Sports betting across the globe has seen an explosion of interest and a boom in active members wagering on sports from all corners of this great planet of ours. It is both challenging and hugely thrilling. With the advent of online betting it is now totally mobile. Sports betting pits the lounge room sports fan against the professional bookmakers and unlike real sports, the pros do not have it all their own way.
Can you make money betting on sports? Yes, it can be lucrative. It is not easy and the amount you can potentially make is dependent on your bankroll, risk appetite, strategy, discipline and ultimately success rate. The income can be inconsistent. Unlike many other side hustles, you can also lose money betting on sports. Read on to learn more.
Let me be clear from the outset, sports betting is no simple get rich quick scheme.
Many a confident rookie bettor has blown their hard earned cash in a weekend, by blindly betting on sports, without much forethought, no bankroll management and with virtually no strategy. The lure of quick cash has taught them a painful and possibly expensive lesson.
This does not mean making money betting on sports is impossible or only available to a select few pro gamblers who live and breath sport 24/7. There are ways and means to make useful income without a huge time commitment or even initial outlay. Better still, you don’t have to give up your day job. It is a ready made side hustle that is loaded up on entertainment factor.
How Much Money Can You Make Sports Betting?
In many ways the sky is the limit when it comes to the earning capacity of successful sports bettors. Sports bettors range from the ultra recreational, who may only bet a couple of times per month, through to the full time professional, who turns over enormous sums of money year on year. This is what makes sports betting such an enticing side hustle. You start off small looking to make a few bucks and there is no saying where you may end up!
The real question should not be, “how much one can you make?” but more like “how much money are you aiming to make?”
A side hustle is about making some useful supplementary income that can be directed towards improving your lifestyle. The sports betting industry is really about entertainment, but that changes a little when you approach it with the view of having to consistently make money. All of a sudden bets need to be calculated, considered and therefore less impulsive.
All things considered, it is possible to make something like, say $50 per week, betting on sports without having to negotiate too much of a learning curve. Yes you did read correctly, you can make money betting, the house does not always have to win. Unlike many forms of casino style gambling, sports betting incorporates a mix of skill and luck. The more you hone your skills, the less you rely on blind luck (it does help though). Of course, with anything new, there will always be challenges along the way, bad beats, bad luck and some bad decisions can lead to some lean weeks. Hang in there, this thing has potential.
If you see your side hustle as a way of lifting yourself up to a next level kind of existence, then sports betting can deliver this as well. Just know, getting to that point takes time, dedication, a sizable starting bankroll, better than average math, a dose of experience and a fair share of bumps and bruises along the way. There is a high attrition rate among potential big time sports bettors. It’s not for the faint of heart but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be an aspiration.
How Much Money Do I Need to Start Sports Betting?
There is no real minimum amount of money needed to start sports betting. Bets can be placed for as little as one dollar. The issue is, making money off betting is all about percentage yield. That is, what percentage of your starting stack of money can you return in profit. No bettor can expect to win every bet, or even most of them. Sports betting is really about grinding out a consistent margin.
It may seem logical that to break even, a sports bettor would need to win 50% of the time. Unfortunately due to the bookmakers juice the break even threshold is actually more like 52.5%. A 55% win rate (11 out of every 20 bets) on bets paying -110, using the same bet size, produces a surprisingly good return. If you maintain that sort of strike rate over time then you will return a tidy profit of somewhere in the vicinity of 15% on of your betting turnover.
There are a few factors that will cause variance to this yield. Things like the size of the bookmakers edge or juice, the habits of the bettor, eg betting a bigger stake on games where they are more confident, or a lack of discipline, but as a general rule 15% is about it. We call this a 15% ROI (return on investment).
Let’s imagine now that you can maintain a 55% win rate and are yielding 15%, then an original bankroll of $3000 may be able to be turned over to the tune of $5000 in a season. Your actual investment then is $5000 and your return of 15% equates to $1500 dollars. Incredible going considering your outlay was $3000.
Bear in mind an overall win rate of 55% is an average. Some weeks and months you will perform better and other you will perform worse. That is why the side hustle income from sports betting can be inconsistent.
Finding the Right Sportsbook
One of the most important decisions you will make as a side hustling sports bettor is choosing which sportsbook will receive the majority of your action. A good sportsbook will offer you plenty of incentive to stick around. Your betting business is big business for sportsbooks and this offers you a chance to cash in.
