What are Sure Bets?
Normal sports bets are always chancy. You cannot guarantee yourself a win from a single bet, no matter which sportsbook you use or betting market you wager on. That is because of the ‘vig’.
In casino gaming, the return to player for any game usually hovers around 95% to 99%. The remaining 1-5% is taken by the house and is called the house edge. The house edge is necessary because otherwise, the casino can’t make revenue. Without any income or revenue, they would soon be forced to shut down. Sportsbooks are in a similar way. The bookmakers have to make a living and the operators have to pay the bills in order to stay online. So, sports betting has a similar house edge. Here it is called ‘Vig’ or Commission Fee.
The Vig amount affects the odds and bets payout. Consider a coin-tossing game where you must guess the correct side it will land on – heads or tails. Guess it correctly and your stake would be doubled. In this case, you have a 50% chance to win, and the odds would be 2.00. That is all theoretical. In reality, the odds for that coin-tossing game at a Sportsbook would be something like 1.90. The difference of 0.10 is taken by the operator, which is 10% of your winnings.
This applies to every single sportsbook. It means that it is impossible to make a profit by wagering on every single possibility for a game. If you wagered ₹100 each on both heads or tails in the above example, you would spend ₹200.00 in total to get ₹190 back – a small loss of ₹10. Now, Sure Bets are different. Instead of sticking to one sportsbook, Sure Betting is about exploring the odds offered by multiple sites. For each of the wagers, such as Home, Draw and Away, you look for the very best odds.
In some cases, it will turn out that combining the bets from different bookmakers reveals a combination of bets. For example, you wager on Home at Bookmaker 1, Draw at Bookmaker 2 and Away at Bookmaker 3. Bookmaker 1 thinks that the Home Team is less likely to win. They set the odds for the Home Team higher than expected. Bookmaker 3 thinks that the Away team will have a hard time, so they set the Away team’s odds higher.
Now, all you have to do is bet on the specific combination that will lead to a guaranteed profit. The profit from winning any one of the three possible bets must be higher than the total stake across all the bets. Then you will get a profit. A bet like this is called a sure bet
Why Punters Should do Sure Bets?
There is a very simple reason why punters should do sure bets: make a guaranteed profit.
As we explained, in most normal sports bets, it is impossible to get a guaranteed profit. You will get a profit if your bet wins, but the chances of that happening is not 100%. And if you wager in such a way that your chances of winning are 100%, such as by wagering on every single possible outcome, then what will happen is that the money spent wagering on the non-winning bets will outweigh the profit you could possibly earn, due to the vig.
Maximize your Advantages with Sure Bets
With Sure Bets, you can maximize your advantage and get a guaranteed win. No more stressing out over if your team will win or if you have thrown your money down a drain.
Punters are guaranteed to win a prize bigger than their initial wagers. Sure Bets may have a very small profit, but they are not to be overlooked. Most of the time, the profit from a sure bet will be around 1% to 5%. It is extremely rare to see such bets with a higher profit than that. However, if you stick to sure betting, this small profit will easily and consistently build up over time.
Sure Bets Betting Example
We have explained what sure bets are and how they work. In order to understand them better, here is an example of a sure bet. There’s also a bit of math involved in working it out, so pay attention.
Let’s consider an example match: Minnesota Wild vs Carolina Hurricanes in the American National Hockey League. More specifically, the 1×2 Bet in this match. The 1×2 bet has three possible outcomes to wager on: Home Team (Minnesota Wild) wins, Away Team (Carolina Hurricanes) wins, or Draw.
The next step is to figure out the best odds. Instead of staying at one Bookmaker, we consider the odds from several bookmakers.
In this case, the highest odds were:
- Home Wins: 2.53 (from Bookmaker 1)
- Draw: 4.42 (from Bookmaker 1)
- Away Wins: 2.88 (from Bookmaker 2)
Based on these odds, we have to determine our stakes for each of the bets. If we start with ₹100, then:
- On the Home Wins bet, we can wager ₹40.78. If this bet wins, then the payout will be ₹40.78 x 2.53 = ₹103.25.
