Can you make a living from Sports Betting alone?

How to make a living from Sports Betting?

Can you make a living from betting alone? Or even if you combine sports betting and casino betting?

If you are looking for a short answer, you won't get one. The question is pretty loaded, and there is no simple answer to it. Is it possible to make living from betting only? Theoretically, yes. Practically, not so much.

Today we will explore the different aspects of making a living from sports. We'll go through the things that make such an endeavour very difficult. We'll also go through the things you can do to make it a reality. Let's find out more about making a living from sports betting.

Is it possible to make a living from sports betting?

If you go by the books, it is indeed possible to make a living from sports betting. Here's how.

The fundamental concept of making a living is just another term for making money. But making money alone is not making a living. Your source of livelihood should also have some degree of certainty and frequency. We have to pay several bills on a monthly basis, and others on a yearly basis. Your inflow of cash, thus, also has to have some degree of certainty and frequency.

Coming back to the betting question, let's imagine a hypothetical scenario where betting can act as a source of livelihood. Imagine you bet every day of a month, and you win on some days and lose on some. Now if you win more than you lose, you are more likely to make a profit and not a loss. So if you win on 20 days and lose on 10, you are on your way to becoming a professional gambler. But there's another aspect of it.

You do not only have to win on most of the days, but you'd also have to win a substantial amount. If you win 10 pounds for 20 days and lose 10 pounds on 10 days, you will have 100 pounds as sports bet winnings. It is not possible to survive off 100 pounds in the UK at least.

But when you increase your stake and end up making 2000 pounds every month on average, you are on your way to making gambling your profession.

If it's so simple, why aren't more people becoming professional gamblers?

Unfortunately, it's not as simple as the above scenario might make it seem. First, there is no certainty that you will win 20 days out of 30 days. There isn't any certainty that you will win even once a month. There is a popular misconception/myth that if you are losing a few bets in a row, you are on your way to winning one. Many people progressively increase their stakes with this expectation. But there is no sound logic behind this myth. Just because you lost 7 days in a row, it does not mean you will win on the 8th day. This myth is called the gambler's fallacy. It's a common logical fallacy that many of us consciously or unconsciously harbour.

Now, let us assume that you do win 20 days out of 30 days. To make at least 2000 pounds a month, you will have to win hundreds of pounds in every one of your winning experiences. Even a cursory glance would tell you that this is a highly unlikely scenario. Unless you are extremely lucky, you would not survive on betting even for a year.

Money management

If you look at the history of betting, several people have described themselves as professional bettors. But all of them are also great at money management. If you have substantial capital at hand, you can make a lot of money from it by staking it judiciously.

Professional gamblers approach gambling very differently. There is no room for emotions or sentiments in a professional gambler's game. They look at every move from a rational perspective and do not let haste come in the way. Money management is the most important skill that everyone who bets should have, no matter if you are a professional or not. Even if you can't make your living from betting, handling your money well can make betting more profitable.

Specialisation in one sport vs diversification

There are opposing views on whether you should bet on multiple sports or only one sport. But for people who are inching toward becoming semi-professional punters, diversification is often not a good option.

When you bet on a lot of events, there is a low chance that you will learn more about all the sports. For example, it is much more difficult to know about football, horse racing, cricket, and boxing all at the same time. Instead, if you follow only football, for example, you will know a lot about the game. Subsequently, your betting decisions would be much more sound and intelligent.

If you want to be a semi-professional gambler, try specialising in one sport. If the challenge is comfortable for you, switch to another sport. This way you can build up knowledge over time and use your judgment to place bets. But it's generally a bad idea to place bets on every event you find instead of focusing on just one or two.

Specialisation is often guided by what we liked in our formative years. If you are a huge boxing fan since your youth, winning in boxing bets would be relatively easier.

Conclusion - Can you really be a professional gambler?

It is possible to become a professional gambler, and we have examples of such people around us. But there are numerous caveats in the process. First, it is not easy to have consistency in gambling. Secondly, it is difficult to have a steady stream of income from betting. If you list yourself as a professional gambler, you'll have a difficult time getting various banking facilities. Apart from the problem of uncertainty, there are also logistical and legal problems. But if you want to be a semi-professional gambler, there are several paths to that destination.