Your sportsbook should be offering you an enticing first deposit bonus and ongoing cash back or bonus bet promotions. On top of that you should be able to join a generous loyalty rewards program and have access to all your betting stats in an easy to download format. Access to great promotions could add some value to your betting and may be the difference between profitability and a bankroll beat down.
Make the most of your bonus bets by checking out these simple strategies.
Unlike many other industries, your sports betting business does not have to be exclusive to one sportsbook. This plays into your side hustling hands in a huge way. As the bankroll grows take advantage of the bonuses and promotions that are on offer across all sportsbooks. This just serves to multiply the ‘free’ value you can extract from the industry.
Develop a Strategy
Like all side hustles that actually work, you must approach sports betting with intent. An intent to make money and intent to continue to improve. This calls for a strategy, or series of strategies, that give you a framework around which to base your betting decisions. The beauty of sports betting is there is no one way that works. Success can be found in all sorts of ways. The most important thing is to find a strategy that works for YOU.
Do You Have to Pay Tax on Winnings?
Sports betting spans the globe and therefore the tax implications for winnings are varied. In the US if you are deemed a recreational sports bettor, which by nature side hustling is, then the amount of tax you pay depends on each state’s individual gambling tax laws.
Let’s use New Jersey as an example. In this state you will pay tax on the total of your winnings less your loses. Losses are treated as a deduction against winnings, sadly not against general income. In the United States online sportsbooks will require you to submit your social security number at sign up. This means you betting activity is being tracked and you are required to report on it at tax time.
Betting in cash is much harder to track and the responsibility is on you as the bettor to report any winnings.
The problem with betting in cash is the time cost of having to physically go to a retail sportsbook. For many bettors there is little attraction in travelling out of your way to place a series of bets and then going back againto collect winnings. The sports betting industry has matured beyond that old school approach.
What is Your Winnings Goal?
A way to maintain focus and discipline when betting is to keep the bigger picture in mind. You may have already decided on what that bigger picture is and hence you are on the lookout for a useful side hustle. Maybe at this point you are just on the lookout for extra money to open up your lifestyle options. Regardless of your own personal reasoning for taking up sports betting, having an endpoint, or at the very least a checkpoint that focuses you is all important.
A bigger picture goal may prevent you from thrill betting, where you just throw money on an outcome for the heck of it without consideration, or it may stop you from betting too big a percentage of your bankroll and risking a major blow to your account.
The road to sports betting profitability is a grind and winning just more than 50% of the time means you can cut a nice profit but you don’t have the luxury of wasting cash by betting recklessly. Keep the end financial goal in mind and you will find it easier to keep the impulsivity in check also.
Where to Invest Profits?
The thrill of betting on sport is its unpredictability and high risk nature. To some people this alone is reward enough. If you are treating sports betting as a side hustle then the thrill side needs to take a back seat to the methodical side. One of the best moves you can make as a sports bettor is to move excess winnings out of your sports betting account into less riskier investments.
All investing carries with it an inherent risk but not all investments have you essentially put your enter ‘buy in’ at risk. Any losing bet you make sees your entire stake taken away. Less riskier investments may return less yield over time but are also defensive in that losses may only equal a portion of your stake instead of the entire stake.
Sports betting really should be seen as a capital raising exercise. Once the capital is raised then this opens the door to passive, income earning, safer and to be honest boring investments. That being said there is nothing boring about receiving a passive income on going forever.
Examples of less riskier investments may be:
- Stocks — offer high liquidity and a myriad of choice
- Real Estate – safe, long term, lowish but consistent yield. Low liquidity is a negative.
- Cash – Money left in term deposits earning interest.
- Commodities – like gold, silver, oil, gas and yes even corn.
- Paying off other personal debt
- Artworks or collectables
Truly the world is your oyster when it comes to finding passive investment options for your betting winnings. The above list is by no means exhaustive or in anyway advice. Its purpose it to get you thinking about how your winnings could go to work for you.
The Game Starts Now!
Sports betting is a high risk venture that has chewed up and spat out many a confident bettor. That doesn’t mean it can’t be a useful side hustle, providing an income stream that can be used to leverage into bigger and better things. It is also a hell of a lot of fun. Get into it, a whole world a sports betting opportunity awaits.