- On the Draw bet, we can wager ₹23.36. If this bet wins, then the payout will be ₹23.26 x 4.42 = ₹103.25.
- On the Away Wins bet, we can wager ₹35.85. If this bet wins, then the payout will be ₹35.85 x 2.88 = ₹103.25.
Only one of these three will be the outcome. In the case of the other two, we will lose our stake. So, in the example, we wagered ₹100 by splitting it up across three bets. Whichever bet won, our winnings are always ₹103.25%. The ₹3.25 is our profit from these Sure Bets!
A 3.25% profit is not massive. But it is still a small profit that you can guarantee!
Pros / Cons
There are some Pros and Cons to this type of betting. We have summarized the main advantages and disadvantages for our Indian customers. Hopefully, you can make an informed decision between focusing on sure bets or wagering as normal.
Pros
- Sure bets are guaranteed to give you a profit, allowing you to earn money from Sports Betting, though we don’t recommend relying on it. Punters can wager on sports bets without having to worry about their budget or bankroll.
- There are calculators that will automatically optimize the wagering numbers and odds for Sure Betting, saving punters the trouble of calculating exact values.
- Signing up at different sites to combine the bets gives you a lot of welcome bonuses to work with.
Cons
- The margin of profit is very low. 3%-5% is actually on the higher end. Most sure bets games have around 0.1-1% profits. Plus, the odds on a match can change regularly.
- A Sure Bet now could be gone in a few minutes or hours, so you have to plan and place the bet quickly without waiting. Otherwise, the odds could change and you lose money anyway.
- The betting markets for Sure Bets is limited, as it only randomly occurs for certain specific games and odds. You might not be able to find a Cricket or Horse Racing sure bet, for example. So, you will have to bet on whatever shows up rather than your favourite tournaments and matches.
- You must sign up and register for a lot of different sports betting sites in order to start placing Sure Bets. These betting sites are not all equally good or trustworthy. There will be lots of different T&Cs to consider.
Odds
In Sure Betting, punters can take advantage of how the odds work.
Normally, the odds are inversely proportional to the chances of winning the bet. Each sportsbook calculates them individually. Take an Over / Under bet for example. One sportsbook thinks the chances of it being over is 66% and for Under, it is 33%. A different sportsbook thinks it is 40% and 60% respectively for the exact same event.
Typically, Sportsbooks try to balance out the bets internally. That means if one outcome has high odds, the other outcome will have low odds. This, plus the vig/commission fee taken by the sportsbook ensures that players cannot make a profit by simply wagering on all possible outcomes separately. However, sportsbooks don’t coordinate with each other. So, in the example above, you could wager on Under from the first sportsbook, since that is higher. At the second sportsbook, you wager on over since that bet has higher odds.
By splitting the amount of money wagered between these two bets, you can balance it so that the returns from both of them are higher than your stake. If you lose one, you are guaranteed to win the other. And you only have to win one of them to make a profit.
Sure Bets Offers and Promotions
There are no specific bonuses or promotional offers for Sure Betting. However, there’s something even better. Consider that in Sure Betting, punters spread out their bets across several sportsbooks.
For each of these sportsbooks, the punter has to create an account and register. In this case, they can take advantage of not just one but multiple welcome or first deposit bonuses. As these bonuses are a lot bigger and more generous than typical casino bonuses, they are a great opportunity. One of the main disadvantages of typical weekly bonuses is that they are relatively small. If you played on one site, you could easily spend the bonus rewards within a week. But since your money is spread out across several such sportsbooks, the smaller bonuses suddenly become more significant!
Remember to keep an eye out for the terms and conditions. In many sportsbooks, there are limitations to how you can spend your bonus money. At some sites, you are not allowed to place bets on a specific game or above a specific amount. These limitations could prevent you from placing the specific wager you need to in order to complete the Sure Bet. Always check the T&Cs before accepting a bonus.
What are the Alternatives to Sure Bets?
There are several great alternatives to Sure Bets. While none of them guarantees you a win, they all have much bigger payouts and winnings. You will simply have to rely on a bit of luck.
