Improving your sports betting odds ensures you make fairly accurate predictions and win cash. Read our blog for incredible tips.
Sports betting is extremely popular in the current digital world. It primarily involves making predictions on a particular match and placing a bet on it. As early as 2015, approximately a million Australian natives were already indulging in horse race betting. Out of these people, 81% percent were men, with 66% being aged between 30-64. In general, bettors spent approximately 50% of their gambling outlay on horse race betting and the other remaining percentage on other games in the gambling industry. Several years down the road, you expect these figures to be much higher. (1)
The reason horse racing is popular is because of its accessibility. On top of the numerous racecourses strewn across Australia, bookmarkers also abound, both the land-based and online ones, making betting easy. This explains why it takes the third slot as one of the most supported games, after rugby league and the Australian Football League. (2)
However, before you indulge in any gambling activity, here are some tips you need to know to improve your chances:
1. Do proper research
Background research is key to making high-probability predictions. First, check the racing calendar and determine when the races are scheduled to take place. Then decide, on which ones you’ll wager on. Next, gather all the necessary information regarding your shortlisted races. You can do this by reading racing forms which contain information about the horses competing in a given race and the general details about the race. This will guide you on picking a horse with high chances of winning; thus, you’ll be making an informed decision. (3)
Other things that you can research are:
- The weight of the horse
- Age of the horses
- Trainer
To get more information and expert analyses, consider visiting https://www.youtube.com/c/PuntersAustralia, and significantly improve your betting odds.
2. Take advantage of free tips from experts
If you’re just getting started with horse race betting and aren’t yet confident enough with analysing races and potential winners, it’d be best to get tips from experienced punters. These have been in the industry for a relatively long time; thus, they have enough knowledge regarding how to pick a winning horse.
In addition to that, such experts have most probably followed the unfolding of numerous past races. Such a firm grasp of historical performances of horses, jockeys and trainers is paramount in analyzing and predicting who’ll win the next race with high precision and accuracy. If this interests you, head over to online sites that offer such free expert tips, such as this Punters website, or other similar ones.
3. Know the relevant terminologies
There are terminologies in the horse racing gambling industry that you need to have at your fingertips to improve your sports betting odds. Well, you might not know them all at once, especially if you’re a beginner, but, at least, take your time and learn some of the most commonly used. Getting acquainted with the industry jargon goes a long way to ensuring you’re knowledgeably placing bets. After all, you’ll hear them over and over from horse race commentators and analysts, so it’s only logical for you to understand what they’re talking about.
Some of the terms that you need to know include:
- Handle: A cumulative races stake
- Half-Sister: A female horse whose dam looks like others but has a different sire.
- In hand: A horse that is running but controlled by someone.
4. Try Shopping the Odds
When you shop the odds, the overall payout increases. This doesn’t necessarily apply only to horse racing, but it also works in most other sports bettings, especially if you’re using fixed odds.
Once you’ve decided on the bet you’ll place plus the horse, the next step is shopping the odds. Ideally, you peruse several sportsbooks and identify the best odds on a bet. This is similar to comparing the prices of a product on sale and settling on the most favourable price.
5. Go beyond betting on favourites
Many people get into horse race betting with the idea of betting only on favorites, but this isn’t a feasible strategy. Many times, especially if you’re a beginner, you might be tempted to choose the horses predicted by the bookmakers to emerge as winners and place a bet on them.
However, there’s only a 35% chance that the favourite will win the race. In other words, if you bet on a favourite, there’s a 65% chance that you’ll lose. The best thing is to try and explore the profile of all the horses and make an intelligent decision when placing your bet. Try incorporating different bet types and also bet on different horse races. The idea is to spread the risk, in line with the wise approach of not keeping all your eggs in one basket. (4)
Conclusion
Sports betting is a lucrative industry that’s attracting more people every day. Your winning point is improving your betting odds, which you can do by following the tips outlined above. Other than that, budget responsibly before indulging in sports betting because no prediction is a guaranteed win.
References
- “Race betting in Australia”, Source: https://aifs.gov.au/agrc/publications/race-betting-australia
- “Melbourne Cup: Australia’s obsession with horse racing has rich and colourful history”, Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-03/melbourne-cup-history-of-australian-horseracing/6908252
- “How to Read a Racing Form”, Source: https://www.wikihow.com/Read-a-Racing-Form
- “How often does the favorite win a horse race?”, Source: https://betmix.com/how-often-does-the-favorite-win-a-horse-race/#:~:text=On%20average%20favorites%20win%20about,dirt%20races%20than%20turf%20races.