Is Sports Betting a skill?

Is Sports Betting a Skill? A Closer Look

From the outside looking in, many people think that sports betting is based purely on luck. However, this isn’t the case. If you want to find out more, this article has got all the details you need to know.

Sports Betting Is a Skill

In reality, sports betting is a combination of both luck and skill. There’s a fine line between the two – and it’s impossible to measure. The point, though, is that you can’t simply place random sports bets and expect lady luck to carry you over the finish line. Instead, you need to focus on a range of different factors if you want to place winning bets. These factors include:

·         Knowing the history of the sport

·         Analyzing player and team stats

·         Researching injuries

·         Checking the weather forecasts

·         The different match locations

Here’s a closer look at each one of these factors.

1.     Knowing the History of the Sport

Before you bet on any particular sport, it’s important that you know the history of it.

For instance, let’s say you’re planning to place an over/under bet on the number of goals that will be scored in the World Cup final 2022. Throughout history, most World Cup finals don’t have high score lines. In recent years, the highest scoreline in a World Cup final was back in 2018 when France beat Croatia 4-2. At the time, this was seen as quite shocking, as it’s unusual for a World Cup final to feature 6 goals. Knowing this, it would be overly ambitious to place an ‘over’ bet on the 2022 final to feature 6+ goals, as the odds for this will be extremely high. Instead, it would be much smarter to place an ‘under’ bet that there will be 3 goals or less in total.

So, whichever sport or sporting event you want to bet on, make sure you know the history of it first.

2.     Analyzing player and team stats

Next, you need to analyze player and team stats. These are incredibly important when it comes to placing bets, as they allow people to understand the likelihood of an outcome happening. Across the internet, there are hundreds of sports stats websites that you can access for free.

3.     Researching Injuries

Injuries are an underrated (and often ignored) aspect when it comes to sports betting.

When a player has been injured for a long time in a sport like tennis, their return might be highly unlikely to see them wipe the floor with their opponent. This is because they’re coming back from an injury and will not be at the top of their game.

Before placing a bet on any individual player, double-check their injury record over the past 12 months. This will help you a lot.

4.     Checking the Weather Forecasts

Contrary to popular misconception, weather does affect how some sports games play out.

In basketball, this isn’t the case, as NBA games are all played inside. However, in outdoors sports, such as soccer and tennis, the weather can drastically affect how players approach the game.

5.     The Different Match Locations

Lastly, take into account the match locations.

In tennis, matches are played on hard courts, clay courts, and grass courts.

Traditionally, American players have a poor record when playing on clay courts (e.g., John Isner). Therefore, it would be advised not to bet on any player with a poor clay record to win the French Open, which is a clay-based grand slam tournament.