All sports bettors worldwide are at different stages in their betting journey. Some have been making money from betting for decades, whereas others are placing a couple of bets a week for fun. This article will give one big tip to each level of sports bettor. Yes, one tip is not much, but in our opinion it will make the biggest improvement overall.

LEVEL 1: BETTING FOR FUN

Do you like to place a couple of bets a week on your favourite team or league just for a little extra enjoyment? Then our biggest tip is to open as many bookmaker accounts as possible. Whether you live in Australia, America or anywhere else in the world, go crazy and sign up to every legal bookmaker you can. In some countries there are close to 100 bookmakers available to residents, so it should be easy to sign up to at least 10 legitimate bookmakers in your region.

So, why should you do this? It’s simple, no matter what you want to bet you'll always be able to get the best price on whatever team or player you want to bet on. Because you’re a recreational punter, you’re not too concerned about making positive expected value bets. But, if you go to that extra level of effort and find the best price amongst your array of bookies, you will reduce your sports betting losses significantly over time. You might even become a slightly profitable sports bettor or experience very even results over a large sample size.

Either way, the main goal of a recreational bettor is to have fun, so if you’re able to minimise how much money you lose over time then your hobby is going to become much more enjoyable. By only betting at one bookmaker, you’re forgoing better prices at other bookmakers constantly. It’s like going to a petrol station and paying 10 cents per litre more than the petrol station next door, it makes no sense!

As you’re a recreational bettor, you probably don't have a betting bankroll, so just make sure you stay on top of your deposits and withdrawals so you’ve always got money available to deposit into a bookmaker that has the best price.

LEVEL 2: BEGINNER +EV BETTOR

Have you just realised you can make a sustainable long term profit from sports betting but don't know where to begin? Then our tip is to start matched betting! Matched betting is a risk-free way of making money from sports betting, as long as you do it correctly and don't make any mistakes (but it’s pretty simple to do once you get into the swing of things). Most bookmakers will offer a welcome bonus when you sign up, such as, “deposit $100 and we’ll match that in bonus money”. Matched betting is just a process of turning that bonus money into real money.

Most sports bettors have a very small bankroll to bet with when they start sports betting, which makes it very difficult to scale up quickly. Matched betting allows you to grow your bankroll with no risk, so, let’s say you start with a bankroll of $1,000, depending on what country you are from and how many welcome bonuses you have available to you, there is a chance you’ll be able to turn that $1k into $5k or more.

That way, when you do start placing straight wagers without hedging your risk, you’ll have a bigger pool of money to bet with, which will help you to scale up much faster.

LEVEL 3: INTERMEDIATE BETTOR

For the purpose of this article, an intermediate bettor will be defined as someone who knows how to profit from sports betting, has studied and understands the theory behind +EV sports betting, and dabbles in sports betting as a side income, spending anywhere from 1-10 hours a week. Our tip for this level of betting is to specialise in one method of sports betting.

Let’s say you've only got a couple of hours every week that you can dedicate to sports betting. What we recommend is working on one aspect of sports betting, whether that be focusing on betting one sport or one league, it really depends on the size of the sport and league, you may even have to specialise in betting on just a couple of teams or conferences. For example, focusing on the sport of Soccer would be way too much to cover in a couple of hours, so you’d be better off specialising in a particular league - smaller the better!

Not only do you need to specialise in what sport or league you’re betting on, but, you also need to specialise in a particular method of sports betting. Are you going to originate your own prices on this league? If so, are you going to create a model or simply come up with prices in your head through game analysis? Are you going to use a software like Trademate Sports for a couple of hours a week and learn the art of reading the betting market? Or maybe you want to follow a particular set of tipsters? There are many methods you can follow, the key is finding the one that suits you best and perfecting it!

Once you’ve become an expert in a particular facet of sports betting, it will make Level 4 a lot simpler to execute.

LEVEL 4: PRO SPORTS BETTOR

Although professional sports bettors probably don’t need much help with their profession, there is always one way they can continue to improve their game, and that’s through networking and building relationships. Generally, professional bettors have an edge in one or multiple sports, and can make a living by finding value at various bookmakers. But, to exploit their edge to the max, they will need help from other people in the industry. Whether that's someone that can help them bet in different regions/bookmakers, or vice versa. The more people you know the better!

Going back to our tip for Level 3 bettors, this is where specialisation comes in handy. Let’s say you’ve become an expert at modelling the English Premier League and you’ve been beating the market for years, making a consistent long-term profit. But, you’ve gotten to the stage where you’re unable to place enough money down on certain games because you don’t have enough bookmakers or you’re limited at too many. Luckily for you, there are fellow professionals out there who specialise in betting for people, a.k.a. movers. They’ve become experts at sourcing accounts and linking up with originators to place bets for them.

So, if you’ve completed Level 3 in your betting journey, it will only help you succeed when it comes to Level 4. The better you are at something, the more attractive you become to other people in the industry, thus expanding your operations and ultimately, your profitability!

If you’ve enjoyed this article but want more tips for the level you are at as a sports bettor, here are some recommendations:

• 10 Top Tips For A Matched Betting Newbie

  Betting Experts Answer: Top 3 Tips on How to Make Money from Sports Betting as a Beginner | Part 1

  Sports Betting with Trademate – The Perfect Side Income or Side Hustle