus becomes eligible for withdrawal. A 5X rollover on the deposit and bonus is mathematically 5x($100+$100)=$1,000. I’m not even going to try to practical ramifications of this. Bookmaker bonuses are fluid and are calculated as a percentage so the simple becomes complex very rapidly depending on the bettors unique situation. Remember the online casino is placing their bet that you have a preference for a shortcut or that you’re going to make a snap decision based on partial evidence that only looks like there will be a big payoff. All I know is that looking at the “simple math” I’m screwed without advice from someone who did square roots as a hobby. Hell I got screwed betting on the Patriots too but that’s another story that doesn’t involve mathematics at all.
In the Fifties you could have placed a bet with this bookie but his rollover requirements involved a baseball bat
I lost all my money on magic beans. 🙁
who knew losing your money could be so complicated, it always seemed simple to me. put down your bet and leave.
Acadia tells me that he can sell the rest of your cows. The plan is to put all the profit on Magic Beans but I’m not sure if that’s a Hockey Team or a Horse.