Mobile sports betting launched in Massachusetts, and despite my opposition to legalized sports betting, I’ve had success doing it. Six mobile sportsbooks started on March 10. While three casinos began accepting in-person bets in late-January, the state expects at least 90 percent of betting revenue to come from mobile bets.
Most people lose money betting on sports. The industry exists to enrich sportsbooks, not fans. However, they need customers, and with six mobile sportsbooks launching on the same day, Bay Staters saw how a free market can benefit consumers. These sportsbooks launched aggressive customer acquisition campaigns. Some offered bet insurance, while others gave bonus money, referral money, profit boosts on winning bets, guarantee bets, etc.
I’ve capitalized on some opportunities and made over $800 thanks to the sportsbooks’ faux generosity. It’s fake because the sportsbooks won’t offer great deals for long. They want customers. When they have them, people will lose money. Fans favor the home team, overestimate their sports knowledge, and fail to recognize sportsbooks' operating strategy.
Here’s a quick example of how this scam works. A standard line on a game with a spread is -110. It means you have to bet $110 to win $100. Theoretically, you have a 50 percent chance of winning a bet against the spread. So if two people put $110 on opposite sides of a -110 event, the sportsbook would make $10. That said, the odds and payouts favor the sportsbook, and with billions in bets placed, a small profit margin means big winnings.
In Massachusetts, sportsbooks like FanDuel, BetMGM, and DraftKings had solid deals that helped me profit. Each gave customers $200 in bonus money to use on their app if people placed a small deposit and bet, either $5 or $10, depending on the site. Unfortunately, users must use that bonus money to play on the app. If one could’ve withdrawn the money immediately, I wouldn’t have used it to bet. Instead, I bet with the money and lost hundreds of dollars, or made hundreds, depending on how you view it.
I took a risk-averse approach, using the $200 on each respective app to make guaranteed money. I bet $100 each on teams playing one another with similar odds, earning $90-something from each $200 bet. The first game I bet on was a Boston Red Sox-Minnesota Twins preseason matchup. You know a problem exists when someone bets $200 on Double-A players competing in a practice game. While I know other people who used the money to take risks and some hit on their bets, I wanted guaranteed wins.
Additionally, DraftKings and FanDuel tried to outcompete with guarantee bets. They offered several absurd bets with +100 odds, like whether or not a basketball team would score at least one point or hit a three-pointer in a game or if a hockey team would have at least one shot on goal. Those bets had maximum bets of $50 or $100. If they didn’t, I’d be a millionaire.
Even though I enjoyed the betting launch, I’ve little interest in becoming a long-term sports gambler. I plan to further research Arbitrage betting, a similar strategy to when I bet both sides of games using house money. Typically, different sportsbooks will have slightly different money lines on events. When a bigger discrepancy exists, sometimes betters can find a combination that guarantees them a small profit regardless of a game's outcome. Say one sportsbook allows you to bet $100 to net $25 on a heavy favorite, and another lets you bet $20 to win $125 on a heavy underdog, they’d win $5 regardless of who wins or loses. If these opportunities arise, I’ll attempt to capitalize on discrepancies. So far, I’ve capitalized on it a few times using odds boosts to make favorites have underdog-like payouts. I haven’t researched organic opportunities for it. I won’t make any parlay bets or bet on individual teams to win a game.
It only makes sense to bet on sports if someone can beat the oddsmakers. Most people lack the knowledge and math skills to win. That’s why I opposed legalizing this industry, but I’ll gladly accept free money from these assholes if they keep giving it to me.