- System Betting In System Betting, punters choose a set of bets from different markets. At least three or more bets need to be selected. However, isn’t necessary for all the bets to win. Punters can get a payout from winning a specific pair or trio rather than all of them at once. Compared to a single bet, System bets have higher payouts. However, it has a lower risk than a Multi Bet or Accumulator bet.
- Accumulator Betting In Accumulator betting, the casino or sportsbook selects a set of fixtures and makes predictions on them. This set is called an accumulator. Players simply wager on whether if the accumulator will be correct or not.
- Live Betting Live betting is when players place wagers in the middle of a match. Live betting gives you the opportunity to see the progress of a match and make predictions based on that. However, it is almost impossible to make Sure Bets live. This is because the live numbers can change very quickly, forcing someone making a sure bet to constantly re-calculate.
FAQs
There isn’t any special process or technique for placing a Sure Bet. First of all, you must work out exactly what the Sure Bet is. As you can see from the example we have earlier, the odds for all two or three bets must have a high enough value.
After you have found the bets, calculate how much you need to wager on each of the bets. At this point, also note the specific sportsbooks that offer the necessary odds. Next, register and log in to the sportsbooks. You may have to do this for all the different odds. Deposit some balance, then finally you can place the bets.
Technically, no. multi bets are basically multiple bets made together in one betslip.
Normally only one bet per market per fixture is allowed. You can make a multi-bet from a 1×2 1 bet and an Over/Under Over bet, but you cannot choose both 1 and 2, or both Over and Under, in one multi bet. However, Sure Bets are an unofficial type of multi bets. The idea is to make a multi-bet for the same fixture and market. This is done by spreading out the bets across multiple sportsbooks or multiple single bets.
No, if a bet has not been settled yet, then you cannot cash it out. Every sportsbook has regulations or terms and conditions that regulate this. Players may check those for clarification.
After you make a deposit, you have to wager and settle it before you can withdraw. In the case you activated a bonus, you will also have to settle that bonus first by fulfilling the wagering requirement. Any other restrictions such as bet amounts or cash out limits are generally described in the sportsbook’s terms and conditions.
Yes, of course! Almost all modern sports betting sites are now mobile-friendly. As long as you have internet access, you can place sure bets.
To do this, just open the sportsbook’s website on your mobile phone browser. If you have used the sportsbook before and have an app, then use that instead. Other than using the mobile browser and app, the instructions are the same. The only difference will be the fact that it is a lot more difficult and annoying to make multiple accounts using a mobile phone.
Normally, no. However, with Sure bets, the goal is to do exactly that. For each bet, you choose all possible outcomes separately. So, no matter what the result is – home, draw, away, odd, even, over, under, etc., you will win the bet.
Responsible Gambling
Before you decide to start wagering, here’s a note of warning.
Problem gambling is a very serious issue for many people, especially here in India. A lot of people have lost their properties or savings because they were too engrossed in gambling and spending far beyond their means. Gambling is ultimately based on luck. Sometimes, you have good luck. At other times, you have bad luck. Getting a string of bad luck could easily lead you to lose all your money. Despite that, many people don’t stop after their budget has been spent.
They will keep making wagers, thinking that the next time, they will win. This can go on for a long time until the punter has spent all the money he has and is risking bankruptcy. This is why one should always stay vigilant about the potential issue of problem gambling. Responsible gambling tenets include being transparent about how much you have won or lost. It also says that players should stop wagering after their bankroll or budget is used up. Plus, it gives general reminders about time and activity and puts upper limits on deposits.
Sites that follow responsible gambling will team up with organizations like Gambler’s Anonymous and other Responsible Gambling support groups and frameworks. If you believe you may have such problems, please check these support tools out and make use of them.
Recap of Sure Bets
Overall, Sure Bets are a very interesting way of taking advantage of the system to earn a small profit. Compared to typical bets, it is trickier and harder to find a good sure bet. Also, most sure bets only provide a very marginal advantage.
However, if you definitely want to win a wager or make some extra pocket money, then Sure Bets might be the way. They are the definition of ‘slow and steady’ since each bet requires some calculation and effort but has a very small profit.
Despite that, they are one of the best options for Indian punters on a budget!